Just like the name implies chicken tempura is tempura style fried chicken. Chicken breast or thigh is cut into strips, marinated in soy sauce, garlic, and ginger mixture, coated in tempura batter, and deep-fried. Chicken is crispy and fluffy on the outside and juicy and tender the inside.
The batter is very light and airy creating a perfectly crisp shell for the coated chicken.
Making perfect Japanese tempura chicken at home might seem like an ambitious resolution but it is actually very easy. With a couple foolproof tips under your belt you can conquer the perfect flavorful homemade tempura chicken without breaking a sweat.
Use a combination of cake flour and potato starch, potato starch absorbs less moisture, keeping tempura batter crisp. Chicken will retain shape better as well. Cake flour has less gluten aiding in a crisper batter texture when fried.
Also no need to vigorously mix the batter, just a slight stir to combine everything together.
A cold batter is quintessential to achieve the fluffy and crisp tempura texture. What we doing here is trying to avoid to activate the gluten in a flour. The trick to keep everything chilled is to either use cold ingredients or place a mixing bowl with the batter in another bowl with iced water.
With this no fail tempura technique chicken comes out perfectly crunchy and beautifully golden every single time.
Serve it with traditional ponzu sauce to cut through the greasy taste with it’s bright citrus notes or Karashi mustard which is spicier and more potent then regular kind. Follow the steps below to make tempura chicken.
