Yakitori (Japanese grilled chicken skewers) is a popular Japanese street food made with chicken on a stick, plus a Japanese marinade.

For more chicken recipes, check out our list of Budget Chicken Recipes.

This Yakitori (Japanese Grilled Chicken Skewers) recipe is so nostalgic for me.

When my mom was growing up, she and her sisters spent every other summer in Japan. She would tell us stories about that time, and one of her favorite memories was going to yomise.

Translated into English, it means “night shopping.” It’s a monthly summer festival where games and food stands are set up through a street leading from a train station. It’s (almost) always situated there so it’s easy for out of towners to visit the festival.

The first time I went to Japan, I couldn’t wait to go to yomise. There’s a game my mom talked about, where you have a paper net and have to fish rubber balls (or live fish) from a pool, that I couldn’t wait to play.

I was so happy that the game was still being played, decades after my mom had been to Japan.

The games were such a thrill when I was young (and even when I’ve gone back as an adult), but now, one of the best parts of yomise is the food. There are these delicious dough balls, that you can only find at yomise and yakitori.

Oh, yakitori. One of my favorite bites of food in Japan.

Yaki means “grilled” and tori means “chicken,” so it’s roughly translated as chicken that’s cooked on a grill. The chicken is skewered, glazed with a sweet soy-based sauce, and grilled to perfection.

I can’t replicate the games or dough balls of yomise at home, but I can replicate the yakitori. And every time I do, the first bite instantly transports me to the summer nights I’ve spent in Japan.

This Yakitori recipe isn’t the only kabob recipe we have on Drugstore Divas. Save your extra skewers and use them to make one of these Easy Shish Kabob recipes.

Yakitori (Japanese Grilled Chicken Skewers) Recipe

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Yakitori Ingredients:

• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 2/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 8 pieces boneless chicken breast tenderloins
• 3 green onions
• Sesame seeds

How To Make Yakitori:

Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger. Add them to a sauce pan over medium-heat and cook about two minutes.

Add the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, mirin, and rice vinegar.

Small aside: Many yakitori sauce recipes will call for sake (a Japanese rice wine, which is alcoholic). The alcohol in sake does evaporate when cooked, so it’s safe to use if you’re making recipes for anyone under 21. But, I use rice vinegar as a substitution in my yakitori sauce because we generally don’t have sake at home.

Heat the liquid until it comes to a boil. Then, very quickly, lower the temperature and simmer for four minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Run six wooden skewers under water.

Clean the chicken and cut it into cubes.

Thread the chicken onto the skewers, stopping about halfway down the skewer to leave yourself a “handle” for cooking and eating.

Heat a grill (charcoal is traditional; propane is easier; either is fine) to about 350 F. Lay the skewers across the grill, leaving the “handle” off the grill.

Let them cook one minute, flip, let them cook another minute, allowing for grill marks to sear on the chicken.

Baste the sauce on one side of the chicken, let it cook a minute, then flip it, and baste the other side.

Continue this process for about eight to ten minutes until the chicken has reached 165 F. The sauce on the chicken will have a beautiful caramel color on it when its done.

Take the chicken off the grill and add one more coat of the sauce. Add chopped green onions and sesame seeds before serving.

Traditionally you would eat this on the stick as you walk around yomise. That’s why you want to leave a long “handle” at the end of the skewer. If you’re serving this at home, you can serve it over a bowl of rice.

Yakitori: Frequently Asked Questions

What to serve with yakitori?

If you’re making these yakitori for dinner, you can serve them over rice or with Yakimeshi (Chinese Fried Rice). You can also serve yakitori with Yaki-Udon, which is an udon stir fry.

Have you tried this Yakitori (Grilled Chicken Skewers) recipe yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments.