Who can resist delicious crispy homemade vegetable tempura? When making tempura at home, the goal is a crispy yet airy coating that doesn’t absorb oil when deep-fried. I’ll teach you how to achieve excellent results in this recipe.
Alongside sushi and ramen, tempura is another mandatory menu item for Japanese restaurants. Encased in a crunchy, crispy yet light batter, these perfectly deep-fried seafood, and vegetable are seriously addicting.
After sharing my Shrimp Tempura recipe, I am excited to share today’s recipe on Vegetable Tempura (野菜の天ぷら) since many of you have requested for it. Dipped in batter and deep-fried, each vegetable gets cooked perfectly on the inside, while the natural sweetness and flavor is enhanced. You would enjoy them piping hot with a delicate dipping sauce with grated daikon.
Some of the common vegetables used for Tempura include Japanese sweet potatoes, mushrooms (shiitake or king oyster are delicious), Kabocha squash, bell peppers, lotus roots, and eggplant. When I make vegetable tempura at home, I also like to include shiso leaves as well.
The Key for Perfect Vegetable Tempura
Before I start talking about how to make Tempura, please understand that even for the Japanese, making perfect Tempura is not easy. It requires a lot of skills and practice so don’t be discouraged if your first tempura does not look like ones from restaurants. But how do you get that crispy texture without the food being too oily?
The key for perfect tempura is batter and the temperature of the oil. I created a few steps below to go over the tips for making tempura.
Tips on Making Perfect Vegetable Tempura
Tempura Batter
Most of Tempura chefs recommend that flour to water ratio should be 1:1. Some recipe requires an egg (or two depending on the amount of flour and water), and some don’t. It’s up to you. When the batter is too thin, the ingredients won’t have much of batter around it and there is no fluffy and crisp texture to it. When the batter is too thick, you feel like you are eating the chewy exterior.
Please remember a few tips about the batter. Always mix the batter using chopsticks for only a few seconds to at most 1 minute, leaving lumps in the mixture on purpose. Overmixing the batter will result in the activation of wheat gluten, which causes the flour mixture to become chewy and dough-like when fried.
The cold batter is absolutely necessary for the unique fluffy and crisp tempura. All the ingredients (water, egg, and flour) must be cold prior to making the batter, and it has to be made RIGHT BEFORE you deep fry and has to be kept cold at all times to avoid activation of wheat gluten.
What Oil to Use for Tempura
The Tempura specialty restaurant uses untoasted sesame oil (clear) or a special blend of oil that is a combination of many kinds of oil. Each restaurant has its own secret recipe and blends that they perfected over the years. At home, you can simply enhance the flavor by adding sesame oil into the vegetable oil.
The temperature has to be between 320-356°F (160°C – 180°C) depending on how long it takes to cook through the 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 inside won’t be cooked thoroughly. And remember, cold battered ingredients will lower the oil temperature quickly; therefore, if you need to deep fry vegetables at 338°F (170°C), you need to bring the oil to 356-365°F (180-185°C) first.
How to Deep Fry Tempura
If you ask me what’s the most difficult part of making Tempura, I’d say it’s to keep the right temperature at all times while deep frying. It cannot be too high or too low. Most of the time I do not require thermometer, but if you are not used to deep frying, I highly recommend you to get a thermometer to precisely know at what temperature you are deep frying. The right sound of tempura being deep-fried is like a light sound. Like cider just being opened. That kind of light bubbly sound.
In order to maintain the correct temperature, do not overcrowd with ingredients when deep frying. As guidance remember 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.
What if the oil gets too hot? The quick solution to this is to add a bit of extra oil or add more cold battered ingredients. As I said, it is all about temperature control when deep frying.
Lastly, please pick up crumbs in the oil between batches. The burnt crumb will attach to your new tempura if you don’t pick them up, and oil will get darker once the crumbs become burnt and it leaves a bad flavor in the oil.
Itadakimasu!
I hope I didn’t overwhelm you. It’s a simple recipe, et it requires some skills and practice to make perfect Tempura. Good luck!
Other Tempura Recipes
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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- neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (for deep frying; untoasted sesame oil; vegetable oil : sesame oil = 10 : 1)
- 1 Japanese sweet potato (Satsumaimo)
- ⅛ kabocha (squash/pumpkin)
- 2 inch lotus root (renkon) (peeled and precooked, “Renkon no Mizuni”)
- 2 king oyster mushrooms (eringi)
- 4 Shiso leaves (Ooba)
- 1 large egg (cold 1 large egg, 40 ml)
- 200 ml water (iced water)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour) (120 g)
- ¾ cup dashi (200 ml; Kombu Dashi for vegetarian)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 inch daikon radish
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Combine dashi stock, mirin, sugar, and soy sauce in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat and let it simmer until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Slice Japanese sweet potato into thin pieces and soak in water for 15-30 minutes to remove excess starch. Then dry them using paper towels.
- Cut kabocha squash and lotus root into thin slices. Soak lotus root in vinegar water (2 cups water + 1 tsp. vinegar).
- Cut King oyster mushroom into thin slices.
- Discard the head of eggplant first, then cut it in half lengthwise. Then cut the eggplant lengthwise into very thin (about 1/8 inch) slices leaving the top 1-inch part intact. Gently press down on the eggplants to fan the slices out.
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Once the ingredients are ready, heat 1 1/2" (3 cm) of the oil to 356F (180C) in a deep fryer or pot. To make batter, sift the flour into a large bowl.
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Sift all-purpose flour.
- Add the egg into very cold water.
- Whisk vigorously and discard the form on the surface.
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As you slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour, mix the batter for about 1 minute with chopsticks in a figure 8 motion. Do not over mix and leave some lumps in the batter to avoid activation of wheat gluten. Keep the batter cold all the time by adding 1-2 ice cubes in the batter or by putting the batter bowl in a larger bowl containing ice water.
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Start deep-frying from the root vegetables as oil temperature needs to be a bit lower than non-root vegetables. If the ingredient is wet, dry them with a paper towel before dredging in the batter. While tempura is being fried, moisture from the ingredients will be evaporated and tempura will become crispy. However, if the ingredients have extra moisture, the tempura will become soggy after being deep-fried.
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For root vegetables, deep fry at 320°F (160°C) for 3-4 minutes. For vegetables and mushrooms, at 338-356°F (170-180°C) for 1-2 minutes. Do not overcrowd with ingredients. Remember you only put ingredients taking up about 1/2 of oil surface area. When you put too many ingredients, the oil temperature will drop quickly. Make sure to keep the right temperature all the time. For shiso leaves, sprinkle a bit of sifted flour on the back of leaves and dip only the back of leaf into the batter and deep fry for 15 seconds. For ingredients that are hard to keep the batter on, such as Shrimp Tempura, Kakiage, or shiso, we dust extra flour before dredging the ingredient in the batter. Flour works as a glue and the batter tends to stay on the ingredients.
- Transfer tempura to a wired rack or paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Between batches, Between batches, remove the crumbs which will burn and turn the oil darker if left in fryer.
- Grate daikon and squeeze water out. Serve tempura immediately with grated daikon. To enjoy, add grated daikon in tempura dipping sauce for refreshing taste.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on Jan 20, 2013.
Your tempura batter looks perfect.. light and not oily! 🙂
Everything looks perfect.
I didnt know you can use lotus roots in tempura, I have some leftovers and this is a great idea on how to use them
Great tutorial with all the steps and supporting images, Nami! Now, I am craving tempura for dinner (instead of the fish tacos we’re making!). Love this!
I love vegetable tempura! Yum!
Great, instructive post. I haven’t made tempura, but I love it (who can resist fried things?), so I really should. I tend to prefer vegetable tempura, so this recipe is right up my alley. Great tips on controlling the temperature of the oil. Good stuff – thanks.
Thank you for sharing this great tutorial. I love tempura, and sweet potatoes are my favorite way. I think I can do this, myself!
Hi Nami! Thanks for sharing the tips on the batter and the oil temperature. Agree that these 2 are the keys to good tempura.
Mmmm… Looks so delicious! I must say, I made your eggplant parmigiana recipe and your deep fry instructions were spot on. I think I have deep fried less than 5 times in my life before your instructions, and it turned out!!!
Anyways, just want to reiterate that you give really awesome and easy to follow deep fry instructions that works!
My favourite recipe of yours is…no surprise, “Mentaiko Pasta”! You know from my ig that
I am obsessed with that recipe of yours 🙂
Hi Vivi! I’m happy to hear my instructions were helpful. I sometimes worry if my explanations are clear enough. Thank you for your feedback! Glad to hear you felt comfortable deep frying.
I have mentaiko in my freezer. I should totally make that soon. 🙂 Thank you Vivi!
Hi Nami
Thank you for this post….as I loves anything tempura. Your tutorial pic has always been very helpful for us to achieve the best result.
YUMMMMM! And that lotus root is just too pretty!
One of my very faves is your Japanese Cheesecake… It is on my to do list.
I love vegetable tempura! This looks so good, Nami – I’ll trade you a platter for the dessert of your choice :).
Tempura sauce.. 4/3 of a cup of dashi stock? I’ll go with 200ml
I love tempura vegetables but I’ve only ever had fantastic ones in Japan.
Thanks for catching my mistake – it’s 3/4 cup. 🙂
I love Tempura & I’ve always thought that Tempura is a cheap thing. I realized I was so wrong when my Japanese friend brought me to a Tempura restaurant at Ropongi Hills. Their price? $200++ per person!!
That’s cuz you were in Roppongi. 😉
I can never get enough of dip fried food and tempura has always been one of my fav. I somehow can never land up making it crispy enough! It’s late night Nami and not a right time to crave for fried food 🙂
I love this!
Nami, your home is one I could happily eat in every single day. Delicious!
🙂 Mandy xo
Looks fantastic. Just one more question: how do you keep the fried tempura hot? The few times I tried to make it, we just ate every fried batch and went back to the kitchen. Not ho good, if you want to make it for guests. Any suggestions? Thanks!!
Hi Lara! Ideally, Tempura should be eaten right after deep fried. I’d deep fry the amount you serve first, then do a second batch (for second round) if it’s for guests. Otherwise you just have to drain excess oil from the tempura after fried. Placing tempura vertically helps to drain excess oil. Use wire rack rather than paper towel, so bottom is not going to be soggy. When you serve, re-heat using a toaster oven and that helps in terms of crispiness. Hope this helps!
Well, this recipe came just at the right time:) Last week we’ve been to a local Japanese Restaurant with some friends, and among others we served Vegetable Tempura which I loved a lot. I was about to search for a recipe when I saw your post about this:). Maybe I will have the courage to try it.
Nami, if you really would like to know which one is my favorite posts on your blog,I have a new favorite, it must be today´s Tempura – you have given such very valuable tips and techniques on making perfect Tempura, I am amazed at your skills! My favorite is the shiso leaf, it looks just so pretty – anyone being served your platter with the perfectly prepared Tempura should just be totally impressed – I am by just looking at it!
Hope all is well with your and your family! Greetings from the very snowy and cold Bonn!
Great tips, Nami-san! Thank you.
Very much appreciate, too, your ちょう美味しいそう-very yummy looking green tea ice cream recipe =)
very nice!
Oh I never thought of using chopsticks to coat the veggies. The prepacked flour always indicated to add 1:1 ratio of water and flour, but I think less water is always required. Otherwise the batter is to liquid. I loved your tips Nami and I am looking forwards to try them out soon.
I love this my friend I simply veges like this 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Looks so good nami. I havent made it in years. I cant remember using yolk either, ill have to give it another try. ( maybe Ill be able to get the kid to eat vegetables)
I love tempura. I don’t cook it myself but I love to order it at restaurants. It’s one of my most favourite finds on a menu. And as for your Top 5, I could never guess the Top 5 as my Top 5 is a constant source of bewilderment to me xx
These tempura vegetables are beautiful! I love the lotus root! I love the interesting vegetables you chose.
the veg tempura looks perfect. perfectly fried with no traces of oil.
I love tempura. It is a hard balance to get a crispy, light coating without too much oil. You did it perfectly… of course. 🙂 I know I could get my kids to eat a lot more veggies this way. 🙂
Nami, I’m grateful for your tempura tutorials (this one and the one for shrimp — the video “how-to” for the shrimp was incredible — thanks for the links.) Can’t wait to try it!
I like your batter Nami, I don’t think it absorbs oil, and looks crunchy!
Wow..such useful tips, Nami.. avoiding over mixing and adding cold water will help me go a long way to make a perfect Tempura the next time..thanks!
Oh your veggie tempura looks amazing and very delicious. I tried before and loved every bite. Awesome post, and of course pictures. I really love all your recipes, simple yet packed with flavor…I made many of your recipes and they never ever turned out bad because your easy to follow instructions are just what we need. Keep ’em coming! 🙂
OMG I;m just dying for vegetable tempura I can eat a whole basket by my self! I just looove your pictures!
I love every single recipe on your blog Nami.
One of my favorites is always the eggplant =)
I LOOOOVE tempura! Nami, my brother would totally love this if I could make it for him! haha..
Thank you for all the helpful tips and notes Nami, especially the ones about the oil temperature
I have never made tempura but it has been on my list forever. Now I know where to come when I want to make it, thanx Nami
Thanks for the delicious and easy recipe plus the valuable tips on how to make tempura correctly, Nami!
Thanks for the great tips, Nami! Those lotus root and sweet potatoes slices look really delicious.
I tried making it before, but I just can’t come close the real thing in Japan. When the Japan Fly Fishers group had a small event at a member’s farm in the mountains outside of Tokyo, the owner took me around the farm to pick up these wild greens (I can’t remember the name), and then mushrooms he was growing on the back of logs. Then we took them back to the house and fried them up in tempura batter. I was forever hooked on tempura after that. Thanks for bringing back those memories!
Beautiful and very tempting! I love the fact that you’ve also used kabocha squash to make them.
Cheers,
Rosa
I love this lesson on tempura Nami! Those tips are going to come in very, very useful. I had no idea about not activating the wheat gluten. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at this! I hope your week is going well. Have a wonderful day!
Hi Nami! I just love tempura, and the vegetables are my fave on the platter when we eat out. But when I cook it at home, I know what you mean about the batter and temperature of the oil. I love how your vegetables look in the photos, so crisp and crunchy. I’m going to make some soon. Thanks for the recipe. Happy Monday!
Your vegetable tempura looks delicious! I usually julienne some carrots, gobo, and string beans but leaving them sliced looks so professional! Thank you for your tips on the batter and oil temperature, too!
When I have some leftover root vegetables, I usually cut them into julienne strips and make Kaikiage Don. It’s a really quick meal that everyone loves… and I usually put a lot of satsumaimo just for myself and my son. 🙂 So good!
This tempura looks amazing! Obviously paying close attention to all those details really helps make a stunning final dish. 🙂
Nami – You are seriously making me drool! I want some now.
Nami, it looks divine and you made it look so simple!
Thank you Nic! 🙂 Hope you will give it a try! 😉
I have your Japanese Cheesecake in my to do list, I found your recipe delicious.
I saw in a food program that the chef made the batter for tempura inside a bowl with cold water, and he always remind it has to be cold and fresh.
The thing with fried food as that we always think on the fat, but as you always mention, you don’t have if the oil is on a well temperature. Since that, I always use a thermometer…ja,ja,ja…
Now I really feel like eating tempura. I will go to bed with tempura on my mind. I hope I have some in my dreams:)
Interesting to read that Japanese Cheesecake is #1. Food blog readers and desserts…
I love tempura…especially the kabocha…yours look so good, really professionally done Nami.
Have a great week!
I love love love veggie tempura! I have never made my own before but looks like its time to start 🙂
I feel soooo much better after reading you saying making tempura isn’t as easy as people think. Phew… yours look so lovely and very light. Growing up, I’ve always loved tempura. Who doesn’t? They’re crispy, crunchy, and tasty.
Hooray! Tempura batter! I needed a good one to use, and you’ve met my wishes! Thanks Nami!
So how did you know that making tempura was on my list of foods to make in 2013? 🙂 Perfect timing my friend! Love the tips with the chopstick stirring and cold batter. Would never have thought of those. O.k. – so I’m pinning this so I can have it once the crisp spring vegetables start showing back up in the market. Tempura is about the only way I like to eat broccoli. Whoops – I didn’t say that out-loud did I? 🙂
So what are my favorite of your recipes? After this past summer, I have to say the ice creams. 🙂
I will make some with gluten free flour.
There are so many great tips in this post Nami and some things that I never really considered like activating the gluten if you whisk too much. It makes sense of course! 😀
Soo perfect! Normally i don’t like tempura but seeing yours making me change my mind.
You don’t like tempura? I wish I can change your mind totally. 🙂
Even if tempura is deep fried, they always feel so light. I can’t wait to try your recipe. Ebi tempura and vegetables are some of my favorite Japanese food. Thanks for showing the procedure Nami!
That’s a fantastic tempura tutorial! And they look picture perfect! After seeing your photos, I’d rather you cook them for me!! 🙂
Vegetable tempura is one of my absolute favourite Japanese dishes. I especially love onion tempura! This looks so beautiful Nami 🙂
Your vegetable tempura looks absolutely stunning. I’ve had veg tempura on a couple of occasions and this one surely makes me drool. Love your step by steps. Sure to give this a try sometime soon!
Nami, I’m impressed by your tempura. I do prepare tempura from time to time (I don’t know why, but I long for it rather when it’s warm outside…) so I know how difficult it is. Some products are easier, some more difficult and as you say it takes practice to obtain satisfactory results. I still have to work hard to obtain such perfect tempura as you!
I love eringi, I have it quite often grilled, but I would have never thought of “tempuring” it! Excellent idea.
It’s interesting to see your most popular recipes… It’s impossible to say which of your recipes is my favourite. I make so many of them! The one I prepare most often is korokke though… (The one with meat, mushrooms and carrots). A real comfort food for us. Thank you!
Oh… Nami… I love tempura! Thanks for this beuatiful article, I have saved it and soon I will test your recipe and procedure.
Ciao.
Wow,
This looks so perfectly done! I was looking for king prawns at the Asian market to make shrimp tempura but they were out of it. I will try it with these veggies first. I have most of the ingredients except for the dashi stock.
Cannot wait to try this!
Veggie tempura is my favorite thing ever! My fiance and I rate various restaurants on the quality of their tempura. Thank you for this tutorial, I have no clue how to make myself.
I am saving this. I do a lot of deep fries, and though I am mostly guided by instincts, your explanation makes so much sense to what I have experienced when frying anything. Like too much mixing making the exterior chewy…..lovely!!! Those tempuras look mouthwatering.
hi nami, i love your pictorial…
i just know that perilla/sisho is edible in tempura, i just curious about the taste….
i like beer/sake battered tempura even more instead regular water actually
Wow, this looks amazing! And I am loving the step by step tutorial! You’ve inspired me to dare to give it a try… 🙂
Love vegetable tempura but it’s something we leave to Japanese restaurants 🙂
Great tips on making a perfect tempura, and beautiful photos!
I have always wanted to make tempora but I don’t have a fryer! Either way, Love this! so perfectly fried!
Such a lovely tempura, Nami! It looks absolutely scrumptious and perfectly golden brown. Thank you for sharing one of my favorite dishes!
I recently tried tempura green beans with a garlic mayonnaise, it was so good!! Yours looks much better though 🙂
わあ、ご苦労様。これポストに時間かかったでしょう？いつもプロ並みのレシピだね。とても参考になります。主婦歴長いけど、私はここまで手を入れませんよ。というかかなりの手抜きでやります。不思議な事に今日はなす、さつまいも、エリンギ、シソを持ってます。では晩御飯はこれかな？
You fried these to perfection, Nami! The batter coating looks so light and wonderful! And the lotus root is so gorgeous!!! I bet this will be a VERY popular post 🙂
I haven’t had tempura in years but always loved it when I did. You share so many great tips to insure perfection. Now I’d like to try and make some of my own. Thanks for sharing. Sorry I haven’t been by lately!
I will test your recipe 🙂
Thank you Nami
Hi Lina! I hope you will enjoy this tempura dish. Thank you for writing! 🙂
WOW! Who knew so much went into tempura? I sure didn’t. No wonder it’s so light and airy and addictingly good. Good thing I can’t reach in and grab this because I’d eat the whole plate! I owe you a big email, Nami. Miss ya!
oh how perfectly crispy and yet moist! I would love to eat at your restaurant- you really should open one up! You have the most amazing food that pulls people from all backgrounds to drool over your food!
I love tempura!! Who doesn’t, right? Everything looks so good.
I love tempura and am so happy to see a veggie one here! It looks perfect!
Every dishes in your blog i also love it!! hehehe..Thanks for sharing the tips on how to get nice Tempura..
Wow your tempura is so perfect! The recipe I used last time didn’t have egg in it. Looks like I gotta try yours!
This looks divine Nami. I love tempura and thanks for the step by step. I’ve definitely had some times where my tempura batter turned out too thick/thin so I’ll be referring to this post often!
Great to have your secrets! Now I can make my own batter!
A very informative post Nami! Will refer back to this one for sure.
I am salivating for your perfect tempura.
LL
Not sure it is a recipe I would attempt myself but it is great to read about it wityh so many tips. I will enjoyit in restaurants still, although I am sure it does not compare to home made. And there has to be shrimp too 😉
What a great resource for preparing tempura at home–I have never stopped to consider all the nuances that would make the difference between good and bad tempura. My favorite has always been the sweet potato. This is an awesome post, Nami. 🙂
I still want the cheesecake, lol. But I’d have to say this is one of my favorites also. My oldest daughter ordered this all the time. I’ve never tried it at home, it’s doesn’t look that hard though. I might have to try this before the cheesecake, my pants will thanks me. Hope you are having a great week.
-Gina-
Thanks so much for the tips, Nami. This is such an art, but I really would love to practise this at home.
You have officially found my weakness. I adore tempura…have had a few Tempura Fest parties with friends where we just make it all night, which while incredibly messy, is very fun. Have you heard about putting a splash of club soda in the batter instead of water? Rumor has it the air bubbles help the batter be really light. Not sure if it’s true though…
You never cease to inspire me with your Japanese dishes, Nami. Last time I made prawn tempura was after our holiday in Thailand 18 months ago so high time I went for it again. LOVE the veggies, especially the pretty lotus. Great tips too. Bravo.
Oh, favourite dish on the site? Your quick, easy and tasty Ginger Shogayaki Pork – I’ve got my kids making it now, thanks to you!
Aww Jill thank you for your kind comment! I’m so happy you enjoy my Shogayaki! That’s my favorite pork dish of all times too! 🙂
You didn’t overwhelm me at all, these are great tips. I tried my hand at tempura this summer and it wasn’t nearly like yours but we enjoyed it. I tried to recipes, one with beer and one without. Looking forward to trying your recipe.
Thank you for this awesome tempura tutorial! I’m not surprised that the shrimp tempura post is one of your most popular… I think that other than sushi, when many Americans think of Japanese food, the first thing they think of is “tempura!” (even though I didn’t really see or eat tempura very often when I lived in Japan…).
I’ve only made tempura once before, but this post just helped convince me that I should try it out again sometime soon… Thank you for all of your detailed advice about the batter and the oil temperature! (I love that you included shiso leaves in there too!)
Hi Allison! I actually didn’t think Shrimp Tempura would be that popular considering a lot of people don’t like deep frying. 🙂 I hope you enjoy homemade Tempura again! 🙂
Aw! I’m so happy to see your Chicken Teriyaki in your top 5!!
Veggie tempera is one of my favorite things to order at a Japanese restaurant. So glad I don’t have to order them any more since I can make them right at home!
Thank you for sharing all these great tempura making tips! I’m still afraid to try to make some myself though..
My favorite vegetable for tempura is the sweet potato! And then the lotus root.
My mother bought me a deep fryer. I’ve only used it a few times. Even with this lovely appliance, it’s hard to get the cooking temperature just right. I’ll have to give it another try with your tips. Maybe I’ll have better success.
I LOVE vegetable tempura!!! I’ve never cooked it before but with your recipe and tips I intend to give it a go. Thank you for providing such clear instructions. I am not surprised your cheesecake recipe is the most popular. You can just tell from the photo it’s heavenly. I’ll be making your cheesecake for my upcoming birthday in a few weeks time along with other savoury recipes. My theme for the party is Japanese food 🙂
Hi Marianna! Thank you for your kind feedback. I hope you enjoy my tempura batter! It’s delicious and the texture should come out well if you are pretty good at deep frying. 🙂 Cheesecake is very popular among bakers. I should be baking more often. 🙂
Hi,nami.I like your recipe so much.and your explanation, is great,I learned many things from you. Thanks!But, I’m living in a small town of Spain, can’t found the asia ingredients over here.I had tried CHEESECAKE,DORAYAKI …from here.well,finally was OK,I think so.At least someone said it was good.jeje.And now I have a problem,hope you can help me,please.My son is 2 and half years old.I’m trying to make some food for him evrytime.Like eegs, meatball with the sauce.noodles… But that’s difficult.He didn’t eat well.Just the rice,thin noodles,eggs.He doesn’t like the vegetables,shrimps,some kind of fish.I hope he can like to try everything.I don’t know what can I do for him? So, could you tell me some advice,please.
Hi Joanna! I’m really happy to hear you enjoy my blog and thanks for your time to write here.
As for your son, it’s hard to advise without knowing more details, but I would suggest to include tiny bit of “challenging” item in his favorite food. Don’t include a lot – start tiny portion, that’s almost not visible…or almost non sense. You can always increase the portion when he’s more “comfortable” with flavor and the look. The point here is to encourage him to eat the one he doesn’t like. He and his tongue will get used to the flavor and texture, and he will also get used to eating things that he doesn’t like. After a while it will be “normal” for him to eat that challenging ingredient.
I also recommend to keep rotating his menu. Try not to feed the same food, because one day he’ll say he doesn’t want to eat anything else but the food you are giving to him. It’s better now to show him that we eat different things.
Also, prepare some little treat (not like candy). For us, it was a gummy vitamins. We would give them anyway, but we pretended it was a treat saying that they won’t get any if they don’t eat everything.
Hope that helps? 🙂
Hi, I want to make this Tempura tonight-don’t understand what (egg water is?) can you let me know before 7pm
Dolores, egg water is a mixture of egg and water.
To make 1 cup (240 ml) egg water, you will need to combine 1 cold large egg (40ml) and 200 ml ice water.
Not sure where you are located, but I hope I responded before 7pm. 🙂
I live in California, thank you for responding on time, I have all the stuff ready, and soon I will start cooking, will let you know how my guests liked it/thank you again
Lovely , Lovely crispy shrimp and vegetable tempura. Can I use any other leafy green vegetables.
Hi Imelda! Hmmm leafy green vegetables are quite hard to deep fry as the oil temp is pretty high and the leafy vegetable will be cooked instantly (like shiso leaves are very quick to be deep fried). I recommend non-leafy vegetables such as broccoli, carrot, potatoes, asparagus, etc… 🙂
Gorgeous. I could eat more than my share of this. Your veggies look so light and they’re begging me to try this at home.
je n’ai jamais fait Tempura, en regardant vos conseils de préparations, c’est vraiment simple et géniale. Et je vous remercie beaucoup
Bonjour Faehau! Merci! 🙂
Sorry, but has this been translated into English with Google Translate? It’s pretty hard to follow… Love the pictures, and the basic explanation, but certainly not the best tempura recipe I’ve ever read – with some blatant mistakes even.
Hi Amys! I do not use google translate to write my post/recipe even though English is my second language. Basic Tempura recipe is very simple and pretty much same (or just slightly different) in every household in Japan. However what makes tempura special is the deep fry skill. It took me quite some time to get to where I am in terms of my tempura making and I feel I still need to improve my skill looking at these photos. There are tempura specialized restaurants/chefs and they make excellent tempura that it’s hard for me to achieve. I use this recipe all the time and I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. There are a lot of Japanese who don’t make tempura at home because it’s not “easy” to make a perfect looking/texture tempura. So hope you won’t give up with your first try! 🙂
How long do you typically fry each piece of vegetable? (2 min?)
Hi Kaori! I updated my recipe with cooking time:
For root vegetables, deep fry at 320°F (160°C) for 3-4 minutes. For vegetables and mushrooms, at 338-356°F (170-180°C) for 1-2 minutes.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Hi,
I tried Tempura Vegetables and Shrimps accoding to your instructions. They were perfect !! yes we all loved it.
Wishing you much more popularity.
Lalani
Hi Lalani! I’m so happy to hear you all enjoyed the tempura! Thanks so much for your kind feedback and support! 🙂
Good evening, thank you, great knowledge that you shared, very much appreciated…..
Thank you! 🙂
Nami, How frequently do Japenese cooks use a technique of drizziling the batter (tempura) over the half cooked ebi veggis,and the surface of the oil,then lastly gather-up the finished items with the very course batter drizzilings? Does this techniue have a separate nihon name?Do you think it is worth the extra step to bother with this?
Hi Don! Are you talking about home cooks or chefs? Home cooks, it really depends but most probably don’t care too much about how tempura look. They don’t need to make their tempura look like restaurants’ tempura… plus it’s extra batter = extra calories… it’s all about the look and texture.
However, tempura restaurants do that. I’ve seen them pour the batter over the oil/ingredients (and it depends on ingredients).
I don’t think there is no special name for it. Or maybe in specialized tempura restaurant world, they might, but I don’t know…
If you ask me, I don’t think extra batter is not necessary but the texture of batter is important even though you don’t have that extra batter around the ingredients.
Nami,thank you for the very thorough
reply. Oc course,I very much appreciate your interest to reply. Don
Nami,Thanks for our tempura batter reply,and reminding me about testing batter temp with dry chopstick oil bubbles.I have been experimenting with optimizing my batter,even farther. I always keep a bottle of cheap vodka in my freezer(not refrig.) for many uses. One use can be for deep frying batters. Substituting part of the icewater with a matching part of the freezr vodka(it will not freeze at all) will help speedup the evaporation of some of the liquid from the batter.Alchol is very volitol and evaporates much faster than water.All the alchol will be mostly evaporated at complete of complete cooking,and in theory, will help keep more crisp..at finished product.Some of British fish/chip shops also substitute cold seltzer water with the vodka ,to even farther evaporate liquid before cooking is completed. I do this often. Don
Hi Don! Yeah, it’s common to use beer and carbonated water to make deep frying batter so that the batter stays airy and crisp. I looked into traditional tempura recipes but most chefs at tempura specialized restaurants in Japan don’t use it. Personally I think it’s a really good trick, but I try to keep my recipes authentic on my blog and try to teach traditional technique… Thank you for sharing your tip with my readers though, I really appreciate it!
Looks awesome. You have done a great job.
I love japanese food and your website helps me a lot. Thank you
Thank you for your kind words, Yanti! xo 🙂
Hi, I recently heard that you can use matcha powder with salt to make tempura sauce with it. I was wondering if you have a recipe for it? I saw several recipes with just matcha powder and salt, but I didn’t know if they were authentic Japanese recipes or not.
Hi Apple Girl! Yes we enjoy it with matcha salt too. It is (good quality) matcha and salt (kosher or sea salt is great). More matcha than salt, there is no specific recipe for it, but just sprinkle some salt into matcha (not the other way around). Hope you enjoy!
Looks so delicious. I think I need to get ambitious and try this. Thank you for linking to your Shrimp Tempura and how to prepare shrimp (straight).
Hi June! Thank you! I’m glad you found the tutorial on straightening shrimp. 🙂
I love vegetable tempura, this looks so delicious! 🙂
Actually this is the best way to cook vegetables for those who dont like them, perfectly making it so crispy like this will let you forget you are eating veggies 🙂
I have been making the batter with seltzer water. Do you recommend I change? I also include shrimp and chicken in my tempura.
Hi Peter! Some Japanese use this western technique to make tempura batter too these days, but traditionally we did not and still do not use carbonated water to make tempura. 🙂 You can definitely use it!
Hi, can I know if there’s a way to make tempura without using egg? I mean a totally vegetarian tempura recipe?
Thank you
Hi Jayani! Some people make tempura without an egg – just flour and water as main ingredients. You can adjust the water. Some people add a tiny bit of rice vinegar too. 🙂
Hello Nami ????
My name is Paula from Australia, I clicked on your website for your vegetable tempura and couldn’t stop watching you making your recipes they all look so delicious. So I wanted to sign up but it’s coming up mailing list not active ???? I will try again another time.
Thank you for all your beautiful recipes I am going to start with your veg tempura tonight ????????????
Hi Paula! Thank you so much for your kind comment here. I just added your email to subscriber list. Hope you enjoy(ed) the tempura recipe! xo
Hi Nami,
I tried your tempura recipe last night and followed it to a tee but the batter was quite thick right off the start and the veggies came out soggy and doughy. Any ideas where I went wrong? Thanks!
Hi Weston! First of all, thank you so much for trying this recipe. It’s a bit hard to trouble shoot without looking at the batter or how you deep fry…
Thick batter – if it’s thicker than mine, then my first thought was that your 1 cup has probably more than 120 g. If you scoop up with a measuring cup, it can be as much as 150 g. So if you’re not using a scale, make sure to fluff up the flour first, and then scoop up flour with a spoon, and then transfer to a 1 cup measuring cup, That way, the weight is as close as 120 g.
Next is the deep fry oil temperature. When you said “soggy” my first thought was that your oil was too low. If it’s higher temperature, it shouldn’t be “soggy”. It looks like it absorbed so much oil at low temperature.
Hope this helps a little bit….
Hi, I don’t have a thermometer to put in the oil, is there any other way I can tell if the root vegetables would cook thoroughly> last time the sweet potato took a very long time to bake so I ended up cooking it in a pot with boiling water.
Hi Judy! Tempura can be one of the difficult dish among deep frying dish, mainly because each ingredient has different deep fry temperature and cooking time. But the common sense apply so once you feel comfortable deep frying, it should not be too difficult.
Root vegetables take time to cook, so it’s best at the lower temperature (but it’s not low temp) and slowly cook through. If it’s too low, then the batter will absorb all the oil. When you put the root vegetables in the oil, bubbles should come out. If it looks calm, then it’s too low. And make sure not to overcrowd because that means that you put too many ingredients and oil temperature went down fast. Just start with 2-3 pieces.
When the oil gets hot, it burns faster before the inside is cooked through. If you are not sure, take it out and insert a bamboo skewer to see if it goes through smoothly. Tempura requires some practice and I’m not an expert at it as I don’t deep fry often anymore. So don’t be too hard on yourself if it doesn’t come out. It’s one of the hardest (even though it’s simple!) skills in Japanese cooking. 🙂
I made this and it brought back memories–so much lighter than the tempura you often find in restaurants in the US! My husband felt like he’d never had real tempura before because the stuff he’d always eaten was so bready.
One concern though. I had fresh lotus root and used it as indicated (peeled, washed, then soaked in water/vinegar). My husband came through the kitchen and ate one slice raw while I was cooking. He later read you shouldn’t eat fresh lotus root raw because as an aquatic plant, it may contain parasites. So now we’re wondering how rare “may contain” is—is it just a small chance or did he likely acquire Fasciolopsis buski parasite doing this. We bought the lotus root at an HMart in the US. I’m hoping it’s a rare thing and people don’t worry about it, but I can’t tell from reading online.
Hi Natasha! I’m so glad to hear you and your husband enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
As for the lotus root, I looked it up in Japanese, and many sites said you “can” eat fresh (seasonal) raw lotus root but it tastes better when cooked. Some people may have a stomachache (probably eat too much) but if your husband just had a few bites, I don’t think he should be worried about it. 🙂
Hi, Nami! This vegetable tempura looks absolutely delicious. I’ll have to try some. Also, have you ever heard of ice cream tempura? It’s really good and I want to try to make it at home. Do you know the recipe for it?
Hi Ashlynn! I think I might have tried once somewhere… it’s not something we eat in Japan, but I know it’s a popular dessert at Japanese restaurants here. Maybe I’ll give it a try one day! 🙂
Thanks Nami! I researched a little about ice cream tempura, and I found out that it’s not completely Japanese, but you like mixes of Japanese food with a twist, so I think you’ll enjoy it!😊
Hi Ashlynn! Yeah I’ve seen it on the menu at Japanese restaurants in the US, but not in Japan. I think I’ve even tried it once… maybe one day I’ll try at home!
Great recipe thanks🤗. Had this dish at restaurant for first time, want to try at home!
Hi Rhoda! Hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Domo arigato Nami-san! For sharing this recipe and great instruction on the techniques. I made tempura for the first time and it turned out pretty good for a first try.
I appreciate so much your hard work on what you are sharing on your blog; it is helping me learn to cook the foods of my childhood and more so I may share them with my children and husband! This is a blessing I cannot properly put into words!
I hope you and your family have a very happy New Year 💗
Hi Midori-san! You have no idea how much your kind words mean to me! Thank you for trying my recipe. I’m happy to hear your family enjoyed the dish. 🙂 Happy New Year to you and your family!
Dear Nami, Your Oshechi Ryori posts were wonderful. I am vegetarian, and made a New Year’s dinner for my husband and friends – all JOC recipes. It was a HUGE success. Everything was delicious and I especially appreciate the notes in recipes for vegetarian/vegan options. The menu included Gomae, Warm Mushroom Salad, Simmered Bamboo Shoots, Inarisushi, Teriyaki Tofu, and Vegetable Tempura. All of the ingredients were purchased at Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights, IL.
Thank you for all of your (and your team’s) hard work, beautiful photography, clear instructions, and excellent information. Unfortunately, we didn’t photograph the meal. I don’t think about these things until it is too late.
Hi Darcy! Thank you for your kind words! You have no idea how much your kind words mean to me! I often worried about our vegan/vegetarian readers if they have enough recipes from my site to make dishes or they know how to make my recipes into vegan/vegetarian-friendly. So thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and positivity! Happy New Year!
Hi! I bought a fresh renkon. What’s the best way to pre cook or prepare it before I tempura fry it? Thanks!
Hi Jennie! If you can slice thin (5-7 mm), you can just go straight fry without precooking it. 🙂
Hello, Nami!
As usual, thank you for all of your wonderful recipes. My best friend and I will be moving to Japan in a few weeks, and we’re both very excited about the opportunity to try out more of your recipes in our new kitchen! However, we’ve run into a few questions about some of your fried dishes.
We’ll be purchasing a Japanese microwave/oven that has an air-frying function (過熱水蒸気) built into it. Do you have any idea if we would be able to make your tempura, karaage, and other fried recipes with this device? We were both hoping that if we could make these dishes a little bit healthier, we might be able to enjoy them even more often!
Thanks again, and best regards,
– Abigail
Hi Abigail! I’ve read about it (in Japanese) and it looks like it’s great for grilling fish etc, but not for homemade tempura and karaage. They said the store-bought deep-fried foods (tempura/karaage etc) will be crispier, but I doubt you can make it from scratch in the same way as deep frying on the stove… that’s my understanding. 🙂
So exciting to live in Japan! Good luck, and keep me posted on your adventure!
Hi Nami! Wonderful recipe! Just wondering, have you ever tried using potato starch in place of the flour? When making Korean fried chicken, it’s used to get a more crunchy crispy batter. Wondering if it would work here as well.
Hi Henry! We use it for Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) but not Tempura. Tempura batter is very specific and wet, unlike fried chicken coating that’s dry. 🙂
It is I, again. We avoid oil deep frying.
Looking for an oven baking method for Tempora.
I have tried panko not enough batter stayed on the vegetable.
Maybe oven temperature should be the same or higher than the oil temporary?
Hi Tom! Unlike panko-crusted foods like Tonkatsu or Croquettes, Tempura has wet batter and it’s impossible to bring up to the high temperature instantly to solidify those wet batter. The batter will be all dripped down if you put into the oven and wait for the coating to become crusty/crispy. So the oven temperature is quite impossible. Deep frying oil would instantly coat around the batter to solidify. I’m sorry the oven method doesn’t work for this recipe. 🙁