Shrimp Tempura Recipe: 3 Ways to Serve Shrimp Tempura

Shrimp tempura is a Japanese appetizer featuring shrimp coated in a tempura batter, then deep-fried until golden brown and crispy. You can find the dish commonly at Japanese restaurants, where it typically accompanies side dishes like gyoza dumplings and pickles (tsukemono) and main courses like ramen. You can also tuck shrimp tempura into a sushi roll.

Here’s what to know when making homemade shrimp tempura:

1. 1. Straighten the shrimp. Straighten the shrimp to prevent them from curling during the cooking process and ensure an even distribution of batter. To do so, make a few slits on the underside of the shrimp and gently bend them back to straighten. If you’re shelling fresh shrimp, remove the shell and devein first, then make cuts.
2. 2. Keep the batter cold. Add ice cubes to your tempura mixture to ensure it won’t absorb too much oil in the deep-frying process, resulting in a crispy final result.
3. 3. Master your timing. Measure the flour beforehand, but wait until the very last moment (while the oil is heating up for tempura) to combine the dry and wet ingredients. If you wait to incorporate the ingredients, it will prevent the gluten from relaxing and forming a more bread-like batter.

Serve shrimp tempura right out of the fryer for the best results. Here’s what else you should know when serving shrimp tempura at home:

1. 1. Pair shrimp tempura with a tempura dipping sauce. A typical accompaniment to tempura is tsuyu, a dipping sauce made from soy sauce, mirin (sweet Japanese cooking wine), and dashi, plus shredded daikon radish and ginger for stirring into the sauce.
2. 2. Shrimp tempura complements noodle dishes. Shrimp tempura is commonly on the menus of ramen or soba shops, where cooks may serve it before or alongside ramen or zaru soba dishes.
3. 3. Add vegetable tempura to your meal. Serve shrimp tempura as part of a larger spread, with battered veggies like mushrooms and squash or sweet potato and zucchini.