Japan · Appetizers and Sandwiches · Quick

Tempura

Name: Tempura
Prep time: 8 min
Cook time: 17 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 1 egg; 1 cup ice water; 1 cup flour; as needed ice cubes; choice vegetables; choice seafood; for frying vegetable oil; to taste salt and pepper; for serving soy sauce

Vegetables and shrimp dipped in ice-cold batter and fried until shatteringly crisp. The batter must be barely mixed — lumps are good — and the oil screaming hot. Done right, tempura is light enough to eat endlessly.

25 min 320 kcal 4 serves Medium⚡Quick🇯🇵Japan★★★★☆4.4· 5 reviews

Ingredients

ServingsMetric

1 egg
1 cupice water
1 cupflour
as neededice cubes
choicevegetables
choiceseafood
for fryingvegetable oil
to tastesalt and pepper
for servingsoy sauce

Note from Sergei

Sergei Martynov

“The secret to shatteringly crisp tempura is keeping everything brutally cold. I mix the batter with ice water — sometimes I even drop ice cubes directly into it — and I never, ever stir out the lumps. Those lumps of dry flour create extra crunch when they hit the hot oil. The batter should be thin enough to see your finger through it, not thick like pancake batter. Oil temperature is non-negotiable: 170-180C, tested with a drop of batter that should sink briefly and immediately float back up sizzling. If it sits on the surface, the oil is too hot; if it sinks and stays, too cold. I fry in small batches because overcrowding drops the oil temperature and gives you soggy, greasy tempura.”

Use cake flour or a mix of cake flour and cornstarch instead of all-purpose flour — lower gluten means lighter, crispier coating. Dip vegetables only halfway into the batter for a more elegant, lacy result.

Method

In a large bowl, mix egg and ice water.
Add the flour and mix well until you have a smooth batter.
Add ice cubes to the batter and let stand for 10 minutes.
Cut the vegetables and seafood into bite-sized pieces.
Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer to 180°C.
Dip each piece into the batter and deep-fry until golden (about 2-3 minutes).
Place on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with soy sauce.

FAQ

Cold batter is critically important. Flour's gluten activates with heat: warm batter becomes dense and bread-like, not crispy. Ice water and ice cubes slow down gluten formation. Lumps in the batter are not a defect — they are the goal: they create the characteristic lacy uneven crust of tempura. Never beat the batter vigorously — 3–4 strokes with a fork or chopsticks is enough.

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Comments (2)

渡辺健一
19d ago
衣に炭酸水を使うとサクサクになる。これ本当。あと油の温度170度キープが一番大事。温度計は必須です
Sergei Martynov✍ Author
29d ago
Presentation is half the battle with tempura. I serve it on a wooden board rather than a plate — it's more inviting and signals to people that they should reach in and help themselves.