Grilled Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Yakitori

I made some Yakitori Sauce the other day and wanted to make some meat and veggies to go with it, so I tried some amazing Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Yakitori.

🍴 Preparation

So, I made a bit of a mistake here.  I soaked some wooden skewers for a few hours and used them for the asparagus.  Easy peasy, right? Stand by to see what happened.

Insert the skewer into the asparagus and wrap the asparagus in a spiral fashion with a slice of thinly sliced bacon.  I thought about using my home cured bacon but I made those into thick cuts. So, I used a generic store-bought variety.  The photos show how the end result should look.

🔥 Grilling Instructions

Step One: I have a Big Green Egg, but you can grill these on any style of grill.  Set up the grill for a medium heat direct flame configuration. Just take out the plate setter and light the coals.  

I usually let the grill heat up for about 20 minutes, which is plenty of time to get hot.  After it reaches 400-500 degrees, reduce the bottom and top vents to bring the temperature down to 350.  

You will want a good even burn in the coals.  

Step Two: Add the skewer to the grill and cook for three minutes.

Step Three: Turn them over and brush with the Yakitori Sauce. Remove after another three minutes.

Serving

Without the skewers, it was a bit more of a challenge to eat.  We broke out the forks and knives and cut the asparagus into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle a bit more yakitori sauce on top, and mercy, did that taste good!

All told, this dish only took a few minutes to put together and about five minutes to cook.  It was fast and easy (minus the skewer incident).

💡 Recipe Tips

There is a reason that the street vendors in Japan use long, thin grills.  The wooden skewers are protected from the heat and the cooking is centralized over the meat or vegetable.

 I have seen folks in the United States use foil wrapped bricks to rest the wooden skewers on. That protects them burning too.

That is the main reason that the street vendor grills are distinctively rectangular and sized exactly to fit the meat on a stick. Pretty ingenious, right?

My other option is to use the metal skewers.  Unfortunately, it just isn’t quite as much fun to eat off of the metal skewer as it is holding a wooden one.  

If you do decide to use metal skewers (which I -ahem- HIGHLY recommend), choose ones that are flat.

The round skewers are more traditional, but food is more likely to spin when you are turning them over, and that creates a hassle.

Related Recipes

Homemade Yakitori Sauce – This is an in depth look at how to make this unique, flavorful sauce at home. It is customizable and begging you to create your own version.

Pork Belly Yakitori – Pork Belly can be used for a lot of other recipes besides bacon! The tender meat is just perfect for grilling and complements the yakitori sauce just right!

I’ll try this again in the future and report back if I was able to find a better technique.  The dish was delicious!