Yakitori is a Japanese skewered chicken, cooked on a griller with either sweet soy sauce or just salt. Great for entertaining a big crowd as it is a kind of finger food. It is so tasty and easy to eat that you will not realise how many skewers you eat!
Yakitori (焼き鳥) is probably one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It is so popular that in Japan there are many shops and restaurants that specialise in just yakitori. It is of course one of the regular street foods sold at food stands along with Yakisoba (Japanese Stir Fried Noodles) and Okonomiyaki (Japanese Savoury Pancake) when festivals are on.
In the basement of department stores where the food court is located or in supermarkets, there are always yakitori shops and many people buy skewers of different kinds of take away yakitori for dinner. I do not think most Japanese households make yakitori at home from scratch anymore because they can buy freshly made yakitori from the nearby shops easily.
I certainly have not seen my sister in Tokyo making them when I stayed there. She always buys yakitori from the shop. But here in Sydney, we have to make it ourselves. It takes a bit of time to put through small pieces of meat onto skewers but the effort certainly is worthwhile.
The word “yaki” (焼き) comes from the verb “yaku” (焼く) which means grill or bake. And “tori” (鳥) is bird or chicken in the case of meat. So yakitori literally translates to “grilled chicken”. However, these days even some of the specialty yakitori shops serve other kind of meets such as pork and vegetables grilled on skewers.
YAKITORI MENUS
If you go to one of the yakitori restaurants in Japan, you will be amazed to see how many different parts of chicken are on the menu. Common menu items are:
- Negima (ねぎま, chicken and shallots/scallions)
- Momo (もも, chicken thigh)
- Mune (むね, chicken breast)
- Sasami (ささみ, chicken tenderloin)
- Bonjiri (ぼんじり, chicken tail)
- Kawa (皮, chicken skin)
- Tsukune (つくね, chicken mince ball)
- Tebasaki (手羽先, chicken wings)
- Rebah (レバー, liver)
- Hatsu (ハツ, heart)
- Sunagimo (砂肝, gizzard)
- Yagen or nankotsu (ヤゲンor軟骨, cartilage)
In the above list, negima is the only one which has a bit of vegetables, i.e. shallots/scallions. Negima is made by placing shallots/scallions in between chicken pieces. The word “negi” means shallots/scallions and “ma” means in between. Make sense? You can see uncooked negima skewers in the photo below. Other skewers without negima is momo (chicken thigh).
Yakitori Flavour
There are two main kinds of yakitori flavours – tare (タレ, sauce) and shio (塩, salt). Tare is made of soy sauce, mirin and sugar, with or without sake (Japanese rice wine). It is made by mixing these ingredients and condensing it into a stronger flavour and thicker sauce. When grilling, you baste the sauce onto the meat.
Shio flavour is simply made by sprinkling salt over the meat when grilling.
Most of the chicken parts listed above are yummy with either tare or shio flavour. But I think liver and heart taste better with tare while chicken wings are nicer with shio.
In today’s recipe, I am sharing negima (chicken and shallots/scallions) and momo (chicken thigh) with tare flavour.
Yakitori Skewers
The skewers for yakitori are made from bamboo. The most commonly used yakitori skewer is quite thin (about 3mm/1/8” diameter) and pointy at one end so that you can get the meat through easily. It is called “marugushi” (丸串, round skewer). The word “maru” (丸) means round and “gushi” comes from the word “kushi” (串) meaning skewer.
The length varies, but usually it’s about 15cm/6” which is just the right length if you use a specialised yakitori griller as the width of the griller is 10cm. The yakitori shops in Japan certainly use 15cm skewers. But I sometimes use longer skewers as it is easier to hold.
Other types of bamboo skewers used for yakitori include hiragushi (平串, flat skewer) and teppogushi (鉄砲串, gun skewer) both of which have a flat squarish stick with a pointy end on one side. The gun skewers differ from the flat skewers on the other end of the stick as it has a wider tab to make it easier to hold. With the tab at the end, it makes the skewer look like guns (teppo in Japanese).
Because of its square shape it holds the meat more securely, especially when you cook tsukune (meat ball) of which I am intending to post a recipe soon.
You can see the two types of bamboo skewers. The thin skewer is the marugushi and the greenish one is the teppogushi.
Yakitori Griller
There is a special griller for yakitori. Its shape is a long rectangle block and inside the block where the charcoal is placed is lined with stones. Then the yakitori is placed on top. They are quite handy to cook yakitori as the width of the heated area is about 10cm/4” and it is just right for the yakitori skewers.
See the photo below of our yakitori griller which I carried back from Japan last year when my son half-jokingly asked me to get one. It was 10kg/22Lbs! I was quite annoyed with my son when he told me when I got home that he was half joking.
So I decided to have a yakitori day soon after that and made him prepare & cook yakitori. The photo is from the yakitori day and we cooked not only negima (chicken and shallots/scallions) and momo (chicken thigh) but tsukune (chicken mince balls), tebasaki (chicken wings), pork belly, asparagus rolls, shiitake mushrooms and onions. Yum!
I know most household do not have such a special griller and there is no need for it. The best alternative is BBQ with grill plate. You could use griddle as well, though you might find that the sauce start burning as the plate accumulates the sauce.
You could also cook yakitori in the oven using a griller/broiler. I have included the method of cooking oven grilled yakitori in the recipe. The photo below is how I paced yakitori to cook under the oven grill. I used a deep baking tray and a rack.
You don’t marinate chicken before grilling yakitori. The sauce is easy to make and once you put the meat onto skewers, just grill them and baste the sauce from time to time. That’s all it takes! I hope you try it.
Yumiko
- 12 bamboo skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes (Note 1)
- 500g (1lb) chicken thigh fillets , cut into 2.5cm (1”) cubes (Note 2)
- 100g (3.5oz) shallots/scallions , white and green firm parts only, cut into 3.5mm/ 1½”
- 75ml (2.5oz) soy sauce (normal Japanese soy sauce)
- 75ml (2.5oz) mirin
- 1 tbsp sugar
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Add sauce ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium or medium low and simmer for about 5 minutes to reduce the quantity by about a third. (Note 3).
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To make momo (chicken thigh), thread around 5 pieces of chicken onto the skewers.
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To make negima yakitori skewers, start with chicken and alternately thread chicken pieces and shallots/scallions, ending with chicken. I put through 4 chicken pieces with 3 shallots/scallions but you could have 3 chickens with 2 shallots/scallions. (Note 4)
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The distance between the hot charcoal and where the skewers are placed should be about 5-6cm (2-2½”). (Note 5)
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In the case of BBQ, oil (not in ingredients) the grill.
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Using a brush, baste both sides of skewers with sauce and cook for 4-5 minutes.
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Turn it over and baste the up side (cooked side) while cooking 3-4 minutes.
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Turn it over again and baste the up side (cooked side) while cooking for 30 seconds or so.
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Turn it over once more to cook for 30 seconds or so. (Note 6)
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Remove from the griller and place it onto a plate. Serve immediately.
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Turn the oven grill on to high.
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Line a large baking tray with aluminum foil. (Note 7). Place a wire rack on it and oil the rack (not in ingredients).
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Using a brush, baste both sides of skewers with sauce and place the skewers on the rack. I used 70cm x 26cm/14½” x 10¼” baking tray and I could fit all of the skewers.
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Place the baking tray under the oven grill. The distance between the skewers and the grill should be about 5cm/2”.
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Cook for 5-6 minutes, then take the tray out and turn the skewers over.
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Baste the up side (cooked side) of the skewers and place the tray back under the grill.
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Cook for 4-5 minutes, then take the tray out and turn the skewers over again.
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Baste the upside (cooked side) of the skewers and place the tray back under the grill.
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Cook for a minute or until the chicken and shallots/scallions start getting charred a bit.
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If required, turn the skewers once more to get the other side get charred.
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Remove the skewers from the tray and place them onto a plate. Serve immediately.
1. I used thin round 15cm (6”) bamboo skewers. But you could use a bit longer skewers or flat skewers. I find that thin round skewers are the easiest to thread the chicken pieces.
Soaking the bamboo skewers is very important. It prevents the skewers from getting burnt too quickly when grilled.
Number of skewers required varies depending on how many pieces of chicken and shallots/scallions you have. In my case, I had 49 chicken pieces and 24 shallots/scallion pieces. Because I made 4 chicken pieces with 3 shallots/scallions, I ended up with 8 negima (chicken and shallots/scallions) and 3 momo (chicken thigh) skewers. You can do any combination.
2. I bought thigh fillets which did not have skin on this time. But I sometimes use thigh with skin on which is equally delicious. You could also use chicken breast instead of thigh. Or a mixture.
3. Depending on the size of the pot, the time taken to reduce the sauce varies.
4. If shallots/scallions are left over, you could make a shallots/scallion skewer!
5. Depending on the griller/BBQ, you may need to adjust the distance/spacing as the temperature of the heat varies. The heat should be medium high to high.
6. I basted twice on each side but you can turn them over once more with another coating of sauce if you prefer a stronger flavour.
7. If you don’t line the baking tray with aluminum foil, the sauce will drop directly onto the tray and get burnt badly due to sugar in the sauce. Line it so that you don't have to clean the mess later.
8. Nutrition information is for 1 skewer assuming 12 skewers were made with equal distribution of ingredients.
Great recipe! I made your chicken teriyaki recipe and it was fantastic. I will try this one next.
Question- why is it important to NOT marinade the chicken? Just curious.
Hi Kim, Thank you! Good question. I think that by not marinating the meat upfront, you can enjoy the distinct taste of chicken better when bite into it. Also, in the case of yakitori, the chicken pieces are so tiny that marinade will overpower the flavour if soaked in the sauce for a while.
I live in Colorado and grill a lot all summer. A trick I have learned when cooking anything on a skewer is to fold some heavy-duty foil about 4 inches wide by the length of the grill and place it over the grill grates (even to tuck it under the grates at both ends to hold it in place) just where the tips of the skewers are exposed to help keep them from burning. So you end up with two long strips of foil running the length of your grill, and you line up the skewers right down the middle. Works much like the Yakitori Griller only the meat rest on the grates (which gives you those prized grill marks).
Hi Raelene, that’s a smart way of protecting the skewers from burning. I should add your great tip in the note section.
Hi! I made this last night and wow! It was so good!!. I made the negima version. Thanks for sharing the recipe and the story that goes with it. Yakitori is so easy to make and is now my favorite way to make chicken on the grill.
Thanks again and love your blog.
Hi Linda, yay! I am so happy to hear that. Thanks for a great feedback!
Where can I buy the grill?
Hi Danielle, I found the exactly the same yakitori grill in my post sold on eBay. Search ‘stainless yakitori grill’.
Hello yumiko, I hope to make this recipe soon however I got a question: what difference is there between terityaki sauce and yakitori sauce? Is there any noticeable difference in taste? I mean, when I try a yakitori restaurant how do I know they actually used yakitori sauce and not teriyaki? I ask this because I have seen yakitori sauces that use the same ingredients as teriyaki sauce
I am very grateful to be able to solve my question
Also, I plan to make yakitori with chicken heart, how much is the recommended cooking time?
Hi Ruth, I think that it will be about 5 minutes to grill.
Hi Ruth, base on the questions you have been asking, you must be making many Japanese dishes lately which is really great.
Both teriyaki sauce and yakitori sauce contain similar ingredients. If I make these sauces from scratch, the major difference would be the thickness of the sauce as yakitori sauce is condensed.
Restaurants have their own recipe of the sauces as well as different method of cooking yakitori and teriyaki. So, I cannot answer to your question regarding how you could tell which sauce is used at the restaurant.
Thanks for your answer!! I really like Japanese food and try to make a plate of Japanese food every day XD. Also, I was wondering what temperature the oven should use to make yakitori? 180 ºC?
Hi Ruth, you need to use over broiler, not a normal baking in the oven. I am not sure if you have the temperature adjustment for broiler (mine doesn’t) but it if does, set to high. If your oven does not come with broiler, I would recommend cooking yakitori on BBQ, griddle or even on frying pan.
Hi Tamiko, I made your yakitori and loved it. So did my girls. I have five, ages 18 to 23. We enjoyed making and eating this so much we did it again three days later. Thanks so much for the lovely family memory. We’ll do it again at Christmas! Thanks again.
Hi Linda, Twice in a row! That’s really great. With five kids, you have plenty of hands to help out skewering (lucky you!). It’s fun to do preparations with kids, isn’t it? Whenever I make yakitori, I ask kids to help as we need so many of them to fill up our large stomach. We do it chitchatting, making fun of person who made wonky ones.
I am so happy to have found your blog. Our favorite food and people are Japanese. My two daughters went through the Japanese Immersion program and are now bilingual and biliterate in Japanese. I will be so happy tonight to start trying your recipes. Thank you so much
Arigato go zai masu
Hi, Nanette. Do itashimashite.
Wow, that’s very impressive to have two daughters not only being able to converse but also read and write Japanese! It is much harder to learn reading and writing in Japanese than learning English, I think.
I hope you enjoy my Japanese dishes.
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The chicken looks so good. Can the grill be purchased in USA? I was in Japan in 1959. My husband was station there with US Navy. We did not have much money so could not bring home many things. Do you know of a store that sells tabi’s? Your recipes look so wonderful. I will be trying some this winter. Thanks for simple recipes.
Hi Virginia. You can certainly find even the exactly the same griller as mine on the internet but I presume the delivery cost might not be cheap. I am not sure if you can find the same yakitori grill at the shops but they might sell different kind. When I googled “yakitori grill”, I found one website, https://www.mtckitchen.com/kitchenware/yakitori-robata-grills/, which seems to be a real shop specialised in Japanese kitchen supply in USA. They have quite few branches all over USA. Other sites are all online shopping site.
And are you after “tabi” which are the Japanese socks for kimono? If you can find kimono shops, they they should sell tabi. You might want to do google search on “kimono shops” or something like that.
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Oh my goodness they look delicious. Can I borrow your Mother for a while?
That would be hard…..
Yakitori must have been the first dish our Japanese business partners dared try to offer in Tokyo. What’s not to love!! Like thigh meat with the composite sauce and oft serve them during ‘rinks’ time or as a first course . . .
Yes, it’s almost like Japan = yakitori or perhaps Japan = sushi.
Japanese business partners….????
Hi mum! So glad you posted this, the yakitori family get togethers are EPIC!!! And after my yakitori sauce recipe failure, now I don’t need to hassle you for your recipe 🙂
That’s good that you now can make the sauce yourself! You are welcome to borrow the yakitori griller.
What – lug that giant thing back to my place? Naaaa. I’ll just come to yours and you can cook!!!!
Now you are onto something Nagi!!! I will visit either venue! Love yakitori!
Hi Di, you are always most welcome to our places!
This looks lovely…thanks for the Yakitori lesson…I have made these before with success….but now I will try your method…thanks
Hi Lyn. Thank you. Please do try and let me know what you think.
Konnichiwa Yumiko-san! These sound wonderful and I have everything to make them! I love grilling small pieces of meat with vegetables. I also have a pork tenderloin which I think would be good with the sweet soy sauce. And onions and mushrooms are always good!
Konnichiwa Dorothy-san. What are you waiting for, then? Yakitori weekend sounds good! You might want to try shio (salt) on yaitori to compare the flavours, too. Just sprinkle salt when grilling. That’s all.
Konnichiwa Yumiko-san! I am going to make both versions of this on the weekend! I will also make some rice and cabbage. Nagi called me today, she makes me smile! 🙂
Hi Dorothy-san. Sounds good. It will be a great Yakitori weekend!