Community Pick
Fantastic Crispy Tempura Batter
"Whenever I have tempura at a restaurant it is always so light and crispy, the boxed store-bought stuff is okay providing you rush to the table within minutes to eat it or it gets soggy and soft, I have tryed many tempura recipes over my 35 years of cooking I have to say this one is the best, it produces a very light crispy coating that holds up well --- I have used this to make tempura veggies and froze them after deep-frying in this batter, and just reheated them in a small amount of oil, also with bite-size meaty pieces of fish and with about 15 large peeled shrimp cooked about 3 minutes --- remember the tempura must sit out at room temperature for 10 minutes before using, If you want to make a double recipe of tempura, then make two exact recipes using two separate bowls, do NOT double the recipe and make it all in one bowl it will not work --- use only rice flour for this anything else will not work the same and use only a light-coloured beer."
photo by Jonathan Melendez
- Ready In:
- 23mins
- Ingredients:
- 7
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 3⁄4 cup beer (do not use a dark beer!)
- 3⁄4 cup rice flour
- 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 - 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional or to taste)
- vegetable oil (for deep frying)
- seasoning salt
directions
- In a bowl whisk beer with the rice flour until very smooth.
- Add in salt and garlic powder and cayenne (if using).
- Let sit out at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Heat oil to 375 degrees.
- Dredge the fish or veggies into the batter coating completely with batter, letting any excess drip off.
- Deep-fry turning once until golden (about 3 minutes).
- Transfer to a piece of brown paper (a brown paper bag will do for this!).
- Season with seasoning salt.
Questions & Replies
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That is not tempura. That is fried shrimp. I had a Japanese restaurant and if I served that I would be a laughed out of the restaurant business. The secret to a light, Lacy, crispy tempura batter is to incorporate flour, cornstarch or potato starch, salt and water and fry in oil with a temperature of 350 degrees. To keep batter cold, use a few ice cubes as no thin with a little water if batter thickens. Your batter would be better described as fish and chips batter since you used beer. -
How much shrimp or vegetables will this recipe accommodate? -
What's the sauce pictured with the shrimp? -
Can the beer be substituted (?), If yes, with what? -
what is the amount of shrimp that this calls for??? Not a very accurate recipe at all! :_(
see 1 more questions
Reviews
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Great batter, texture, flavor. To the previous posted that uses Extra Virgin Olive Oil to fry foods in, this is a good way to kill yourself. Use grapeseed or canola oil if you don't want to use veg oil. When you heat up an oil with a low smoking point like olive oil it can catch fire, or explode if you put too much moisture in it. The heat also breaks down the oil and creates free radicals and carcinogens. It is far more unhealthy and very dangerous to fry in olive oil despite how healthy olive oil is normally. -
I have made this 3 times now. Once I used it for tempura shrimp sushi, once for onion straws, and once for plain tempura shrimp. The crispiness holds up, even in sushi, even after said sushi has been sitting in the fridge overnight. To make this gluten free, just sub club soda for the beer and add a little sugar. I also like to add some wasabi powder.
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Great recipe. If you dredge the fish in a light coating of seasoned rice flour before putting in the batter, the batter will adhere much better and will stick to the fish better. -
I reduced the salt to 1/2 tsp to make it less salty, and beer to 1/2 cup to make the batter thicker, added 1/4 tsp of sugar for flavor, and 1/2 tsp of baking soda to make it fluffier -
How do you do it??? Tried this the other evening, and we could not stop talking about it! OMG!! It was the BEST shrimp I have ever made! It was just what I was looking for. THEY STAYED CRISP! I didn't put all the seasonings like the recipe said, but I will next time. Was afraid it would be overpowering, but it can definately take all the measurements. My DH wants to come and stay one week at your house! LOL I just want to thank you for all your wonderful recipes, I have made numerous ones and have been pleased with each and every one of them. You have made our meal times very enjoyable. Keep up the good work!!! Thanks!!
see 34 more reviews
Tweaks
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This was a relatively easy batter to make, although I used extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil. I used a Founders Dry hopped Pale Ale; the batter will pick up the taste of whatever beer you use, so choose something you enjoy tasting. Everything stayed very crispy, even an hour or so after cooking. I made fish and vegetables, which was a big hit with the family.
