Learn how to make the perfect Gluten-Free Tempura at home! Find tips on how to deep fry shrimp and vegetables encased in a light yet most crisp batter.
Crispy fried vegetables and seafood, Tempura is one of the most popular Japanese foods. Regrettably, people with celiac disease can’t enjoy it because tempura batter is usually made of wheat flour which contains gluten. After receiving many requests for Gluten-Free Tempura recipe from my readers, I decided to test it out so they will get to enjoy tempura at home.
Today I am thrilled to share this perfectly made gluten-free tempura recipe with you after some testing in the kitchen with a surprisingly great result. Coated with a thinner layer of batter, the tempura with gluten-free batter turns out to be much lighter and crispier than regular tempura. Whether your diet is gluten-free or not, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.
How To Make Gluten-Free Tempura
Enjoy crispy and savory gluten-free tempura at home. This easy recipe is perfect for vegetables and seafood and the resulting batter is simply amazing.
Gluten-free tempura batter is made of just three simple ingredients: rice flour, egg, and water. I’ve tested different ratios for each ingredient, and the ratio I am sharing in the recipe resulted in the best texture and flavor.
Unlike regular tempura, batter made from rice flour is thinner. You could add potato starch or corn starch to thicken the batter, but I actually prefer just simple rice flour. The rice flour that I use is Organic White Rice Flour from Bob’s Red Mill.
Tips To Make Perfect Gluten-Free Tempura
I want to share a few tips that will help you make successful tempura:
Tempura Batter
As I mentioned earlier, this gluten-free batter is very thin. As you bite into it, it won’t feel like you’re eating the regular tempura batter. Instead, you can taste the ingredient (whether it’s vegetable or shrimp) that is lightly coated with the thin layer of crispy batter.
Since the batter does not contain any gluten, you won’t need to worry about “over-mixing” the batter (and you can make it ahead of time). In fact, I recommend whisking the batter each time you are about to coat the ingredients. The bubbles or foams created from the whisking motion will stay on the ingredients as they are dunk into the hot oil, which yields a crispy layer of tempura batter.
Also, the fine grain of rice flour tends to deposit on the bottom of the bowl, so you have to whisk the batter quite often so the consistency of the batter is optimal.
The Oil
The oil temperature has to be between 340-350°F (170-180°C) depending on how long it takes to cook through the particular ingredients. If it takes a long time to cook, then deep fry at a lower temperature because high temperature will cook the batter too fast and the inside might not be done.
Technique
It’s very important to control the temperature of the oil when it comes to deep-frying tempura. A thermometer will be very helpful if you’re new to deep-frying or making tempura.
Do not overcrowd the deep frying pot with ingredients: just half of the oil surface should be covered with ingredients. When you put too many ingredients in at once, the oil temperature will drop too quickly, and the tempura will absorb too much oil and you’ll end up with soggy tempura. On the contrary, when oil gets too hot, add a bit of extra oil or add more ingredients to cool down the temperature.
Make sure to pick up crumbs in the oil between batches. The burnt crumb will attach to your new tempura if you don’t pick them up. Once the crumbs become burnt, it will leave a bad flavor in the oil and the color becomes darker.
Gluten-Free Tempura Dipping Sauce (Tentsuyu)
The gluten-free tempura isn’t complete without gluten-free tempura dipping sauce! Tentsuyu (天つゆ) or tempura dipping sauce is made of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. Regular soy sauce contains wheat, therefore you will need to use gluten-free soy sauce for this recipe.
I used the Kikkoman Gluten-Free Soy Sauce. If you want to know more about this product, click here. If you’re not gluten intolerant, you can use regular Japanese soy sauce to make the dipping sauce.
Itadakimasu!
With this, I hope you enjoy making this Gluten-Free Tempura recipe at home. Do you have any requests for gluten-free Japanese food? Let me know in the comment below.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
Sign up for the free Just One Cookbook newsletter delivered to your inbox! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram for all the latest updates.
Gluten Free Tempura
Video
Ingredients
For Tempura
- 1 Japanese sweet potato (Satsumaimo)
- ⅛ kabocha (squash/pumpkin)
- 8 okras
- 8 French green beans (haricots verts)
- 8 large or jumbo shrimps
- 2 Japanese/Chinese eggplant
- 4 cups neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc)
- 2 inches daikon radish
For Tempura Batter
- ½ cup rice flour
- 1 large egg (50 g w/o shell)
For Tempura Dipping Sauce
- ¾ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more) (I use the standard kombu + katsuobushi awase dashi; Use kombu dashi for vegan/vegetarian; or ¾ cup water + 1 tsp dashi powder.)
- 3 Tbsp gluten free soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp mirin (Hon-mirin is made by fermenting sweet rice and contains nothing else. Aji-mirin or seasoned mirin may include wheat. You can substitute mirin with sugar and sake (or dry sherry or Chinese rice wine). For 1 Tbsp mirin, combine 1 Tbsp sake + 1 tsp sugar.)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
Tempura Dipping Sauce:
- In a small saucepan, add 3 Tbsp mirin. Bring it to boil over medium-high heat to let the alcohol evaporate.
- Once boiling, add ¾ cup (180 ml) dashi and 3 Tbsp gluten-free soy sauce and bring it to boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and set aside.
Prepping Ingredients:
- Using a spoon, scoop the seeds from kabocha. Without peeling the skin, cut the kabocha in half widthwise, then cut each half into ⅛ inch (3 mm) slices.
- Cut the sweet potato into ⅛ inch (3 mm) slices and soak in water to remove starch for 10 minutes.
- After soaking for 10 minutes, pat dry with paper towel to remove the moisture.
- Make a couple of small slits on the okra’s skin. This will prevent okras from exploding while deep frying. Also, trim the end of green beans if it’s not done yet. Keep the eggplant uncut for now.
- Now it’s time to peel and devein shrimp. For tempura, we remove the last segment of shell but keep the tail tip on. Using a knife, cut along the outer edge of the shrimp’s back.
- If you see the vein, remove and discard.
- Optionally, you can soak the shrimp in 1-2 Tbsp sake to remove the unwanted smell.
- Lay the shrimp on its side and cut the tip of tail diagonally (see picture on left). This will create V shape when you open the tail (see the picture on right). Remove moisture that is trapped in the tail by scraping the tail with the knife. This will prevent oil splatter from water retained in the tail.
- Make a couple of slits underside. Hold the shrimp with both hands and bend it backwards (belly-up) until you hear “pop” sound in each segment Straighten the shrimp as much as possible.
Tempura Batter:
- In a medium bowl over a kitchen scale, add an egg. Then pour water until the egg + water mixture weighs 200 grams. If you don't have a scale, add the egg to a 1-cup measuring cup, whisk the egg, and add water until you have ¾ cup (180-200 ml).
- Mix well and then add ½ cup (80 g) rice flour. Whisk until you see no more lumps of rice flour. Keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to deep fry. Tip: If you like a thick tempura batter, you can increase the amount of rice flour.
Deep Frying:
- Bring 4 cups (960 ml) vegetable oil to 340ºF (170ºC). We’ll start deep-frying from hard ingredients because they will take a longer time to cook. Make sure to dry all the ingredients with a paper towel so that moisture won’t dilute the tempura batter. Whisk the tempura batter vigorously every time you are ready to dredge the ingredients in the tempura batter. The bubbly tempura batter will help achieve a crispy, light tempura shell around the vegetables/shrimps. Plus, rice flour will separate from the water and stay at the bottom if you don’t whisk the mixture.
- Coat the sweet potato slices with batter and deep fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 3 minutes. Do not overcrowd the surface of the oil. Keep the ingredients in a single layer, without overlapping. I put 4 pieces of sweet potato in my deep fryer at a time.
- Once they are deep fried, shake off excess oil and transfer to a wire rack (or a plate lined with a paper towel). Continue with the rest of sweet potatoes. Before moving to next ingredient, ALWAYS pick up crumbs in the oil between batches. The burnt crumb will attach to your tempura if you don’t clean them up, and oil will get darker once the crumbs become burnt and it leaves a bad flavor in the oil.
- Next up, kabocha. Whisk the tempura batter first, coat the kabocha slices with the batter, and deep fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 3 minutes.
- Next, we’ll deep-fry okras and green beans. Whisk the batter, coat the okras/green beans, and deep fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 2 minutes.
- Next, we’ll deep-fry eggplants. Make sure the oil is kept at the desired temperature. Quickly, but carefully, you will cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. If the eggplant is long, cut each half into 2 equal size pieces. Tip: Keep the eggplant uncut until you’re ready to deep fry because they will change the color as soon as you cut them.
- Leaving ¾ inch (2 cm) on one end, make a 5-6 slits on the skin lengthwise, like a fan shape. This is a typical preparation for eggplant tempura.
- Whisk the batter, coat the eggplant, and deep fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 2 minutes.
- We use clean oil for vegetables first, then we finish deep frying with seafood as seafood has more flavor. You don’t want the vegetables to have shrimp flavors. Whisk the batter, coat the shrimp, and deep fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately with a dipping sauce and grated daikon. You can also serve tempura with sea salt (or green tea sea salt) instead of dipping sauce.
To Store
- For the best tasting experience (texture and flavor), tempura is highly recommended to be consumed immediately after deep frying. However, if you can’t finish everything, put it in an airtight container after tempura is cooled and store till the next day in the refrigerator. Use a toaster oven or oven to re-heat and do not use a microwave (otherwise tempura will get soggy).
Similar Recipes on Just One Cookbook
- Eggplant Agebitashi (gluten-free recipe)
- Vegetable Tempura
Oh I’m so happy about this glutenfree recipe! Thank you so much Nami, happy Easter!
Hi Genus! Thank you, I’m so glad you liked this post! 🙂
Nami, thank-you thank-you, thank-you. My little girl loves tempura but has to eat gluten free; this recipe looks perfect. Being Orthodox Christian we still have a few weeks until Easter so veggie tempura will be absolutely perfect.
Thanks again, much love and Happy Easter,
Jacque
Hi Jacquline! I’m so happy to hear that! Please make delicious GF tempura for your little girl! Hope she’ll give a big smile! xo
This makes me so happy to see! I have been missing tempura since I have gone gluten-free for the past few years! Thank you!
Hi Alana! I’m so so happy to hear that! You have to make this at home, but homemade tempura is the best anyway. Hope you enjoy!!
Ask and you shall receive … 🙂 I just commented to you yesterday about no being able to eat tempura anymore cause of my gluten problem and here today is a GF Tempura recipe. thens so much. You are the greatest.
Hi Richelle! I saw your request! What a timing! 🙂 I’m so happy to hear you liked the recipe. Enjoy! 🙂
Namiko,
Thank you for the awesome recipe…can’t wait to try it!
I’m on a low sugar diet that has me eating less white rice, white flour and white pasta. I would love to have a recipe for preparing tonkatsu or chicken katsu using rice flour. Additionally, I’d love to see more recipes using tamari to prepare dishes like kiriboshi daikon, gomoku gohan with brown rice or nimono dishes.
Regards,
Kacy
Hi Kacy! I hope you enjoy! I think rice flour should work to replace the regular wheat flour for Tonkatsu or Chicken Katsu. Unfortunately I don’t use tamari in my recipes as I try to make it with what most people have (regular soy sauce) but I hope you could adapt my recipe with tamari sauce instead of reg. soy sauce. I like Kiriboshi Daikon! Is it hard to get where you live. I haven’t shared it thinking it’s hard to find ingredients…. 🙂
Thank you for the great recipe. Can you bake instead of deep fry? Happy Easter.
Hi C Tong! I haven’t figured out how to make the crispy shell with tempura batter in the oven. While it’s getting cooked, all the batter will drop on the baking sheet and ingredients will be “naked”… 😀
oh my gosh, thank you!!!!! i love tempura so much, but being diagnosed celiac meant i couldn’t have it anymore! as for more gf recipes, i’d really love one for okonomiyaki and/or takoyaki batter (and second the vote for tonkatsu, cause boy i miss tonkatsu with curry sauce).
a tip for anyone with gluten problems, you can totally make your recipe for homemade curry roux gf by swapping the wheat flour for mochiko flour, it just won’t brown much, i usually just cook the mochiko in the butter for a minute or two, that seems to be enough! its takes the exact same amount of mochiko as regular wheat flour.
Hi Chelsea! You’re very welcome! Thank you and I hope you enjoy GF tempura! I think you can easily swap flour with rice flour for tonkasu. I need to try making Okonomiyaki or Takoyaki recipes with rice flour to see how I can adjust the batter though.
Thank you for your tip on homemade curry roux recipe with mochiko flour! Maybe the mochiko once cooked is a good texture for tonkatsu/okonomiyaki/takoyaki too. Have you tried it?
I would love to see a baked recipe for tempura as well :D, please.
Haha, I wish too! I don’t know (yet) how I can keep the tempura batter stay on the ingredients while being cooked in the oven. I know the batter will drip and ingredients will be “naked”… Need to figure out how…
Thank you, Nami, for the gluten free tempura recipe. I’m so glad that you created this recipe because I’m gluten intolerant. My husband and I’ll be having a tempura dinner real soon.
Have a happy Easter!
Hi Jeannie! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe! Hope you and your husband enjoy this recipe. xoxo
Hello Nami,
I’m so sorry I forgot to reply you when I made the gluten free tempura soon after leaving my comment. We enjoyed our dinner.
Thank you once again.
Hi Jeannie! No worries! Thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed the recipe! I’m so happy to hear that. 🙂
I cook gluten free for my husband, so thank you for this! I agree with others that I would like to see gluten free tonkatsu and tempura, in a baked recipe please! Also desserts using rice flour!
Hi Julie! You’re very welcome! I have baked tonkatsu recipe already, and I think you can swap regular flour with rice flour for that recipe and it’ll work. But for tempura… oh my, I have to figure out a way that ingredients won’t be “naked” while being baked. Batter will drop off from ingredients…
Happy Easter Nami and I do hope you are having a wonderful break with your children! That said, and for the first time ever, may I vehemently disagree with anyone wanting to make ‘gluten-free’ recipes unless they have medically been diagnosed with ‘coeliac disease’! That amounts to fewer than ONE PERSON IN EVERY HUNDRED’. For the rest it is a very expensive way of deteriorating their health thru’ lessening fibre and, oh so many, vitamins, minerals etc! To me, as a doctor and a very long-time nutritionist still very much studying, it is just a ridiculous and harmful fad!! Hugs dearHeart!!!
wow. Unfortunately there are many of us who never got the “official doctor” diagnosis of Celiac yet our health has DRAMATICALLY improved when we went off of gluten. There are SO many options for fiber, vitamins, minerals and it’s silly to think that without wheat in our diets our health will deteriorate. Of course if we just start eating garbage or not considering balanced diets then that’s a potential but I can almost assure you that those of us who have gone off gluten due to health problems are the type of people who research and learn and care about our health and are eating more “real food” than those who just eat whatever the food pyramid tells them to.
Thanks for your concern, but this is not a fad for out of us. ^__^
I AM sorry, Robin, for speaking up on one of my very favourite blogs [no disrespect[ whatever meant to Nami!.] May I just briefly suggest there is such a matter as ‘placebo effect’ and people following ‘the diet’ may also have changed other modes of their life which may have served them well. May I also I suggest as a doctor and a lifelong teacher that you keep up, not with those who benefit, but those who KNOW, to make your long-time decisions. My deepest apologies and biggest hugs, Namiko-san!
Eha, please, no apology necessary. Thank you for always leaving your comments and it’s good to have a healthy discussion and exchange information. There are so many things I don’t know and learn everyday from my readers.
Hi Eha! I understand your concern, and because I already know a lot of people think the same way as you do, I mentioned in the post about “people with celiac disease”. And it’s true that I received many emails from gluten intolerant readers for tempura recipes. So I’m really happy that they can make GF tempura using this recipe! 🙂
Hi Robin! Emails I received requesting for tempura recipes are people with celiac disease or people who cook for celiac disease, just like you. I know how much they miss some recipes that they used to enjoy etc… so I’m happy that I share this recipe. 🙂
Hi Namiko-San !!!
Can I use Mochiko instead of Bob’s Red Mill Organic White Rice Flour ?
Hi Doug! I used to live near Concord… that’s another story. Haha. Anyway, I think you can. I personally didn’t try yet, but a reader above mention about using mochiko to make curry roux. I wonder how the final texture is like. Mochiko is made of glutinous rice flour, and this rice flour is made of regular rice. Different ingredient. Let us know if you try! 🙂
I made fried tempura today as an appetizer food before the main dinner. I used okra, Korean eggplant, Texas sweet onions, green beans, sweet white potatoes, and shrimp.
For the frying oil, I always use Peanut Oil. It is more expensive than other oils but the taste compensates for its cost.
Everyone in my household loved the tempura.. For sure a keeper recipe!!
Hi Steve! I’m so happy to hear your family enjoyed this recipe! Your ingredients made me hungry!! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Thank you for this recipe! I can’t wait to try it. I cannot eat any gluten and tempura is something I have missed… haven’t ventured into trying that yet, so this is MUCH appreciated!
Now I wish I could find Soba noodles that are 100% buckwheat, (which is safe for me), that don’t cost SO much $!!
^__^
thanks again
Hi Robin! I hope you enjoy this recipe! I’m glad you can start enjoying tempura again with this recipe. 🙂 I know, it’s hard to find 100% buckwheat noodles outside of Japan. 🙁 Maybe I need to learn to make soba from scratch! 🙂
Hi Nami, would the batter work with brown rice flour or almond flour? Wondering how to make this work for us paleo people. Any replacement for mirin?
Hi Felicia! I think brown rice flour might work, if the flour is similar to regular rice flour. I’m not sure how the almond flour would be like as a tempura batter though. Sorry, I haven’t tested with these types of flour before so I can’t tell if or how it would work. Let us know if you give it a try! For mirin substitute, please read here:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/mirin/
Hi Namiko,
Thanks for the recipe.
Do you think it is possible to fry the tempura in air fryer?
Siew
Hi Siew! I don’t own an air fryer, so I haven’t tested making tempura with it. How does it work? If the tempura batter can stay while getting air fried? I’m afraid it drops and become “naked” – which is going to be the same problem for oven…
I am planning on making tempura for company. Is there any way you can make it ahead of time so you are not deep frying when company is around?
Thank you
Patty
Hi Patty! You have two choices when it comes to making tempura for guests… Either you make it ahead of time and compromise the result (won’t be crispy like “just deep fried”), or deep fry right before serving.
If you really want to serve good tempura, you just have to deep fry right before serving. Just like other deep fried foods, you have to enjoy it while it’s hot and fresh.
However, this GF tempura using rice flour stays crispy much longer than regular flour base tempura batter. 🙂
Thank you Nami. Have you tried putting the tempura between paper towels in a warm oven while you continue to cook more vegetables?
Hi Patty! Sure that works! 🙂
Smart and Final’s house brand of soy sauce is gluten free and you can buy it by the gallon. It is less expensive than the Asian brands of soy sauce and if you buy three or more you receive additional savings!
Hi Suki! Thank you for sharing your tip! The soy sauce should be used 2 years after it’s opened (if glass bottle. with plastic, 1.5 years), so if you or anyone buy a big bottle please be careful. 🙂
do you know of any brand that make gluten free miso?
Hi Sylvia! In Japan we have Kome (rice) miso that does not include soybeans. It might be hard to find outside of Japan… 🙁
My favorite Hikari miso has GF miso types, but not sure if these are available where you are…
http://www.hikarimiso.com/products/group/list/?cat3=33
Nami your recipe is always so dependable and my family can count on how good it tastes. This gluten free tempura is one of our favorites!
Hi John! I’m happy to hear this recipe worked well! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Regarding the rice flour is it
Sweet rice flour ( mochiko)?
If not please recommend
A brand.
Hi Esther! Rice flour and sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour) are different. 🙂 Please use rice flour.
You can buy this one: https://amzn.to/2CuWWt2
Hi, I LOVE this website! I use it every week <3
How do you suggest I make gluten free tempura scraps for Okonomiyaki?
Hi Elizabeth! Thank you for your kind words! You can make the tempura scraps using gluten free flour or rice flour. Whatever scraps you got from making this recipe, you can use it for making Okonomiyaki. 🙂
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Would it be possible to use an air fryer instead of deep frying?
Hi Susan! Tempura is wet batter, so I assume it’s not easy to make in it in the air fryer… as it cooks, the wet batter just drips down and make the batter coating super thin and not enough coating around the ingredient… However, if the tempura is already made (like store-bought or you made a day before), you can reheat the tempura using an air fryer. 🙂
Have you ever tried using an air fryer to make this tempura recipe? Do you have any suggestions on how to adapt the recipe to cook this tempura in an air fryer? My husband just bought one and I’m hoping I can use it for this purpose.
Was also thinking of using some almond flour for the batter, what do you think about that? I will make your kimpira gobo, and lotus root kimpira and hijiki recipes that I love with it too and serve with mitzuna, pea shoots, baby bok choy and baby spinach. I will use maitakes, shitakes, carrots, Kabocha, shishoto peppers , asparagus and scallions for the tempura tomorrow. Also making maki with
Bimbimbap with vegetables .I’m getting hungry thinking about it.
Hi Déborah!
Wow! We got hungry just reading your menu! It’s fantastic!
Unfortunately, Nami does not use an air fryer and can’t give you much advice.
If you try it, please let us know how it goes!😊
Can you use an air fryer for your tempura dishes?
Hi Judy! Hum… We have never tried this recipe using an air fryer, and not sure if this liquid batter will work for an air fryer. If you try it, please let us know!