Chicken karaage(Japanese Fried Chicken)
Fried chicken is a weekend treat for my family. I prefer making fried chicken at home rather than store-bought because of its fresh crispy taste. Take out chicken often get soggy when it arrives home. Usually I make this KFC fried chicken, chicken 65 or chicken lollipop. Once in a while I make Korean fried chicken which is one of my families favourite chicken dish ever. This chicken karaage is a Japanese inspired fried chicken recipe. The chicken has a thick cornstarch coating and once fried it gets super crunchy and crispy. We like to enjoy it with steamed rice, miso soup, shredded cabbage, kewpie mayo and kimchi.
What is Chicken Karaage?
Karaage (唐揚げ, 空揚げ, or から揚げ, [kaɾa aɡe]) is a Japanese popular fried chicken. The process involves marinating chicken in ginger, garlic, soy sauce and other seasonings. Marinated chicken is lightly coated with potato or corn starch, and fried in oil. Even though it looks similar to tempura making. The process differs from the preparation of tempura, which is not marinated and uses a batter for coating. Karaage is often served alone or with rice and shredded cabbage.
About Chicken Karaage
Chicken karaage is super crispy chicken which is Japanese origin. Karaage means crispy, it is a popular fried chicken dish from Japan. The recipe is super simple, all you need is to marinate chicken in few ingredients, coat it in cornstarch and fry till crispy. Fried chicken karaage makes a perfect accompaniment for steamed white rice. You can marinate chicken with few ingredients. I like the combination of rice vinegar, soy sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, ginger and garlic. You can use mirin as well. I use an egg and some cornstarch to create the chicken marination. You don’t need to let the chicken marinate too long, just 10 to 15 minutes is enough. Marinated chicken is drenched in cornstarch and fried till super crispy. We enjoy Japanese food at home, I have made quite a few recipes at home. This chicken karaage takes place in our regular cooking routine. I usually serve it with steamed rice, tamagoyaki, kewpie mayo and miso soup to make it a complete meal. Love to make this Japanese curry bread.
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Watch Chicken karaage recipe video
Chicken Karaage Ingredients
Chicken - In Japan, Karaage is typically made with skin-on boneless chicken thighs, which has more flavor than chicken breasts. But you can use chicken breast or whole chicken cut into pieces. Vinegar & Soy sauce - I use rice vinegar, but you can use any type of vinegar as you prefer. You can add a dash of mirin as well. Soy sauce adds colour in the chicken and provides a umami flavour. Ginger & Garlic - grate ginger and garlic really fine and add into the chicken. This adds the aroma to the chicken and makes it super flavourful. Sugar - even though it sounds weird adding sugar in the marination of chicken. But it helps creating a golden colour to the chicken. Egg - egg binds the chicken together which makes the outer crispy cornstarch coating stick to the chicken. Cornstarch - cornstarch is added in marination of chicken as well for the coating. You can use potato starch instead of cornstarch as well. Salt and pepper - even though white pepper is preferred, I use black pepper which is available readily.
Tips for Chicken Karaage Taste Better
1. CHICKEN
In Japan, Karaage is typically made with skin-on boneless chicken thighs, which has more flavor than chicken breasts. But you can use chicken breast or whole chicken cut into pieces. The cooking time may vary depending on the cuts of meat we use. I like to use bone-in chicken for more juicy tender chicken karaage. But boneless makes the frying and eating process easier.
2. MARINADE
There are so many variations of marinade/seasonings available for Karaage, The main flavouring for karage is soy sauce, ginger, rice vinegar. If you have you sake, add a dash of it. But I like to add some garlic, salt, sugar and pepper powder. Some recipes calls for mirin which is a Japanese rice wine, curry powder, oyster sauce. But I prefer the combination of ingredients which I used.
3. COATING
The main and most important step in chicken karaage is the coating. In this recipe, I use cornstarch entirely which made the chicken crispy. But traditional recipe uses potato starch for the super crunchy exterior. If you have potato starch you can use that for coating for the super crispy coating.
4. DEEP-FRYING OIL
Like all deep fried dish, you have to use neutral flavoured oil for frying chicken. You can use either Canola oil, Safflower oil or Rice bran oil for frying. Any refined oil can be used for frying. When deep frying, always start on high heat when adding chicken, as soon as the chicken goes in reduce the flame to medium and fry till chicken is cooked.
Double Frying Hack for Super Crispy Chicken Karaage
Double frying is a technique which is used in Japanese restaurants or street food stalls when making chicken karaage in bulk. Even though I haven’t used this technique in this recipe. You can do this, if you are making chicken karaage in big batch. Marinate the chicken as mentioned and coat with cornstarch. Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat. Drop the chicken in oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes till the chicken is cooked. Remove and set aside in a wire rack to cool. You can repeat this with all the chicken and place on a wire rack so it can cool. Now at the time of serving. Increase the heat to high and let the oil gets super hot. Now take a portion of the fried chicken karaage and drop in hot oil and fry for 30 to 45 seconds. This is called flash frying. This step makes the exterior super crunchy also you can serve chicken karaage hot and crispy.
How to Make Chicken Karaage (Stepwise Pictures)
Marinating Chicken
1)In Japan, Karaage is typically made with skin-on boneless chicken thighs, which has more flavor than chicken breasts. But you can use chicken breast or whole chicken cut into pieces. 2)Add in rice vinegar. You can use any type of vinegar of your choice. You can even use mirin or lemon juice. 3)Add in soy sauce. 4)Season chicken with salt and black pepper powder. 5)Add in some sugar. 6)Now add in peeled and grated ginger. 7)Add in peeled and grated garlic. 8)Add in one egg into the chicken. 9)Add few spoons of cornstarch. 10)Mix all these ingredients really well with the chicken. Allow the chicken to marinate for 10 to 15 minutes.
Coating Chicken
- The main and most important step in chicken karaage is the coating. In this recipe, I use cornstarch entirely which made the chicken crispy. But traditional recipe uses potato starch for the super crunchy exterior. If you have potato starch you can use that for coating for the super crispy coating. For coating chicken, use cornstarch. Take cornstarch in a bowl. Add the marinated chicken into the cornstarch. 12)Coat the chicken really well with cornstarch. 13)Place it on a wire rack and allow it to rest for 1 to 2 minute.
Frying Chicken
14)Like all deep fried dish, you have to use neutral flavoured oil for frying chicken. You can use either Canola oil, Safflower oil or Rice bran oil for frying. Any refined oil can be used for frying. Drop chicken into the hot oil. 15)When deep frying, always start on high heat when adding chicken, as soon as the chicken goes in reduce the flame to medium and fry till chicken is cooked. 16)Fry the chicken till it gets golden brown and crispy. 16)Strain the chicken using a slotted spoon. Serve hot.
Expert Tips
You can let the chicken marinate for 15 minutes to overnight in fridge. Coat the chicken with cornstarch and allow them to cut for 1 to 2 minutes in wire rack which makes the cornstarch coating stick to the chicken. Fry the chicken in hot oil till it gets super crispy and crunchy. You can even double fry the chicken. But I prefer to fry once, since I serve it immediately after it is fried. If you are serving later, you can fry it twice. Once chicken is fried, place it in a wire mesh rack so it stays crispy longer.
Serving & Storage
Like all fried chicken, chicken karaage taste best when served immediately. It doesn’t keep well for long time. Make sure you enjoy chicken karaage with steamed rice, miso soup, kewpie mayo and cabbage.
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