Yakitori (焼き鳥, やきとり), lit. roast chicken, is a Japanese type of chicken kebab.

Traditional yakitori consists only of various chicken parts and vegetables, but in modern usage refers to any sort of beef, pork, fish, seafood or vegetable kebab, which get skewered on skewers named kushi. Yakitori is typically served with salt or tare sauce, which is basically made up of mirin, sweet sake, soy sauce and sugar. The sauce is applied on the skewered meat and is grilled till delicately cooked and is served with the tare sauce as a dip.

Yakitori is a very popular dish in Japan and throughout Asia. In Japan, many working people grab a yakitori lunch box from yakitori stalls on the way home from work.

Common yakitori dishes

• yotsumi (四つ身, chicken breast)
• atsuage tofu (厚揚げとうふ, deep-fat fried tofu)
• enoki maki (エノキ巻き, enoki mushrooms wrapped in slices of pork)
• piman (ピーマン, green pepper)
• negi (ねぎ, green onions)
• nankotsu (軟骨, chicken cartilage)
• rebaa (レバー, liver)

Similar dishes

Brochette (French), Espetada (Portuguese), Satay (Oriental), Shashlik (Russian), Shish kebab (Persian), Souvlaki or Kalamaki (Greek)

See also

• Japanese cuisine
• skewer