With its sweet, umami and spicy flavor, Japanese marinade is an easy way to add a touch of flavor to your dishes.
The most common Japanese marinades are based on shoyu soy sauce, sake, mirin, garlic, ginger and sugar. The best-known is the marinade used for chicken kebabs called yakitori!
Here’s a recipe for a Japanese marinade to use on your barbecues, wok or pan-fried dishes.
Recipe for Japanese marinade for meat, chicken, vegetables or fish
Here's a recipe for a quick Japanese marinade with a spicy option if you like that!
Ingredients
- 120 ml shoyu soy sauce
- 120 ml of mirin
- 50 g white sugar
- 4 garlic cloves you can replace with ginger
- 1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
- 15 ml toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 green onion finely chopped
- 7 ml liquid honey
- 1/2 grated apple take a sweet one like Fuji or Pink Lady
- 2 tbsp of gochujang Korean sauce, optional
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Use a garlic scraper to puree the garlic. You can also do the same with ginger.
- In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients.
- Here we have marinated chicken thighs. Place your chicken thighs in a glass dish and add your marinade. Ideally, it should cover the meat. Marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- To cook, on a griddle or barbecue, allow 20 to 30 minutes, turning the meat as you go.If you prefer to cook in the oven, preheat the oven to 200°C, then place your legs on an ovenproof tray for 45 minutes. Keep an eye on the meat as it cooks and eat straight away!
Tips for the Japanese marinade recipe
- If you have any marinade left over, keep it in a sealed glass jar in the fridge for 2 weeks
- You can marinate red meat, chicken, tofu, vegetables and mushrooms.
- Feel free to experiment with different combinations of ingredients to create your own unique Japanese marinade.
Japanese marinade is a great way to add a touch of flavor to your dishes. It’s easy to prepare and can be used with a wide variety of foods. So give it a try, and let us know what you think in the comments!
