{"id":109718,"title":"Authentic Yakitori Sauce (Tare)","modified":"2025-10-29T16:19:35+01:00","plain":"The authentic yakitori sauce recipe, a simple recipe with only 5 ingredients but an unforgettable taste\n\n\n\nSome mysteries will always be as elusive as a runaway wheel of camembert\u2014\u201cWho is Ornicar?\u201d, \u201cWas Lady GaGa ever a man?\u201d, and \u201cHow do you actually make that famous tare that tastes just like our favorite yakitori vendor\u2019s?\u201d\n\n\n\nWhat is yakitori sauce?\n\n\n\nTare is a bit like the secret sauce of the skewer samurai. The one that coats the grilled chicken on Tokyo\u2019s streets is a gentle blend of shoyu (that\u2019s just \u201csoy sauce\u201d in Japanese, but let\u2019s admit it sounds fancier this way) and sugar, with a bold touch of complexity thrown in.\n\n\n\nThese recipes are guarded as closely as the last croissant in a Paris bakery, with every yakitori-ya adding their own twist to strike the perfect balance between salt, sweetness, and umami.\n\n\n\nUse the sauce from this article instead of the simplified sauce from my yakitori skewers for an unforgettable treat\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s the difference between teriyaki sauce and yakitori sauce?\n\n\n\nTeriyaki sauce is a classic in Japanese cooking. It\u2019s made with soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. It\u2019s super versatile\u2014you can use it to marinate or glaze all kinds of dishes, it\u2019s really great.\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s talk about yakitori sauce. It\u2019s made specifically for yakitori chicken skewers or even tsukune meatballs. The recipe is pretty similar to teriyaki sauce\u2014soy sauce, mirin\/sake, and sugar\u2014but it has one special touch: dashi stock.\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s one of the big differences between these two sauces. Also, yakitori sauce is often reduced until it\u2019s nice and thick, so it really clings to the chicken skewers as they cook. So, even though these two sauces share key ingredients, they\u2019re made and used in slightly different ways.\n\n\n\nHow do you use yakitori sauce?\n\n\n\nAh, yakitori! There\u2019s a whole world of misinformation swirling around this concept.\n\n\n\nFirst, let me clear up a bit of confusion about those famous yakitori beef and cheese skewers, which I\u2019ve posted the recipe for on this site. Don\u2019t be fooled\u2014despite their exotic name, these cheesy delights are as French as the Eiffel Tower or a good old grumble about the weather.\n\n\n\nThe famous beef skewers\n\n\n\nAnd now, let\u2019s move on to another hot topic\u2014hotter than the last World Cup final: how to use the sauce. No matter what you might hear, this sauce isn\u2019t meant for marinating\u2014no way!\n\n\n\nThis is a glazing sauce, more artistic than a brush dipped in a painter\u2019s palette. You use it during cooking, brushing your skewers several times with a kitchen brush (or even an old scrap of cloth\u2014no need to be fancy here), just like an impressionist painter at work.\n\n\n\nThere you go, you\u2019ve got the well-kept secrets of yakitori\u2026 well, not all of them\u2014I\u2019m saving a few for next time!\n\n\n\nYakitori sauce ingredients\n\n\n\nMirin: Mirin is a type of sweet Japanese sake that\u2019s often used in cooking to add sweetness and shine to dishes. In this recipe, it gives the sauce a subtle sweetness and a beautiful gloss.\n\n\n\nSugar: Sugar adds sweetness to the sauce and also helps balance out the salty flavor of the shoyu. Plus, when cooked at high heat with the mirin, sugar helps reduce the sauce and gives it its overall texture.\n\n\n\nShoyu: Shoyu, or Japanese soy sauce, is the main ingredient in this sauce and gives it its signature dark brown color along with its salty, umami flavor. High-quality shoyu will give the sauce a richer, deeper taste. I recommend getting some tamari sauce.\n\n\n\nDashi powder: Dashi is a classic Japanese stock made from ingredients like kombu (dried kelp) and bonito flakes. Dashi powder is used to add more umami flavor to the sauce.\n\n\n\nKuzu: Kuzu (or kudzu) is a starch often used as a thickener in Japanese cooking. In this recipe, it\u2019s dissolved in water and added to the sauce to give it a thicker, smoother texture. You can swap it for cornstarch or potato starch if needed.\n\n\n\nYakitori sauce recipe\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAuthentic Yakitori Sauce\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t100 ml mirin125 g sugar400 ml light soy sauce1 teaspoon dashi powder1 tablespoon kuzu (for thickening)\t\n\t\n\t\tPour the mirin and sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until the liquid reduces by one-third.Add the dashi powder and soy sauce, then bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Dissolve about one tablespoon of kuzu in a little cold water, then stir it into the sauce.Continue stirring for another 3 minutes, until the sauce is glossy and slightly thick.\t\n\t\n\t\tTo check if the sauce has reduced enough in the first step, pour a small amount of the mixture into cold water. If it forms a soft ball as it cools, the reduction is sufficient.\nYou can substitute potato starch or cornstarch for kuzu, but the texture won't be quite the same.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tSauceJaponaisesauce brochette, sauce yakitori, yakitori","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110216,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109718\/revisions\/110216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}