isithalal.food

Halal-conscious recipe

Yakitori, no mirin or sake

Skewers of Halal chicken thigh and spring onion pan-cooked and brushed with a glossy soy and sugar glaze, made with plain rice vinegar and water instead of mirin and sake.

  • Cuisine Japanese
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 4 skewers
  • Time 40 min
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
Sliced chicken teriyaki with a dark glaze
Photograph from our ingredient library: chicken teriyaki, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Flickr.com user "Blue Lotus" · CC BY 2.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The yakitori glaze is soy sauce cooked down with 100 ml of mirin and 50 ml of sake, both rice wines, and the chicken thighs need Halal slaughter.

Yakitori is grilled chicken on skewers, and the Halal questions are in the glaze. The source cooks soy sauce down with 100 ml of mirin and 50 ml of sake. Sake is an alcoholic drink this site rates Haram, and scholars differ on mirin, so this version leaves both out.

It follows Elena Silcock's yakitori chicken for BBC Good Food, with water, a spoonful of plain rice vinegar and a little more sugar in place of the rice wines, the same approach as our teriyaki recipe. Those amounts are our substitution, not the source's. Read the soy sauce label for added alcohol or mirin, and start with Halal chicken thighs.

The chicken cooks gently in a frying pan for about 10 minutes, brushed with the glaze as it turns.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Mirin The published glaze uses 100 ml of mirin, a rice wine with about 14% alcohol. Scholars differ: MuslimSG says it is not Halal, while Muhammadiyah allows it cooked off for Muslims in Japan only. Left out here; water, plain rice vinegar and a little more sugar stand in. See Mirin.
  • Sake The published glaze adds 50 ml of sake, a Japanese alcoholic drink brewed from rice, which this site rates Haram. Left out here. See Sake.
  • Soy sauce Brewed soy sauce is accepted by many scholars for its trace alcohol, but a label listing added alcohol or mirin changes that. Read the label for added alcohol or mirin. See Soy sauce.
  • Chicken thighs Chicken is a Halal bird, but slaughter decides whether the meat is Halal. Buy from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Chicken.

Safe substitutes

  • 100 ml mirin and 50 ml sake → 150 ml water, 1 tbsp plain rice vinegar and 1 extra tbsp sugar

Allergens

soy (soy sauce), gluten (soy sauce)

Ingredients

Glaze

  • 100 ml soy sauce with no added alcohol on the label
  • 150 ml water (instead of 100 ml mirin and 50 ml sake)
  • 1 tbsp plain rice vinegar, not seasoned with mirin
  • 3 tbsp caster sugar (2 tbsp in the source, plus 1 for the mirin)

Skewers

  • 500 g Halal boneless, skinless chicken thighs, in 3 cm chunks
  • 4 spring onions, each cut into three
  • 4 flat bamboo skewers, soaked in water

Method

  1. Soak the skewers. Soak the bamboo skewers in a bowl of water while you prepare everything else, so they do not burn.
  2. Make the glaze. Put the soy sauce, water, rice vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes until glossy.
  3. Thread the skewers. Thread each skewer with a piece of Halal chicken, then a piece of spring onion, and repeat twice more so each skewer is well stacked.
  4. Cook and glaze. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat; cook the chicken fairly gently so it soaks up the sauce. Put the skewers in the pan and brush with the glaze. Cook for 10 minutes, turning regularly and brushing on all the glaze, until the chicken is cooked through. Serve straight away.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Yakitori chicken' by Elena Silcock (serves 4: 100 ml soy sauce, 100 ml mirin, 50 ml sake and 2 tbsp caster sugar cooked over a medium heat about 15 minutes until glossy; 500 g boneless skinless chicken thighs in 3 cm chunks threaded with spring onion on 4 soaked flat bamboo skewers; cooked gently in a frying pan for 10 minutes, turning and brushing with all the sauce). We specified Halal chicken thighs and replaced the mirin and sake with 150 ml water, 1 tbsp plain rice vinegar and 1 extra tbsp sugar, following the sugar-and-vinegar approach of our teriyaki recipe; those amounts are our substitution, not the source's. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Yakitori chicken — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Elena Silcock. Serves 4, prep 15 minutes, cook 25 minutes: 100 ml soy sauce, 100 ml mirin, 50 ml sake and 2 tbsp sugar cooked about 15 minutes; 500 g chicken thigh chunks and spring onion on 4 skewers, pan-cooked 10 minutes and brushed with the sauce. We replaced the mirin and sake.

  2. Mirin analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Mirin as a rice wine, and where scholars differ on cooking with it.

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