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Shrimp Tempura - the best shrimp tempura recipe ever, made with a crispy, airy, light, and non-greasy tempura batter. Try my easy recipe and learn how to make a bento.
What Is Shrimp Tempura
Even though shrimp tempura is an iconic Japanese food, it originated from Portugal. Just like some other popular Japanese dishes, the talented Japanese chefs and home cooks had perfected the original recipes and make them uniquely Japanese.
While you can get shrimp tempura at many Japanese restaurants, it’s a dish that’s easy enough to make at home, with a few store-bought ingredients.
For example: this gorgeous looking shrimp tempura bento takes about 40 minutes to make, including the assembling time. Moving forward, a perfect tempura should be crispy with a yellowish/golden, lacy exterior.
Ingredients For Shrimp Tempura Recipe
- Shrimp
- Rice Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Egg yolk
- Oil
- Ice Cubes
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
Cooking Tips
- A great tempura lies in the batter, which should produce crispy, airy, light, and non-greasy tempura. Ice cold water and ice cubes are very important ingredients to the batter, and the deep-frying technique and the oil temperature are key to achieving the crispy lacy effect. A little baking powder also makes the batter crispier.
- The batter should be made just before the deep-frying. When making the batter, use a pair of chopsticks to stir the batter. Do not over-stir it as it should stay a little lumpy.
- Right before you use the batter, add in a few ice cubes and stir to combine with the batter. This loosens up the batter and chills it further to provide an airy, fluffy, and crispy exterior of the tempura.
- Cut off the pointed tail of the shrimp to avoid the shrimp from splattering while frying. (See picture guide in the recipe below.)
- To make a quick and easy tempura dipping sauce, use Mizkan (Bonito Flavored) Soup Base and dilute with warm water. The perfect ratio is 1:5. Add a little grated daikon and you have the perfect dipping sauce.
Tempura Dipping Sauce
For this recipe, I used Mizkan (Bonito Flavored) Soup Base and diluted it with water.
For homemade tempura dipping sauce, you will need dashi, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar mixed in a sauce pan and boiled. Pair this with daikon radish and you have a delicious dipping sauce!
Frequently Asked Questions
Tempura is usually served with rice or soba noodles, paired with daikon radish and tempura dipping sauce.
Shrimp’s low levels of mercury make it a great dish to eat while pregnant! And, it’s high in protein as well.
There are only 164 calories per serving of shrimp tempura.
What To Serve With Shrimp Tempura
This meal is best served as a side dish. For a wholesome Japanese meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
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Shrimp Tempura
Ingredients
- 6 shrimp , or tiger prawn, shelled, deveined and tail on
- 3 pieces Italian squash , or zucchini
- 3 pieces sweet potato, yam
- 3 green beans
- 3 pieces kabocha, Japanese pumpkin
- vegetable oil , for deep frying
- steamed rice
- black sesame seeds
- baby spinach and tofu Salad
- salmon teriyaki
Tempura Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon Bonito Flavored Soup Base, Mizkan
- 5 tablespoons water
- 1/4 tablespoon daikon, grated
Batter:
- 3 oz (90g) rice flour
- 1 oz (30g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 egg yolk
- 150 ml water, ice cold
- 3 small ice cubes
Baby Spinach and Tofu Salad:
- baby spinach
- tofu, cut into small cubes
- some carrot, shredded
- miso and mustard dressing, Mizkan
- white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Rinse the shrimp and pat them dry with paper towels. Use kitchen scissors to cut off the sharp tail, which will help prevent excessive splattering during deep-frying.
- To prevent the shrimp from curling, make a few shallow vertical slits along the underside.
- Prepare the remaining vegetable ingredients and arrange them on a flat surface or plate.
- Prepare the dipping sauce in a small bowl and set it aside.
- Just before you're ready to fry the tempura, mix all the atter ingredients in a bowl using chopsticks. Stir to combine well; the texture should be runny, with some lumps being acceptable. Add the ice cubes to the batter.
- Heat about 3 inches of oil in a flat-bottomed deep skillet to 340°F (170°C) for deep-frying. Stir the batter with chopsticks, then coat the vegetables and fry until light brown. Avoid overcrowding the skillet; fry in batches if necessary. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a dish lined with paper towels.
- To deep-fry the shrimp, dip each one in the batter and lay it flat in the wok to create a lacy effect. Repeat with the remaining shrimp. Once they are yellowish, golden, and crispy, use a strainer or slotted spoon to remove them, draining excess oil on paper towels.
Baby Spinach and Tofu Salad:
- Arrange all the salad ingredients in the bento box. Drizzle with Mizkan Miso and Mustard Dressing, then sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Assembling the Shrimp Tempura Bento:
- Arrange the steamed rice in the rice compartment and sprinkle with black sesame seeds. Prepare the salad as directed and place it in the bento box. Add the salmon teriyaki, then arrange the shrimp tempura and vegetables in the main compartment.
- Add a little dipping sauce in the small compartment next to the tempura, saving the remainder in a bowl for dipping. The bento is now complete and ready to be served.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
