Japanese Vegetable Skewers aka Vegetable Yakitori

Eating grilled vegetables off a stick is simply the best, it’s the only way to do it! The best grilled vegetable yakitori I’ve ever had were in Tokyo. I still dream of them today: fresh from the farm vegetables skewered onto wooden sticks lightly grilled over charcoal and dipped in an addictive sweet and savory sauce.

If you love grilled vegetables, you’re going to love Japanese grilled vegetable yakitori.

Eating grilled vegetables off a stick is simply the best, it’s the only way to do it! The best grilled vegetable yakitori I’ve ever had were in Tokyo. I still dream of them today: fresh from the farm vegetables skewered onto wooden sticks lightly grilled over charcoal and dipped in an addictive sweet and savory sauce.

If you’ve been to Japan, you’ve most likely have indulged in yakitori: smoky, tender, juicy skewers of grilled chicken either dipped in a savory sauce or sprinkled with salt. Yakitori is the ultimate food. It can be fancy (think 3 Michelin starred restaurants) or be made at home. The chicken yakitori is amazing, but even better are the vegetable skewers. Most fancy yakitori places actually place higher value on the vegetable skewers because seasonal vegetables are exceptional and high value in Japan. You can get special vegetables like the first negi of spring(extra large Japanese green onions) or roasted gingko nuts.

What is yakitori?

Yakitori is Japan’s answer to grilled chicken. Yakitori is bite-size pieces of chicken threaded onto skewers and grilled over binchotan, a special Japanese charcoal that gets extra hot. The skewers come seasoned with salt (shio) or sauce (tare).

Is yakitori chicken only?

Yakitori is technically chicken but colloquially, people refer to all grilled Japanese skewers as yakitori. Even at specialized yakitori shops, they have skewers of things like quail eggs, beef, pork, mochi, and vegetables.