I’ve gone tempura crazy! Why, because I LOVE it. Tempura is a great way of frying seafood and vegetables, without the oil that frying them would add. Both get cooked perfectly on the inside, while being encased in a crunchy, crispy outer layer, while the flavor of each vegetable is enhanced. I especially loved the kale, potato slices and the big surprise…long thin ribbons of zucchini (which I thought would fall apart and didn’t) were amazing. The shrimp was perfectly cooked and the tilapia (any firm fish will do) was melt in your mouth, flaky good.
Yet, making good tempura can be a bit tricky…so I decided to experiment a bit and come up with a fail proof recipe.
I’ve made a number of tempura batters over the years and really wanted to cement down my favorite. It seems that with tempura, you can use flour or flour with cornstarch; ice water, seltzer water, or club soda; eggs or no eggs. So which is it? What makes the best tempura? I set out to find out.
The traditional Japanese recipe is a mixture of flour, eggs and ice water, but this batter can be tricky to work with and easy for it to become gummy if over mixed. When I tried this, the first few batches came out crispy and light. As I continued, the result was more and more doughy…even though I didn’t over stir the batter. It seemed that merely by emerging the ingredients into the batter was enough to stimulate the gluten in the flour that results in the doughy effect. And they came out more oily than I liked. See…
So then I made a batter using 1/2 flour and 1/2 cornstarch, an egg and seltzer water. This produced far better results. The cornstarch buys you time before the batter gets doughy, you don’t have to worry about over mixing the batter as much, and the seltzer water (or any bubbly water) seems to add to the crispiness. The results were much, much better. In fact they were downright delicious – crispy, light, and not oily!
Finally I decided to try a mix of 1/2 flour and 1/2 cornstarch, seltzer and no egg which became more like 2/3 flour and 1/3 cornstarch because the batter was too thin. Again the results were really good…but not quite as good as the 1/2 and 1/2 mixture + I the addition of the egg added a bit of richness to the batter and helped to thicken it so I didn’t have to add additional flour as I had to do here. Still, very good though…
So here’s my new go-to batter recipe…
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup ice cold seltzer (club soda or other bubbly water)
1 egg
Pinch of salt
And here’s the tips I found to make making tempura easy and crispy
- Do Your Prep First: Cut all your vegetables and seafood in bite sized pieces
- Heat your oil to where it sizzling but not smoking: 170 and 180 degrees Celsius (340-360 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Don’t over crowd your frying oil: that’s one of the reasons one of my batches came out oily
- Make your batter last: prepare it when all your ingredients are prepped and you’re ready to begin frying
- Don’t over-stir your batter – a few lumps are expected
- Only use a very cold liquid for your batter
- Keep it chilled while frying
So what do you think? Was this helpful? Leave me a comment below.
Share your tips with me. Maybe you know something I don’t.
Hi Chef Silvia,
Two thumbs up! Chanterelle season is upon us and I wanted to “tempura no chanterelle” some of the 5 lbs I picked on Saturday.
.
(I also have a few functional antique seltzer bottles so an endless supply of crisp 60psi seltzer)
Mushrooms, being like all water, are a good test. Simple recipe, crispy white tempura, was a big hit with all.
Now my go to recipe. I’ll check out your other stuff.
Ciao
Thanks Jeff. So glad the tempura was a hit! Such a great way to serve veggies!
When I do this I sit my batter in a bowl of ice to keep it very cold and I add chopped herbs to it. Parsley is very good and so is chives. I haven’t used anything else but I do tempura sage leaves. Delicious.
Good idea Angel. Thank you so much!
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The pictures really made the article and comparisons.
Totally agree Julian! Thank you.
Used 00 flour, and rice flour, as they were all I had. Used with Icelandic cod filet. Turned out FANTASTIC! Thanks for posting.
Hi Mireille, I’m so happy it turned out great. Thank you so much for your comment. Silvia
batter was way……too soupy. didnt even adhere to food
Thanks Chef Silvia..
… for sharing … your excellent ‘tried’ and ‘true’ recipes..
Most Appreciated..
Merci,
Shue Fong Chan Mah
I had both club soda and tonic water on hand, but instead I went with plain old ice water from the fridge and followed Angel’s suggestion about sitting the prepared bowl of batter in ice. It worked out great for a batch of chicken for General Tso’s; light and crispy, even after adding the sauce.
The first round came out quite pale as in your pictures above, but I generally like a little more color in my batter-fried bits. For the remaining chicken, instead of leaving the fry pot uncovered (a cast-iron Dutch oven), I covered it with its self-basting (spiked) lid, which dripped condensation back into the oil for a more energetic, if not hotter, frying action. Cooked for roughly the same amount of time, it came out a nice golden color but still light and crispy without being overly oily.
Great recipe!
Very helpful – we just made our first tempura!!