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–+ servings

Authentic Japanese Tempura Batter (with Secret Tips!)

Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Chilling time30 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients 
 

  • 150 ml cold water soft water preferred, chilled
  • 100 ml carbonated water chilled in the fridge, or soft water
  • 30 g cornstarch
  • 150 g unbleached cake flour or pastry flour, low-protein, around 7-8%
  • 1 egg relatively small sized, chilled
  • 3 ice cubes
  • cooking oil neutral, high smoke-point like rice bran or rapeseed preferred

Instructions 

  • Measure out 150 ml cold water into a jug and place it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Place 100 ml carbonated water in the fridge too, preferably an unopened bottle.
    Still water in a jug and sparkling water in a sealed bottle
  • Sift 30 g cornstarch and 150 g unbleached cake flour into a bowl. Mix them and place the bowl in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.
    Sifting dry ingredients for tempura batter into a mixing bowl
  • While you wait for the water and flour to chill, prepare your tempura ingredients by washing, cutting, and drying them with kitchen paper to remove any excess moisture.
    drying washed raw shrimp with kitchen paper
  • Once 30 minutes have passed, start preheating your cooking oil to 180 °C (356 °F).
    heating oil in a pot to make tempura
  • Pour the chilled water and sparkling water into a bowl.
    chilled water in a bowl to make tempura
  • Crack 1 egg into the bowl and whisk. If bubbles or foam forms on top, skim it off with a spoon.
    scooping foam out of eggs to make tempura batter
  • Take the chilled flour and starch mixture from the freezer. Add it to the egg mixture one third at a time, gently drawing crosses through with chopsticks to incorporate it. Do not whisk or over mix, preventing gluten formation is key.
    whisking dry ingredients into egg mixture with chopsticks to make tempura batter
  • Add 3 ice cubes to the batter.
    homemade tempura batter with ice cubes
  • Test your oil by adding a drop of batter, if it sizzles and floats you're ready to fry.
    Coat your ingredients in a thin layer of flour, brush off the excess and then dip them in the batter. 
    coating shrimps with flour in a mixing bowl
  • Carefully place the battered ingredients straight into the oil and fry until crispy but before they turn golden.
    ebiten (shrimp tempura) frying in oil
    • Different ingredients need different cooking temperatures and cooking times, so fry in single ingredient batches for best results.
  • Once crispy, light, and cooked through to the middle, transfer on a wire rack to drain the excess oil.
    shrimp tempura resting on a wire rack
  • Serve with tentsuyu or salt for dipping, and enjoy!
    Homemade Japanese tempura dipping sauce "tentsuyu"

Notes

Avoid bleached cake flour: Avoid bleached or chlorinated cake flour, it changes the texture. Also skip self-rising, whole wheat pastry, and gluten-free blends. UK and AU readers: plain flour works.
Use low-protein flour: The best tempura flour is low protein, around 8 percent under, and very fine. Higher-protein all-purpose flour develops stickiness, so if you use it, mix more sparingly and add a little more cornstarch to make up.
Keep everything cold: Chill the liquids in the fridge and the dry mix in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes. Cold slows gluten formation, which is what keeps the coating light instead of heavy and chewy.
Mix the batter last: Combine the chilled liquids and dry mix only right before frying. Batter left sitting builds gluten and turns thick and chewy. Mix, then walk it straight to the oil.
Leave the batter lumpy: Fold the flour in thirds with chopsticks, not a whisk, and stop while you still see flour streaks and lumps. Every extra stir builds gluten and blocks the steam paths that crisp the coating.