Hi guys!
Today I’m going to share the BEST Karaage recipe that Jacob and I enjoyed SO MUCH during the Japan trip!
Karaage is Japanese-style fried chicken, what makes Karaage so special is the flavor they put into the chicken while marinating. Very signature Japanese flavor and lightly dusted with potato or cornstarch and deep fried.
Karaage can be served as a snack, top of the rice for Karaage don, amazing bento box idea, top of udon, between the bread or however you want!
It’s endless!
Obviously, Jacob and I enjoy Karaage with ice-cold beer, but it can be your kid’s new favorite food! (Of course without the beer! lol)
I personally like karaage made with skin-on chicken thighs and that’s how made in Japan as well.
But you can also use chicken breast if you prefer. Just cut them into 1 1/2-inch size pieces.
If you wanna learn how to debone the chicken thigh, go ahead and check out my Teriyaki Chicken!
In a mixing bowl, combine chicken, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sake, mirin, and black pepper give a good mix so chicken will coat evenly with the flavors.
I liked to grate the ginger and garlic in this recipe, so ginger and garlic juices come out better for the marinate.
Cover with plastic wrap and let it marinate for 15 to 30 minutes in a fridge.
Heat frying oil 350°F in a thick bottom pot, such as a dutch oven or cast iron wok/pot.
Bring cornstarch on a shallow plate.
Coat each piece of the chicken with the cornstarch one by one and shake the excess off.
You don’t have to this part ahead as I did, just dust them and drop into oil strait, that’s fine too.
Carefully drop the chicken pieces one by one into the hot oil and fry for 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown is fully cooked. Do 2 to 3 batches depending on the size of the frying pot.
Remove from the oil and place on a cooling rack or paper towel-lined baking sheet.
Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
Serve crispy karaage immediately on a plate with a handful of sold greens, lemon wedges, and kewpie mayonnaise.
Don’t forget to squeeze fresh lemon juice on top right before you dig in!! It will bring all the delicious flavor of karaage!!
Enjoy!
The BEST Karaage
Description
Ingredients
- 4 skin-on chicken thighs, each thighs cut into 6 pieces
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp grated garlic (approximately 1 clove garlic)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- pinch of black pepper
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- frying oil
- To Serve Karaage
- handful salad greens or thinly sliced cabbage
- lemon wedges
- kewpie mayonnaise
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine chicken, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sake, mirin and black pepper give a good mix so chicken will coat evenly with the flavors. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it marinate for 15 to 30 minutes in a fridge.
- Heat frying oil 350°F in a thick bottom pot, such as dutch oven or cast iron wok/pot.
- Bring cornstarch on a shallow plate. Coat each pieces of the chicken with the cornstarch one by one and shake the excess off.
- Carefully drop the chicken pieces one by one into the hot oil and fry for 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown fully cooked. Do 2 to 3 batches depending on the size of the frying pot. Remove from the oil and place on a cooling rack or paper towel lined baking sheet. Repeat with rest of the chicken.
- Serve immediately on a plate with a handful sold greens, lemon wedges and kewpie mayonnaise. Enjoy!
9 comments
Weird question but i would assume that this is all gluten free, and if not what ingredients aren’t gluten free that i could swap out!
Thanks for taking the time and reading this comment
Not all ingredients are gluten-free by default. Make sure you get a gluten-free soy sauce and sake. Even though sake is rice wine, not all is gluten-free for some reason. Check labels on Mirin carefully. According to Fearless Fresh, “True mirin (hon-mirin) is made by fermenting sweet rice and contains nothing else (besides the alcohol, of course). I have seen unfermented products labeled “mirin” containing Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (HVP) which may be made from wheat. In this case, use sake or dry sherry with some sugar added.”
My wife is GF so I totally understand your caution. Good Luck! I plan to try this recipe as well.
Can we air fryer this too?
I’ve seen air fryer karaage recipes, so I would say yes! It’s what I plan to do when I make this myself.
Thank you for this recipe, I made this last week! It worked out great and tasted wonderful. It was my first time deboning chicken thighs and I watched your other video that included the How-to–deboning chicken thighs, wasn’t bad at all!
So glad I could help!
Anything I could sub for sake?
Hi Seonkyong I always watch your amazing videos, But I have a hard time for your cooking application which has to use a shake, Is there a Shake substitute? Please tell me
Hi! Thank you so much for the support, also I’m guessing you are asking for a sake substitute, you can also use Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry! Hope this helped (: