Delicious, bite-size Chicken Karaage seasoned with shio koji, the Japanese all-purpose seasoning! Crunchy, tender, and flavorful, this fried chicken with extra umami flavor from the shio koji is one of my favorite chicken recipes.
Recently, I shared one of my favorite recipes: Braised Herb Chicken, which I make with this amazing condiment, Shio Koji. Today, I used the same condiment to make Chicken Karaage.
If you are thinking about trying shio koji for the first time, I highly recommend testing it with this chicken karaage recipe. I’ve made chicken karaage countless times for my family, but it’s never tasted this good! As you bite into the crispy chicken, you can taste the garlic along with the delicate umami flavor from the shio koji.
Shio Koji (塩麹, 塩糀) is a rice malt (koji) that has been fermented with sea salt (shio). It is a live food that is rich in enzymes and unlocks the umami flavor in foods.
The texture looks like porridge, and it has a subtle, sweet, and salty taste. It is often used in place of salt to enhance all kinds of foods. It marinates and tenderizes meat and can be used to season fish and vegetables. You can read more about it here.
You can get Hikari Miso Shio Koji on Amazon or at Japanese grocery stores. If you cannot find shio koji anywhere else, you can substitute it with salt.
Shio Koji Karaage
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skin-on chicken thighs (cut into 1-inch pieces)
- 4 Tbsp shio koji (I used Hikari Miso Shio Koji)
- 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice; from a 1-inch, 2.5-cm knob)
- 1 tsp garlic (grated)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- ½ cup potato starch or cornstarch
- 3 cups neutral oil
- lemon wedges (to serve)
Instructions
- Before You Start…Please note that this recipe requires 30 minutes of marinating time.
- Combine the 1-inch pieces of 1 lb boneless, skin-on chicken thighs with 4 Tbsp shio koji, 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice), 1 tsp garlic (crushed), and 1 tsp soy sauce in a bowl or large plastic bag. Marinate for at least 30 minutes (or overnight).
- Heat up a pot of 3 cups neutral oil for deep-frying. The ideal temperature is about 320–335ºF (160–170ºC).
- When the oil is almost ready, add ½ cup potato starch or cornstarch to the bowl or plastic bag with the chicken. Mix and coat the chicken with the starch.
- Gently drop each piece of chicken into the pot of hot oil and deep-fry until golden brown.
To Serve
- When it’s done, transfer the chicken onto a plate lined with paper towels. Continue with a new batch to deep-fry. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Hikari Miso. To read more about my partnership with Hikari Miso, click here.
I love the flavor of this chicken and have made it several times. However, the exterior winds up being soft after a little while. Does yours stay crisp? How do you achieve that?
Hi, Susan! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
If you’re using cornstarch, we highly recommend switching to potato starch. It can be challenging to maintain the crispiness of fried foods for a long time, but we believe potato starch is more effective for this purpose. We hope this helps!
Made this tonight with furikake rice and stir-fry veg. AMAZING!
Hi, Joe! Aww! Thank you so much!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Nami’s recipe! Happy Cooking! ☺️
I am planning to make this for the first time tomorrow. I have regular plain shio koji. I am wondering if I should add some miso since I don’t have hikari miso shio koji.
Hi Sharon! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
You can use any brand or homemade Shio Koji. Hikari Miso is the brand name, and there is no miso in it.
Shio Koji: https://www.justonecookbook.com/shio-koji/
We hope you enjoy Shio Koji Karaage! 🙂
Amazing recipe! Definitely one of the best karaages I’ve had! I double fried per your regular karaage recipe. Is that recommended here as well?
Hi Jon, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
It depends on the size of the meat you can double fried. For this recipe, the Karaage size was smaller, so Nami fried once.
We hope this helps!
The best recipe for chicken so far. Thanks to Shio Koji, it changes the taste of the chicken (and other meat dishes). Very juicy, tender and tasty. Thanks for sharing the cooking secret of Japanese mother 🙂 I am using Shio Koji for almost everything now. Also good with baking/grilling (not only frying) and I tried it with pork also (extra tasty if i add sesame miso for pork).
Hi Lee! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed the Japanese secret ingredient, Shio Koji! Thank you very much for trying many of the recipes and for your kind feedback.
This was really delicious!! Thank you!
Hi Sara!
We are so happy to hear it was delicious!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
fijn en lekker recept ook gezonde samenstelling doe zo verder proficiat
Dank u, Paul!
Your website and cookbook have been my inspiration as I have spent most of this year investigating Japanese cuisine. I have tried several of your karaage recipes, but used a variation of this Shio Koji Karaage recipe, and your Cherry Blossom Cookie and Castella cake recipes to audition for Masterchef in Atlanta in October of this year. Everyone who has tried my karaage has loved it, including the Masterchef tasting judge who passed me through to the next level for interviews. Although I was not selected for the show, I am convinced that it was your easy-to-prepare recipes that gave me an edge in the competition! Thank you! I look forward to trying more of your wonderful recipes!
Hi Michelle! Thank you so much for your kind words and WOW! Masterchef competition!!! YOU are very inspiring!!!! I’m honored and happy to hear that you tried my recipes and you enjoy my website! Thank you for your encouraging words. Good luck to us! I hope to see you in the future competition! I’ll be watching you then!
Hello,
You know i’ve been wondering something for a while now.
While I was cooking american fried chicken with drumsticks, I was wondering if I couldn’t make karaage out of with (with the bone still on), intead of using chicken thighs.
What do you think ? Would it work ?
Hi Andrea! Drumsticks are with bone and it takes more time to cook it through than small pieces of chicken. So if you want to deep fry, you need to start from a lower temperature otherwise, it will be cooked on the outside but raw inside… I use drumettes to deep fry but usually avoid drumsticks because it’s more difficult. 🙂
Hi. Mami
Thank you very much for your recipe ,it’s inspire me to cook.
My son love japanese food that I do for him.thank you very much
Hi Potjamas! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m happy to hear your son enjoys Japanese food! 🙂
Hi there,
So after reading your post I decided to get some shio koji and try this karaage as we eat chicken karaage about once every two weeks (small kids, you know the drill). The recipe says to marinate the chicken in the shio koji for 30 mins + but nowhere does it mention when to add the soy sauce/ginger/garlic that is in the list of ingredients. I just added it to the marinade but you may want to correct the recipe for others. Unless I missed something, which is also very possible (^_^)
Hi Emmi! No, you were right! It was completely missing from the recipe I wrote (but I used them in the recipe of course), so now it’s all updated. Thank you SO much for finding the mistake and letting me know. I hope you enjoyed this karaage with shio koji. 🙂 Thank you again!
You recently mentioned a beautiful white jar with a small bird perched on top. Could you remind me where I could purchase it? Thank you so much.
Hi Carolyn! Trying to remember…. You are not talking about shio koji jar (bottle) right? Do you know in which recipe/post I showed the white jar? Did I mention in Facebook? I remember…did you ask this question on Facebook? I remember someone mentioned about bird perched on top and I had no idea what that meant, but now since you are asking… 🙂
Shio koji sounds like an amazing product to have in my pantry! I can just imagine the umami flavor….mmmmm! Thank you for sharing your review!
Thank you Donna! I tried other shio koji brands too, but so far I like this brand best (I’ve been using their miso for the longest time and I love it!). 🙂
Hi Nami just wondering where to buy shio koji in Australia? I am in Melbourne, thanks cheers stella
Hi Stella! I hope you can find it! Do you have a big Japanese supermarket? If you do, I am pretty sure you can find it… shio koji has been very popular in Japan and if there are a lot of Japanese (especially from Japan) shopping at the store, they should carry it. 🙂
Hi Nami, I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday. I was wondering if you’ve ever made the shio koji karage by baking? Was trying to find a healthier cooking method rather than frying?
Hi Randy! Thank you so much for your kind words. 🙂 Karaage by baking! Hmmm… I haven’t done it but I have seen it before. I think it’s possible – Let me know if you try it. 🙂