Beef Yakitori:
Flavorful strips of beef that are skewered and grilled or broiled. The beef is marinated in bold asian flavors, reminiscent of teriyaki sauce, but less sweet with a more complex flavor profile.
Serve with chow mein, roasted broccoli, and your favorite mocktail.
You guys, I love this recipe for beef yakitori. It is one of my favorite ways to prepare beef.
Yakitori traditionally means skewered chicken, but in America, we pretty much call anything skewered yakitori, and I am totally okay with that. Traditionally yakitori is also cooked over an open flame, but I don’t always have the ability to grill it. So I am offering a recipe for broiling these beef strips.
Why I Love Beef Yakitori
- Freezes well: I love this recipe is because it is so good fresh, but it freezes well too. I love when I cam make something ahead. This recipe can be prepared in advance, and pulled out on busy days. Just pull it out of the freezer in the morning, and let it defrost.
- Budget friendly: This recipe uses the cheap cut of steaks, so it is budget friendly. The marinade is awesome, and can help make a tougher, cheaper cut taste amazing.
- Great leftovers: This makes a great second meal. The flavors just get better.
Tips for Beef Yakitori:
- Marinate long enough: the recipe says to marinate for at least 30 minutes, but I say marinate longer if you can. It is so nice to get a really flavorful bite of beef, so if you plan ahead and can marinate longer, do it.
- Cut the beef thin. This recipe uses a cut of beef that isn’t traditionally super tender. If you don’t want it to be too chewy, cut that beef nice and thin so it has a chance to break down a little in the marinade, and so you can eat it without having to tear at it.
- Cook right: Beef is great a little under done, so get a nice sear or some of those fun crispy, broiled, caramelized spots, but don’t overcook it, you want to retain the flavor of the beef.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and green onion. The garnish gives it more flavor, and a freshness, so don’t skip it!
Traditionally sake or mirin is also used in beef yakitori, so feel free to add some, but I wanted to try and make this a recipe you could make without going to any extra lengths. While I can find mirin at my local grocery store, a lot of you have told me you can’t. So if you want to add it, try a couple TBS in the recipe!
If you don’t want to use disposable skewers, consider these awesome stainless steel options.
Other Asian Favorites:
- Beef Lo Mein
- Baked Orange Chicken
- Super Easy Shrimp Fried Rice
- Easy Mongolian Beef
- Sweet and Sour Chicken (Sheet Pan)
- Cashew Chicken

Beef Yakitori
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef sirloin finely sliced and skewered
- 1/2 cup soy sauce or Braggs Liquid Amino Acids
- 3 tbs lemon juice
- 3 tbs brown sugar
- 1 tbs crushed garlic clove
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger or 1 tsp fresh minced ginger
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- Scallions or green onion for garnish
Instructions
- Thinly slice the beef sirloin, and skewer it in ribbons.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the other ingredients, except the sesame seeds and scallions, to create a sauce.
- Marinade skewers in sauce in fridge for 30 minute (If freezing for later, cover in sauce and freeze at this point)
- To cook: Thaw completely, or remove from fridge, arrange on a broiler pan.
- Broil close to the heating element (6 inches or so), broil 2-3 minutes per side.
- Sprinkle on sesame seeds, broil an additional minute.
- Garnish with green onion/scallions
- Serve hot with fresh vegetables and rice or quinoa
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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