Yakitori Sauce

Here in Colorado Springs there's an awesome little Japanese restuarant that I've been going to for over 25 years now, called The House of Yakitori. They serve, yes that's right, Yakitori! Yakitori for those of you who don't know is skewered pieces of chicken, cooked over a charcoal grill, glazed with a delightful sweet sauce that is similar to teriyaki, but yakitori sauce is thicker, richer and a lot more flavorful than teriyaki sauce. For years I've been saying that I need to make my own yak sauce (as we fondly refer to it) and yet getting it just right has elluded the Witch, until now!

After many, many, many taste tests at the restaurant I was fairly confident that I knew what was in the sauce. Soy sauce, that was a given. Sugar, most likely brown sugar seemed right as well. And yet, time after time, it STILL wasn't yak sauce. Good teriyaki sauce, sure but yak sauce, no. What was missing I wondered?

Hours were spent at the Asian Pacific grocery, staring at the products in the 'SAUCES' aisle (and let me tell you thats a BIG aisle there!) wondering what I needed to take my sauce from good teriyaki to holy cow that's it Yakitori sauce. Then it hit me. Mirin! Mirin is a rice wine product with a very high sugar content. And it is EXACTLY what my yak sauce was missing.

The joy on the faces of my daughter, nephew, sister and husband was aparent when I offered them a sample of my yak sauce. At first they all looked at it like "oh sure Witch, you've claimed to make yak sauce before and its just NOT the same!" Then they try a sip. Their faces changed from dismay to delight, eyes light up and my wonderful wonderful nephew Ben even proclaimed "this is BETTER than yakitori sauce, it has more flavor and isn't as sweet as theirs!" The boy is almost 10 and is a genius, what can I say? :)

So here it is dear readers. Yakitori sauce. Its rich, thick, syrupy, sweet, salty, savory, umami laden and delicious. Perfect on grilled meats, especially chicken and beef. Because of its high sugar content it will burn quickly on the grill so use a judicious hand when dolling out the sauce over the coals. I sincerely hope you all enjoy this as much as we do!

Yakitori sauce
makes about 8 servings
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 T rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic whole, crushed with back of knife

Combine everything in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer. Remove garlic cloves after 5 minutes of simmering. Continue to cook until sauce has reduced and is a thick syrup.



Chicken skewers:
1 lb chicken thighs boneless and skinless, cleaned and cut into chunks for skewering
2 T yakitori sauce
1 T soy sauce
bamboo skewers, soaked in water a minimum of 30 min before grilling

marinate chicken in the sauces for 1 hour. While chicken marinates soak the bamboo skewers in water. The moister the skewers are the less chances there is that they'll burn up on the grill.

Skewer about 2 oz of chicken on each skewer. Grill over hot charcoal until done.
Drizzle with yakitori sauce when finished.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Yakitori sauce only
Amount Per Serving
Calories 101.4
Total Fat 0.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 1,054.0 mg
Potassium 85.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 26.4 g

Nutrition Facts
Chicken skewer with sauce, 1 each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 183.5
Total Fat 2.7 g
Saturated Fat 0.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Cholesterol 57.3 mg
Sodium 1,113.4 mg
Potassium 244.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 26.4 g
Protein 14.6 g
Protein 1.0 g