Yakitori (Japanese Chicken and Scallion Skewers with Tare)
Bite-size chicken thigh threaded with pieces of Tokyo negi on small skewers, broiled hot and brushed three times with a homemade tare of soy sauce, mirin, sake and brown sugar reduced to a glossy glaze.
Yakitori means "grilled bird," and for most of Japanese history it could not be sold openly. Nipponia, a magazine published on the Web Japan site, explains that after Buddhism became the state religion in the 7th century, a number of edicts banned eating meat, chicken included, and meat was not cooked or eaten in public until the ban was lifted in the second half of the 19th century (Kishi Asako, Nipponia No. 19, December 15, 2001:). In the Meiji period that followed, roadside stalls began grilling leftover meat from restaurants on skewers, and it caught on. Yakitori became an everyday dish in the 1960s, Nipponia says, after broiler chickens were imported from the United States and raised in large numbers in Japan.
Today it is two flavors, salt or a sweet soy glaze called tare, and dozens of cuts, from thigh and skin to heart and cartilage, cooked over binchotan charcoal in specialty shops and pubs. Negima, chicken thigh with pieces of long green onion, is the everyday skewer. This recipe is from Namiko Hirasawa Chen of Just One Cookbook, who makes the tare from scratch and cooks the skewers under the broiler.
Why it works the kitchen science
Reduced tare
Simmering to a third concentrates the soy and mirin into a glaze thick enough to cling and caramelize in a few minutes under the broiler.
Thigh and onion together
Thigh stays juicy under high heat, and the negi steams between the pieces, turning sweet and soft.
Step by step
- Step 1
Soak the skewers in water 30 minutes.
- Step 2
Put the soy sauce, mirin, sake, water, brown sugar and negi tops in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered about 30 minutes, until reduced to one-third. Cool; it thickens and turns glossy. Remove the negi and pour one-third into a separate bowl for serving.
- Step 3
Cut the white and light green negi into 1 1/4-inch pieces. Cut the chicken into 1 1/4-inch squares.
- Step 4
Fold a piece of chicken in half and thread it on a skewer, then a piece of negi crosswise, then chicken, then negi, ending with chicken: about 3 pieces of chicken and 2 of negi per skewer, packed snug.
- Step 5
Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set an oven-safe wire rack on it and oil the rack. Lay the skewers on the rack with the handles on the rim and cover the handles with folded strips of foil. Heat the broiler on high with the rack 8 inches below it, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Step 6
Broil 6 minutes. Brush with tare, turn, brush the other side and broil 3 to 4 minutes, until the glaze caramelizes. Turn once more, brush and broil 1 to 2 minutes, until the chicken reads 165°F.
- Step 7
Brush with the reserved tare using a clean brush and serve with shichimi togarashi.
Yakitori (Japanese Chicken and Scallion Skewers with Tare)
Serves 4 · 12 skewers · 1 hr total
Tare
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1/4 cup sake
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp packed brown sugar
- Green tops of 2 Tokyo negi (or of 9 scallions)
Skewers
- 2 Tokyo negi (long green onion), white and light green parts, or 9 scallions
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, out of the refrigerator no more than 30 minutes before cooking
- Neutral oil, for the rack
- Shichimi togarashi, optional
- 12 (5-inch) bamboo skewers
Method
- Soak the skewers in water 30 minutes.
- Put the soy sauce, mirin, sake, water, brown sugar and negi tops in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered about 30 minutes, until reduced to one-third. Cool; it thickens and turns glossy. Remove the negi and pour one-third into a separate bowl for serving.
- Cut the white and light green negi into 1 1/4-inch pieces. Cut the chicken into 1 1/4-inch squares.
- Fold a piece of chicken in half and thread it on a skewer, then a piece of negi crosswise, then chicken, then negi, ending with chicken: about 3 pieces of chicken and 2 of negi per skewer, packed snug.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set an oven-safe wire rack on it and oil the rack. Lay the skewers on the rack with the handles on the rim and cover the handles with folded strips of foil. Heat the broiler on high with the rack 8 inches below it, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Broil 6 minutes. Brush with tare, turn, brush the other side and broil 3 to 4 minutes, until the glaze caramelizes. Turn once more, brush and broil 1 to 2 minutes, until the chicken reads 165°F.
- Brush with the reserved tare using a clean brush and serve with shichimi togarashi.
Adapted from Namiko Hirasawa Chen, "Yakitori Recipe with Homemade Sauce", Just One Cookbook (published January 30, 2025), 12 skewers. We follow it as written: a tare of 1/2 cup each soy sauce and mirin, 1/4 cup each sake and water, 2 teaspoons brown sugar and the green tops of 2 Tokyo negi, simmered about 30 minutes to one-third; 1 lb chicken thigh in 1 1/4-inch pieces folded onto 5-inch skewers soaked 30 minutes, alternating with 1 1/4-inch pieces of negi; a foil-lined sheet with an oiled rack; and the broiler on high, 8 inches from the element: 6 minutes, then sauce and 3 to 4 minutes, then sauce and 1 to 2 minutes. The 4 servings and the 165°F check are ours. Just One Cookbook. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Just One Cookbook says the tare keeps in the refrigerator 2 to 3 months; make it ahead.
- No broiler? Brown the skewers in an oiled frying pan over medium heat about 5 minutes a side, cover on low 2 to 3 minutes, then add the tare and turn to coat.
- Swap the negi for shishito peppers, mushrooms, zucchini or asparagus.
- Season with salt and white pepper instead of tare for the shio style.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Yakitori must be cooked over binchotan. Folklore: Nipponia says shops "may use" this expensive charcoal; Just One Cookbook's own method is the broiler.
- Yakitori is old, or yakitori is new. Disputed framing: grilled birds go back centuries, but Nipponia says chicken yakitori became everyday food only in the 1960s; other sources, mostly blogs, give the 1950s for American broilers and disagree on which Edo-period cookbook first used the word.
- Salt or tare: one is more authentic. Folklore: both are standard in Japanese shops (Nipponia; Wikipedia).
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