Cubes of chicken on bamboo skewers, grilled over charcoal and brushed several times with a sweet-salty tare sauce until a glossy, caramelised layer forms. The dish of the Japanese yakitori-ya, where people gather after work for a beer and a skewer.
Yakitori
Yakitori
Method
01
Make the tare sauce
Put all the ingredients for the tare in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and reduce gently for 8–10 minutes to a glossy, slightly syrupy sauce. Strain and leave to cool.
02
Thread
Thread the chicken and spring onion alternately onto the skewers.
03
Marinate
Brush the skewers with some of the tare and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.
04
Grill
Heat a griddle pan, barbecue or the oven grill. Grill the skewers for 8–10 minutes, turning regularly and brushing with tare each time, until the chicken is cooked (core temperature approx. 74 °C) and the sauce forms a glossy, lightly caramelised layer.
05
Serve
Serve immediately with the remaining tare as a dipping sauce.
Tips & notes
Brush on in layers while grilling rather than slapping a lot of sauce on all at once; that way you build up a glossy, caramelised layer without the sauce burning. Soak the bamboo skewers in water for at least 20 minutes, otherwise they burn on the grill. Keeps for 2–3 days in a sealed container in the fridge.
Variations
- Thread only chicken skin onto skewers for kawa yakitori, extra crisp.
- Replace the chicken with shiitake mushrooms for a vegetarian variant.
Contains:
Gluten
Soya
Serve with
- Miso shiru (miso soup)
- Onigiri
| Calories | 399 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 31 g |
| Carbohydrates | 24 g |
| Fat | 17 g |
| Fibre | 1 g |
Estimated values, calculated from standard nutritional values per ingredient.
