Skip To Main ContentMasterClass logo
|Articles
At Work
Log In
Sign Up
Food

Perfect Tempura Recipe: How to Make Vegetable Tempura

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Jul 25, 2024 • 3 min read

Tempura is a popular Japanese dish that you can easily make at home.

Learn From the Best

Sign Up

What Is Tempura?

Tempura is a Japanese dish consisting of vegetables or seafood lightly battered and deep-fried until crispy. The technique was likely brought to Japan in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese and has since become a staple of Japanese cuisine. Tempura is typically served with tentsuyu, a dipping sauce made from soy sauce, mirin (cooking wine), and dashi (fish broth), plus shredded daikon radish and ginger for stirring into the sauce.

7 Foods to Fry in Tempura Batter

Almost any vegetable or form of seafood can be fried tempura-style. These seven foods are perfect to batter and deep-fry:

  1. 1. Sweet potato: Slice quarter-inch-thick pieces of sweet potato on the diagonal. They'll take about three minutes to cook.
  2. 2. Green beans: These long legumes can be fried whole, and they only take about one minute to fry.
  3. 3. Shiso leaves: Dredge one side of each shiso leaf in flour to keep shiso leaves lying flat. They fry in just one minute.
  4. 4. Lotus root: This crunchy Asian vegetable takes about three minutes to fry.
  5. 5. Onion: For a lighter take on onion rings, fry the slices until golden, about two to three minutes.
  6. 6. Kurumaebi and ebi: To prepare kurumaebi (large prawns) and ebi (shrimp) for tempura, peel and devein, then cut four to five quarter-inch-deep notches into the back of each shellfish so that it will lie flat. Depending on size, kurumaebi and ebi cook in about two minutes.
  7. 7. Zucchini: Try unpeeled slices of squash in tempura. Thin slices will take about two minutes to cook.
  8. 8. Shiitake mushrooms: Fresh mushrooms add a savory, earthy flavor to a tempura basket. They'll take one to two minutes to fry.

3 Popular Tempura Dishes

  1. 1. Noodles: You'll often find a few pieces of tempura on top of a bowl of noodles, such as soba or udon.
  2. 2. Sushi: Crunchy tempura is a fun textural addition to sushi rolls, also known as maki.
  3. 3. Kakiage: Kakiage is a tempura fritter made with multiple vegetables fried in tempura batter together. Kakiage can be served as an appetizer, with noodles, over rice, or cold.

Traditional Vegetable Tempura Recipe

email recipe
12 Ratings | Rate Now

makes

prep time

20 min

total time

50 min

cook time

30 min

Ingredients

  1. 1

    Prepare the tempura batter. In a large bowl, combine egg yolks with 2 cups cold water, whisking until fully incorporated.

  2. 2

    Add ¼ cup ice cubes and set aside.

  3. 3

    Prepare a shallow bowl of flour for dredging the vegetables.

  4. 4

    Line a rimmed baking sheet with paper towels to absorb excess oil.

  5. 5

    In a large skillet or deep fryer, heat the oil to 360 degrees Fahrenheit using a deep-fry or candy thermometer. (You can also test the temperature once you’ve made the batter by adding a drop of batter to the hot oil. The batter should sink to the middle of the oil–not to the bottom–and then quickly pop up to the surface.)

  6. 6

    While the oil heats, finish the tempura batter. Add the flour to the ice water mixture and mix together using a bundle of four chopsticks. With the chopsticks pointy-side down in one hand, quickly mash the flour into the wet ingredients to form a thick batter with the texture of lumpy cream. Do not mix for more than 30 seconds.

  7. 7

    When the oil is ready, dredge the vegetables in flour, then lightly dip in batter before frying. Fry the vegetables in small batches, filling only half of the skillet or deep fryer.

  8. 8

    Remove the vegetables using chopsticks or a slotted spoon or spider when they are light golden brown and crispy, flipping if necessary.

  9. 9

    Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and serve immediately with salt or dipping sauce.

  10. 10

    To make the dipping sauce, whisk together soy sauce, mirin, and dashi, and serve in small bowls.

Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by culinary masters, including Niki Nakayama, Gordon Ramsay, Gabriela Cámara, Chef Thomas Keller, Yotam Ottolenghi, Dominique Ansel, Alice Waters, and more.