Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken)

Prep:1h 30min

Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) is easily one of the greatest fried chickens in the world. It’s exceptionally flavorful, juicy and ultra crispy, and absolutely worth hanging out at the stove for! Learn the simple techniques and fry up some glorious chicken at home today

Updated at: Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:10:28 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Good

Glycemic Index

Moderate

Glycemic Load

Low

Nutrition per serving

Calories349.1 kcal (17%)

Total Fat29.5 g (42%)

Carbs4.9 g (2%)

Sugars0.3 g (0%)

Protein14.7 g (29%)

Sodium278 mg (14%)

Fiber0.5 g (2%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

4 servings

340gchicken thighs

boneless, skin-on

¼ tspkosher salt

sea

freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsppotato starch

cornstarch

1 Tbspall-purpose flour

plain flour, more if necessary

2 cupsoil

neutral-flavored, vegetable, canola, etc, for deep frying

Seasonings

0.5 knobginger

grated ginger

0.5clove garlic

0.25 Tbspsoy sauce

0.25 Tbspsake

you can substitute it with dry sherry or Chinese rice wine or skip

½ tspsesame oil

roasted

Garnish (optional)

lemon

for taste and garnish

Japanese mayonnaise

optional for dipping

shichimi togarashi

Japanese seven spice, optional for spicy taste

Instructions

Karaage chicken

Step 1

Cut each chicken thigh into 5 cm pieces and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Step 2

Grate the ginger (you will only need ½ tsp) and mince the garlic.

Step 3

In a large bowl, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sake, and tsp sesame oil. Whisk all together.

Step 4

Add the chicken to the bowl and mix with your hands. Cover and keep in the refrigerator to marinate for 30 minutes.

Step 5

Pour the oil into a heavy-bottomed pot and heat the oil to 163ºC on medium heat.

Step 6

Meanwhile, prepare potato starch and all-purpose flour in separate piles.

Step 7

First, lightly dredge each chicken piece in the flour and dust off the excess flour.

Step 8

Then dredge the chicken in the potato starch and remove excess starch.

Step 9

Continue with the remaining chicken.

Step 10

When the oil temperature has reached 163ºC (insert a wooden chopstick in the oil and see if small bubbles appear around it) gently submerge each chicken piece into the oil.

Step 11

Do not overcrowd; add 3-5 pieces at a time.

Step 12

If you put many pieces in the oil, the oil temperature will drop quickly and the chicken will end up absorbing too much oil.

First Deep Frying

Step 13

Deep fry for 90 seconds, or until the outside of the chicken is a light golden color. If the chicken changes color too quickly, then the oil temperature is too high. Either put a few more pieces of chicken in the oil or lower the heat.

Step 14

Controlling oil temperature at all times is very important for deep frying.

Step 15

Transfer to a wire rack to drain excess oil.

Step 16

The chicken will continue to cook with the remaining heat on the wire rack.

Step 17

Continue with the remaining chicken.

Step 18

Between batches, pick up crumbs in the oil with a fine-mesh sieve. This keeps the oil clean and prevents it from becoming darker.

Step 19

This step can be skipped but the second frying will result in crispier chicken.