You will love this Yakitori Chicken Recipe
We love Japanese food at our house! It’s one of our favorite cuisines with amazing flavors and textures. Japan is high on our list of places we want to visit, but until then, we can enjoy making different Japanese-inspired dishes at home like these delicious Yakitori chicken skewers! We are also big fans of the Olympics and every year that the Summer or Winter Games are held we like to celebrate by enjoying foods from the host country and talking with our kids about some of the similarities and differences between our cultures. We have done it for past games in Brazil and Korea and it’s one of our favorite traditions associated with the games. It’s just one of the ways (along with travel to other countries when possible, books about other cultures, and more) that we try to teach them to be good global citizens. With this year’s Summer Games being held in Tokyo it was the perfect time to try out some new (to us) Japanese foods as a family. Sometimes we get in a rut with our chicken dinners, so it’s always nice to change up the flavors and method of preparation to keep things interesting. Check out some other reader favorite chicken recipes like Chinese Chicken Salad, Slow Cooker Applesauce Pulled Chicken Sandwiches, and Curried Chicken Salad.
What is Yakitori?
Yakitori has many different preparations, but it means “grilled bird” and is typically grilled over a charcoal fire. It is made with either just salt for seasoning (this preparation is known as shio) or a salty-sweet yakitori sauce called tare. While this is a chicken version, you can also find pork versions as well, along with others that include vegetables. They are made on metal or bamboo skewers called kushi or teppō gushi (gun skewer) which are shorter than typical skewers and flat on one end. You can find them at many Asian markets or order them online. The meat is cut into small, evenly sized pieces for even cooking, then skewered and grilled. You typically find them either seasoned simply with just salt, or glazed while grilling with a salty-sweet sauce (called “tare”) that is made with mirin, sake, soy sauce, and sugar that caramelizes from the heat. Sometimes additional flavors and spices are also added. While you can find it at tapas-style restaurants or pubs known as izakaya, the portability of these chicken skewers and ease of preparation make it a really popular street food and it’s commonly sold from carts or stalls known as yatai, especially during festivals or in high foot traffic areas.
Chicken Yakitori ingredients
Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are my preference for this kind of grilling because they are so juicy and flavorful, but you could use chicken breasts as well. The thigh meat goes really well with the flavors of the savory sauce. Mirin: If you are going to be cooking Japanese food, you will likely want a bottle of Mirin which is a sweet Japanese cooking wine that is pretty easy to find in the Asian aisle of your regular grocery store. I found a great article all about this ingredient that is worth a read. If you can’t find it, dry sherry or sweet marsala wine can be used as substitutes, and a dry white wine or even rice vinegar can be used, although for the latter two you will need to add an additional ½ teaspoon of sugar to counteract their sourness for each tablespoon used. Soy Sauce: I used regular soy sauce as that is what I happened to have on hand. If you have dark soy sauce, I would recommend using that for a deeper, richer color, but the flavors are more or less the same. Sake: This is another Japanese cooking wine but it’s actually a type rice wine. You can find it at Japanese markets. The best substitutes would either be dry sherry or simply replacing the sake with water. Brown Sugar: A little brown sugar adds a sweetness to balance out the other salty, savory ingredients in the sauce. Garlic & ginger: When I was researching recipes I noticed that some included garlic and ginger as additional flavor components to the sauce while others left them out, relying solely on mirin, soy sauce, sake, and sugar. I feel like they add complexity and depth to the sauce, so I kept them in my version, although you can certainly omit them. Green Onions: These are so good with the chicken and sauce! They add a wonderful bright fresh element that contrasts nicely with the smoky chicken and sauce, which is why I think yakitori negima is one of the most popular varieties around. Wood or metal skewers: You can really use any skewers you have on hand, although for truly authentic yakitori you want the shorter, flat on one end for easy turning gun skewers.
How to make Yakitori Chicken
How to serve Chicken Yakitori
These grilled meat skewers go with any typical barbecue sides, but we like to serve them with white rice and grilled vegetable skewers or roasted green beans. Grilled pineapple or grilled bell peppers would also be a delicious way to round out this meal.
How to store Yakitori Chicken
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. You can reheat them in a warm oven, the microwave, or the air fryer until hot. I don’t recommend freezing and reheating these as leftovers. I always do my best to research recipes from other cultures thoroughly to represent them as best I can. If this recipe is from your country or culture and you have suggestions for how I can improve its authenticity, please let me know in the comments below! It’s important to us to share beloved foods of other cultures with as much accuracy as possible, while also considering things like accessibility of ingredients and ease of preparation for most home cooks.
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Recipe adapted from NY Times and Just One Cookbook.
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