Homemade Chicken Tempura (Fried Chicken Fingers Style)
This 30-minute chicken tempura is an easy Japanese recipe that tastes amazingly crispy yet fluffy. This recipe involves marinating chicken strips in Asian-inspired spices and coating them in a batter before frying until golden brown. They are perfect party food for dipping in your favorite sauces!
Servings: 4
Calories: 6471kcal
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 1 large skinless chicken breast about 125g
- ½ teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Tempura Batter
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup cake flour swans down
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ⅓ cup cold water
- 3 cups oil
Instructions
Preparation
- Use a sharp knife to mince the garlic clove and piece of fresh ginger.
- Pound the chicken breasts on a chopping board using a meat tenderizer until it's thin, then cut chicken strips 1-inch wide and 3-inches long.
- Place the chicken strips into a ziplock bag with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, salt, and pepper to marinate for 15 minutes to an hour.
Cooking
- Heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celsius) in a large skillet or deep fryer while making the batter.
- Make an ice bath in a large bowl with water and ice cubes, and place a medium bowl inside so that the water comes halfway up.
- Beat the egg in the bowl for 1 minute until fluffy, then mix in the cake flour and cornstarch.
- Slowly pour in the cup of water while whisking until you end up with a thick airy tempura batter.
- Remove the chicken strips from the ziplock bag and dip them into the batter, thoroughly coating each piece.
- Place the battered chicken into the hot oil (2 or 3 pieces at a time), and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown, flipping the chicken halfway to crisp evenly.
- Place the homemade chicken tempura on a paper towel-lined plate to remove the excess oil and continue to fry the remaining pieces.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce and lemon wedges for squeezing the lemon juice over, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
No meat pounder, no problem!
If you don't possess a meat tenderizer, you can use a wooden mallet or rolling pin to bash the chicken breast.
No mess
Making batter can be quite messy! A simple way to avoid tempura batter and flour falling on all of your surfaces is to line it with plastic wrap before making the batter. It makes cleanup much easier and faster by just removing the plastic wrap once you've finished frying.
Leave the marinade for longer.
Let the chicken fingers marinate in the ziplock bag for longer, so that the flavors infuse into the chicken better. For best results, leave it overnight in the refrigerator!
Keep the tempura batter cold.
The key to making the best tempura batter is to keep the batter cold. Using an ice bath is one way to do this, and another is to add ice cold water to the flour mixture.
Don't overmix the batter.
Try to only mix the water and flour until just combined. Overmixing the batter can cause it to become dense and lose its air pockets.