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Japanese

Yakitori tare

Non-vegetarian

焼き鳥のタレ · yakitori no tare

Soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar slowly reduced with charred chicken wings and spring onion into a thick, glossy, savoury-sweet basting sauce for grilled skewers.

Yakitori tare is a Japanese sauce, ready in about 40 minutes and made with soy sauce and mirin. It serves 12 and is rated easy to cook.

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Prep
5 min
Cook
35 min
Total
40 min
Serves
12
Level
Easy
Calories
40

Ingredients

12 servings (about 20 ml)

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    If using the wings (opens in a new tab), sear them in a dry grill pan (opens in a new tab) over medium-high heat for 8–10 minutes, turning with tongs (opens in a new tab), until well charred and the fat has rendered.

    Meat searing in a hot pan
    How it looks · Photo: Skylar Kang on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Put the soy sauce (opens in a new tab), mirin (opens in a new tab), sake (opens in a new tab), sugar (opens in a new tab), spring onion (opens in a new tab) and the charred wings (opens in a new tab) into a saucepan (opens in a new tab). Bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Step 3

    Lower the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 20–25 minutes until reduced by about a third and syrupy: it should coat a spoon in a glossy film and form slow, thick bubbles. Watch closely at the end, because the sugar (opens in a new tab) can catch.

  4. Step 4

    Strain into a clean jar, discarding the wings (opens in a new tab) and onion. The tare thickens as it cools.

    Liquid being strained through a sieve
    How it looks · Photo: Katerina Holmes on Pexels

  5. Step 5

    To use, brush or dip skewers into the tare two or three times during the last minutes of grilling, letting each coat caramelise until glossy before the next.

    • 1 min
    • medium-high heat
    Food cooking over a grill
    How it looks · Photo: Malte Luk on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
Japan · Well documentedYakitori shops keep a master tare that is topped up and reboiled for years, often enriched by dipping grilled chicken into it. This is a home version with charred wings for the same depth.More food from Japan
Dish
Dinner · Snack · Sauces
Cooking method
Simmered, Grilled
Taste
sweet & savoury, umami, smoky
Diet
Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · Low-carb
All labelsNon-vegetarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-carb · Low-fat
Without the optional extras: Vegan, Plant-based, Vegetarian (lacto-ovo), Eggetarian, Lacto-vegetarian, Ovo-vegetarian, PescatarianWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Make-ahead
Cook more with
Soy sauce · Mirin · Sake · Sugar · Spring onion
Techniques
Grilling · Searing · Charcoal grilling · Boiling · Simmering

Allergens

  • Contains: Wheatfrom soy sauce
  • Contains: Glutenfrom soy sauce
  • Contains: Soyfrom soy sauce

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

40 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 22 g · recipe makes 12

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 17%
  • Carbohydrate 80%
  • Fat 4%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g
Energy40 kcal186 kcal
Protein1 g4.8 g
Carbohydrate4.8 g22.1 g
Net carbohydrate4.7 g21.5 g
Sugars3.4 g15.7 g
Added sugars——
Fibre0.1 g0.6 g
Fat0.1 g0.3 g
Saturated fat0 g0 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol0 mg0 mg
Sodium632 mg2918 mg
Salt equivalent1.6 g7.3 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
59 mg
Calcium
6 mg
Iron
0.2 mg
Magnesium
10 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
1 µg
Vitamin C
0 mg
Vitamin D
0 µg
Vitamin B12
0 µg
Folate (DFE)
3 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: chicken wings.
  • Mirin: Sake (FDC 167723) used as a stand-in; true mirin is sweeter, so sugar is underestimated.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Keep topping up the jar with fresh soy, mirin and sugar and reboiling it, as yakitori shops do; the flavour deepens with time.

Common mistakes

  • Brushing on tare from the start of grilling, which burns the sugar before the chicken is cooked.

Serve with

  • Yakitori (negima, tsukune, chicken thigh).
  • Grilled eel or salmon (kabayaki style).
  • Drizzle over rice bowls of grilled chicken or pork.

Food safety

  • If chicken is used for flavour or skewers are dipped into the jar, reboil the tare before storing and keep it refrigerated.
  • Never dip raw-meat skewers into the main jar; pour off what you need.

Storage

  • Refrigerate in a clean jar for up to 2 weeks; bring to the boil before reusing if you have dipped cooked meat into it.

Variations

  • Unagi tare (Japan): Thicker and sweeter, enriched by grilled eel heads and bones.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Goes with

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

  • Chicken wings, 2 wings, patted dry and grilled or pan-seared until charred all over (optional)150 g
Used in steps 1, 2

Make it milder, swap ingredients for your diet, change the batch size or thickness — the original stays as it is.

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