How to Cook Yakitori at Home on a Hibachi Grill — Easy Aussie Guide

How to Cook Yakitori at Home on a Hibachi Grill

Yakitori is one of those things that sounds fancy but is actually ridiculously simple. It's chicken on sticks, cooked over charcoal. That's it. The Japanese have been doing it for centuries, and once you try it at home on a hibachi grill, you'll wonder why you ever bothered with anything more complicated for a weeknight dinner.

I started making yakitori after a trip to a little laneway joint in Melbourne's CBD where they charged $6 per skewer. Six bucks. For what turned out to be about 80 grams of chicken thigh on a bamboo stick. Tasted incredible, but I figured there had to be a way to do this at home without taking out a second mortgage.

Turns out, you can. And it's genuinely better than most restaurant yakitori because you're eating it 30 seconds off the grill instead of waiting for someone to walk it to your table.

What Is Yakitori, Exactly?

Yakitori (焼き鳥) literally means "grilled bird" in Japanese. Traditionally, it's chicken — every part of the chicken — threaded onto bamboo skewers and grilled over binchotan (Japanese white charcoal).

In Japan, yakitori joints are serious business. The cook (yakitori-ya) trains for years, mastering the timing of each cut over coals that burn at a steady 400-500°C. They'll serve everything from thigh meat (momo) to skin (kawa), cartilage (nankotsu), heart, liver, and tail. It's nose-to-tail eating at its finest.

At home, you don't need to go that deep. Chicken thigh and breast skewers with a proper tare sauce will blow people away. But once you get comfortable, branching into other cuts is half the fun.

The Two Styles: Tare and Shio

Tare (タレ): Sweet soy glaze. This is the one most people know — sticky, caramelised, slightly sweet and salty. Applied during grilling so it chars and glazes onto the chicken.

Shio (塩): Just salt. Sounds boring, but on quality chicken cooked over proper charcoal, salt-only yakitori is amazing. The chicken flavour shines through, and the charcoal smoke does the rest.

We'll cover both, but the tare sauce recipe is the one you'll keep coming back to.

Equipment You Need

The Grill

A hibachi grill is ideal for yakitori because the narrow, rectangular shape means you can lay skewers across the width with the handles hanging off the edges — keeping the bamboo from burning while the chicken sits right over the coals.

Any of the WillBBQ hibachi grills from 40cm upward will work brilliantly. A 40-60cm grill fits about 8-12 skewers at a time, which is perfect for 2-4 people.

If you're doing yakitori for a bigger group (party, family gathering), the 120cm hibachi is a beast — you can line up 25-30 skewers across it and keep a constant rotation going.

Can you do yakitori on a Weber kettle or gas BBQ? Technically yes, but the skewers tend to fall through the grate gaps, the heat isn't as concentrated, and you lose that intimate, cook-at-the-table vibe that makes yakitori special.

Skewers

Flat bamboo skewers (not round) are the go. The flat shape stops the chicken from spinning when you flip them. You want 18-20cm length for home yakitori — long enough to hold 4-5 pieces of chicken with a handle to grip.

Soak bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes before using them. Yeah, I know, everyone says this doesn't actually help much. It does on a hibachi, trust me. The coals are close and hot, and dry bamboo will catch fire in about 90 seconds.

Metal skewers work too, and you can find stainless steel ones in our accessories range. They're reusable, don't burn, and conduct heat into the centre of the meat (which actually helps it cook more evenly). The tradeoff is they get hot as hell, so you need tongs to handle them.

Charcoal

Lump hardwood charcoal is what you want. Ironbark is brilliant — burns hot and clean with minimal smoke once it's established. If you want to go full authentic, grab some mangrove charcoal from an Asian grocer (about $8-15 for 5kg) which is the closest you'll get to binchotan without paying $50 a kilo.

For a yakitori session, you need about 1.5-2kg of lump charcoal. Light it in a chimney starter 20 minutes before you want to cook.

Other Bits

Tongs: Small, nimble ones. Not the massive Bunnings ones you use for snags. Kitchen tongs or Japanese-style chopstick tongs work best.

Basting brush: For applying tare sauce. A silicone brush works, but a traditional Japanese hake brush (wide, flat) gives better coverage.

Small fan: A folding hand fan or even a piece of cardboard. Traditional yakitori cooks use a fan (uchiwa) to control coal temperature. Sounds wanky but it actually works — a few quick fans blast oxygen onto the coals right when you need a burst of heat for searing.

Chicken Prep: Cuts and Skewering

Thigh Meat (Momo) — The Best Starting Point

Chicken thigh is the king of yakitori. More fat than breast, which keeps it juicy over intense charcoal heat. More flavour. More forgiving if you overcook it by 30 seconds.

Prep: Buy boneless, skinless thighs (or bone-in and debone them yourself — it's easy and cheaper). Cut each thigh into roughly 3cm cubes. You want them fairly uniform so they cook at the same rate.

Skewering: Thread 4-5 pieces onto each skewer, pushing them together snugly so there aren't gaps. Gaps mean uneven cooking and dry edges. The pieces should be touching but not compressed — you want heat to reach all sides.

Breast Meat (Mune)

Chicken breast gets a bad rap for being dry, but on a hibachi it actually works well because the intense heat sears the outside quickly while the inside stays juicy. The key is cutting it into thin pieces — about 2cm cubes or thin strips — and not overcooking it. Pull breast skewers at 73°C internal, which takes about 3-4 minutes total over hot coals.

Chicken Skin (Kawa)

This is a yakitori classic and honestly one of the best things you'll ever eat off a grill. Take chicken skins (buy them separately or save them when you prep thighs), fold them accordion-style onto skewers so you get layers of skin, and grill over high heat until crispy and rendered.

They take about 5-6 minutes, turning frequently. The fat renders out and drips onto the coals, creating flavour smoke that comes right back up into the skin. Salty, crispy, smoky. Dangerously good with a cold beer.

Green Onion and Chicken (Negima)

This is another absolute classic. Alternate pieces of chicken thigh with 3cm lengths of spring onion (the thick white parts work best) on the skewer. The spring onion chars on the outside and goes sweet and soft inside. The combination with the chicken and tare sauce is unreal.

Tsukune (Chicken Meatballs)

Mince 500g of chicken thigh (or use store-bought mince), mix with 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 2 finely chopped spring onions, and 1 egg yolk. Form into oval shapes around the skewers and grill, turning carefully, for about 8 minutes. Glaze with tare sauce in the last 2 minutes. Serve with a raw egg yolk for dipping if you're feeling traditional.

Tare Sauce Recipe (The Good Stuff)

This is the sauce that makes yakitori yakitori. It takes 20 minutes to make, keeps in the fridge for weeks, and you'll start putting it on everything.

Ingredients

200ml soy sauce (Japanese style like Kikkoman — not the cheap stuff)
200ml mirin (real mirin from the Asian grocery, not "seasoning")
100ml sake (cooking sake is fine, or just use whatever you'd drink)
50g sugar (white or raw, doesn't matter much)
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3cm piece of ginger, sliced

Method

Step 1: Combine everything in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Step 2: Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until it reduces by about a third and gets syrupy. It should coat the back of a spoon.

Step 3: Strain out the garlic and ginger (or leave them in if you're lazy — it's fine). Let it cool.

Step 4: Pour into a jar. It thickens further as it cools. If it gets too thick, thin it with a splash of mirin or water.

That's it. This makes enough for 40-50 skewers. Store it in the fridge and it lasts a month easily.

Pro Tip: Build Your Tare Over Time

In proper yakitori restaurants, the tare pot is never emptied. They top it up with fresh ingredients and keep it going for months — sometimes years. The accumulated chicken juices and charcoal flavours create depth you can't get from a fresh batch. If you're making yakitori regularly, keep your tare pot going. Add a splash of fresh soy and mirin after each session to top it up.

Cooking Technique

Fire Setup

You want a bed of coals about 8-10cm deep in the firebox, glowing orange with a thin layer of white ash. No flames — flames mean soot on your chicken. If you see flames, let the coals settle for another few minutes or spread them out.

The cooking grate should sit about 5-8cm above the coals. Closer = hotter = faster sear. For thigh meat, closer is better. For breast meat, back off slightly.

Cooking Process

Salt style (shio): Season skewers generously with flaky salt on all sides right before they go on the grill. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side (4-6 minutes total for thigh, 3-4 for breast). That's it. Don't overcomplicate it.

Tare style: Start by grilling the skewers plain for 2 minutes per side to get some colour and cook them about 70% through. Then dip or brush with tare sauce, return to the grill for 30 seconds, flip, brush again, 30 seconds more. Repeat the dip-and-grill once more. You want 2-3 coats of tare, each one slightly caramelising before the next goes on.

The tare will drip onto the coals and create sweet, aromatic smoke. This is exactly what you want — it's part of the flavour. But it can also cause flare-ups, so keep an eye on it and move skewers to a cooler spot if flames appear.

Key Tips

Turn frequently. Unlike a steak where you flip once, yakitori benefits from frequent turning — every 60-90 seconds. This builds up an even char and prevents one side from burning.

Don't walk away. Yakitori cooks fast and the line between perfect and burnt is about 30 seconds. Stay at the grill. This is meant to be the activity, not something happening in the background.

Rest briefly. Pull skewers and let them rest for 60 seconds before serving. Not long — they're small pieces and cool fast. But a short rest lets the juices redistribute.

Serve immediately. Yakitori is best consumed within 2 minutes of coming off the grill. Don't batch-cook 50 skewers and let them sit. Cook in rounds of 8-10, serve, cook more while people eat.

Serving Suggestions

In Japan, yakitori is typically served with:

Japanese rice: Short grain, slightly sticky. Cook it in a rice cooker with a splash of rice vinegar stirred through. Scoop it into small bowls.

Shredded cabbage: Raw, with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of sesame oil. Sounds simple, tastes brilliant as a palate cleanser between rich, smoky skewers.

Pickles: Quick-pickled cucumber (slice, salt, rice vinegar, touch of sugar, 30 minutes) cuts through the richness perfectly.

Beer: A cold Asahi, Sapporo, or Kirin. Or honestly, a local pale ale works just as well. Yakitori and cold beer is one of the great food combinations.

Shichimi togarashi: Japanese seven-spice blend. A shake of this over your finished skewers adds a gentle chilli heat with citrus and sesame notes. You can find it at any Asian grocer for a few bucks.

Full Yakitori Night Menu (For 4 People)

Here's what I'd prep for a proper yakitori session at home:

Chicken: 800g boneless thigh (about 20 momo skewers), 4 chicken skins (4 kawa skewers), 8 spring onions (8 negima skewers with 400g thigh). That's 32 skewers — 8 per person.

Vegetables: 8 shiitake mushroom caps on skewers (brush with soy and mirin), cherry tomatoes wrapped in bacon on skewers, capsicum pieces.

Sides: Rice, shredded cabbage, pickled cucumber, edamame (frozen ones from the supermarket, boiled and salted).

Tare sauce: One batch (recipe above) is more than enough.

Charcoal: About 2kg of lump charcoal for a 60cm hibachi. Light it 20 minutes before your guests arrive.

Budget: About $40-50 for everything (assuming you already have the grill and basic pantry items). Compare that to $25-40 per person at a yakitori restaurant.

Common Mistakes

Pieces too big: If your chicken chunks are bigger than 3cm, they'll burn on the outside before cooking through. Keep them uniform and snug on the skewer.

Grill too cool: Yakitori needs high heat. If your coals have died down to a gentle glow, fan them or add fresh charcoal and wait for it to catch. Cooking yakitori over weak coals gives you steamed, grey chicken instead of charred, juicy chicken.

Applying tare too early: The sugar in tare burns fast. If you brush it on from the start, you'll get bitter, black skewers. Cook the chicken 70% through first, then add the sauce for the final couple of minutes.

Overcrowding: Leave a small gap between skewers on the grill so heat reaches all sides evenly. And keep one section of the grill clear as a "safe zone" to move skewers if they flare up.

Get Started

Yakitori at home is genuinely one of the easiest and most impressive things you can cook on a hibachi. The prep is minimal, the technique is straightforward, and the results are restaurant-quality every time. Plus it's social — everyone sits around the grill, has a beer, grabs skewers as they're ready. Perfect midweek dinner or Saturday night with mates.

Need a grill? Our hibachi range starts at $50, and the bundle deals come with skewers and accessories so you've got everything for your first yakitori session. Free shipping on grills and orders over $50.