Even if international travel isn't in the cards for you right now, you can always use your kitchen to feel like you're somewhere else. In way less time than a flight takes, you can make one or more of these Japanese-inspired dinner recipes.
While we've got recipes for classics like sushi rolls and ramen, there's so much more to Japanese cuisine for you to try if you haven't yet. Let our four-ingredient chicken skewers introduce you to yakitori (yaki means grilled, tori means bird), a traditional Japanese dish where chicken is grilled on sticks and seasoned very simply.
If you're intimidated by the thought of forming sushi maki rolls, give hand rolls a try. They combine all your favorite flavors of sushi, but instead of layering and rolling everything together in a perfect cylinder, you simply wrap them in a cone of seaweed for a more casual presentation.
This collection of dinner recipes will help you discover all the bold flavors of Japanese cuisine, like in the marinade for roasted salmon over soba, which consists of tangy rice vinegar, warm ginger, savory garlic, and spicy Asian garlic paste. And if you're a thrill seeker, play a little harmless roulette courtesy of grilled shishito peppers; they're sweet and mostly mild, except for about one in every 10 peppers that will sneak up on you with a surprising hit of heat. Plus, we've got a salad that will go great with basically anything!
And if you're in the mood for Japanese food but don't feel like whipping it up yourself, be sure to check out our guide with tips for staying in your Budget when dining at or ordering in from a Japanese restaurant.