Sauce yakitori maison : la recette de la tare et des brochettes laquées

Homemade yakitori sauce: a recipe for tare and glazed skewers

Aperitif 30min Easy

Ingredients

for Serves 4 (12 skewers)

120 ml soy sauce
80 ml mirin
60 ml sake
40 g of brown sugar
600 g of boneless chicken thighs
2 slim leeks or 1 bunch of spring onions
Bamboo skewers

In short: for homemade yakitori sauce, bring 120 ml soy sauce, 80 ml mirin, 60 ml sake and 40 g brown sugar to a gentle simmer, then reduce over a low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce coats a spoon. Brush it onto the skewers several times towards the end of cooking.

Tare is the glossy sauce used to glaze yakitori, the grilled chicken skewers ordered at izakaya counters. Shiny, sweet and savoury, and lightly caramelised, it takes just 15 minutes to make with four ingredients. Here’s how to make the sauce and the skewers, and cook them over charcoal on a Japanese barbecue.

Homemade yakitori sauce (tare)

Ingredient	Quantity	Role
Soy sauce	120 ml	salty, umami-rich
Mirin	80 ml	gloss, rounded flavour
Sake	60 ml	adds flavour, tenderises the meat
Brown sugar	40 g	glazing

Pour all the ingredients into a small saucepan.
Bring to a gentle simmer to dissolve the sugar and evaporate the alcohol.
Simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes to reduce. The sauce will thicken further as it cools, so stop when it coats the back of a spoon.

In izakaya, tare is often enriched over successive services with the juices and grilled trimmings from the skewers. At home, you can recreate this flavour by grilling a chicken wing or two pieces of skin and steeping them in the sauce as it reduces, then straining it.

It keeps for two weeks in the fridge. Short on time? Our Yakitori no tare sauce is ready to use.

Japanese Yakitori no tare sauce

Which cuts of chicken should you choose?

Boneless chicken thigh is the best cut for yakitori: its meat stays juicy over the coals. Breast works too, provided you cook it for less time. In Japan, each part has its own name and skewer: negima for chicken alternated with leek, tsukune for meatballs and kawa for crispy skin. Allow 600 g of meat for twelve skewers.

The skewers, step by step

Cut the chicken thighs into roughly 2 cm cubes and the thin leeks into 3 cm lengths.
Add a drizzle of sauce to the chicken pieces and mix well to coat each cube evenly.
Thread 4 pieces onto each skewer, alternating with the leek.
Cook the skewers, turning them regularly so they cook evenly.
Brush with sauce two or three times during the last few minutes to glaze the skewers and intensify the flavours.
Serve while still hot, sprinkled with sesame seeds or shichimi.

Tip: soak the bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes so they do not burn, and thread the pieces closely together so they do not spin on the skewer.

Cooking over charcoal

In Japan, yakitori are grilled on a konro, a narrow barbecue made from diatomaceous earth that retains heat, over binchotan charcoal, which burns fiercely with almost no smoke. The meat sears without drying out, and the sauce caramelises without burning. Our Konro barbecue holds the skewers across the embers; for help choosing fuel, see our guide to binchotan charcoal.

In a frying pan or oven, cook for 8 to 10 minutes over a medium heat with a drizzle of oil, adding the sauce only towards the end so it does not burn.

Square Japanese Konro barbecue B-4 for yakitori

Yakitori or teriyaki?

Both start with soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Yakitori tare is reduced further and used to glaze grilled skewers; teriyaki refers to cooking with a glaze in a pan, as in our teriyaki chicken. For a change, try tsukune, skewered chicken meatballs coated in the same sauce.

The flavour of the tare depends first on the Japanese soy sauce you choose: a slowly brewed sauce, such as Kamebishi soy sauce, gives the glaze greater depth. The same base flavours the tare in a shoyu ramen recipe, a soy sauce dressing or a scallop salad with yuzu ponzu.