MAMALOLI

Delicious and Easy Asian Recipes

Chicken Karaage

Chicken Karaage

Chicken Karaage

If you’re new to Japanese food, Karaage is a great way to start. Karaage is Japanese Fried Chicken which originated from China (Tang Dynasty).

I use chicken thigh or chicken leg meat with skin on when making karaage. The perfect temperature to fry karaage is about 320 degrees F (160 degrees C ). If the oil temperature is too high, it will burn the outside and the inside will not be cooked. So, try to keep the temperature low. My deep fryer stays at a constant 375 degrees F, so I just fry the chicken all at once to keep the temperature down. It takes about 3 minutes to be golden brown. When done, karaage should be light and crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. I like to serve karaage with mayonnaise, but most serve it with lemon wedges. It tastes great even when it cools down, making it great for bentos!

Sometimes, I use the karaage mix when I’m feeling lazy. It’s like Shake ‘n Bake. The mix tastes ok, but I prefer making the marinade myself for a deeper flavor.

karaage-9

This recipe makes about 3 servings

Ingredients

  • 12 oz chicken thigh or leg meat (boneless)
  • 2 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoon mirin
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • 4 tablespoon potato starch
  • 2 tablespoon flour
  • Oil for frying
  • Mayonnaise (Optional)
  • Lemon Wedges (Optional)

Cooking Instructions

  1. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces (not too thick). Combine soy sauce, mirin, garlic, and ginger in a large bowl. Add chicken to the marinade and soak for 20 minutes.
  2. Mix potato starch and flour together. Before coating the chicken, shake off excess liquid. Coat the marinated chicken with the cornstarch flour mixture. Fry the chicken around 320 degrees F (160 degrees C ) for about 3 minutes or until golden brown.
  3. Serve with lemon wedges or mayonnaise.

  • !!! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ !!!

    This is one of my favorite things! I normally by a bag of aijinomoto's chicken karaage at the market – now I can make it myself! My family will be so happy cause they just gobble it up!!

  • Yay, I hope your chicken karaage turns out great! Just watch the oil temperature, I burnt my chicken karaage the first few times because I didn't know the right temperature.

  • Ah, thank-you!

    And if want to give it a try, you should use this if you ever make Chinese Orange Chicken. ^_^

  • I love orange chicken! ^_^

  • Kevin

    I was surprised by combining flour and corn starch to use as the frying batter for the chicken turn out so crispy and delicious. I think I like it more than fried chicken. Thanks.

    • Eerie

      if you can, try it with potato starch instead of corn starch, while both starches look about equal, potato starch adds a different, more crunchy texture :)
      try double coating for extra crisp :D

  • I'm glad you liked it! I also eat this more than fried chicken =)

  • I have never tasted Japanese food. But by looking at these pictures i really want try and taste it. It looks so delicious. I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.

  • Thanks!

  • Takao

    I have a question. Does the original Japanese recipe use pure potato starch (Katakuriko) or mixed with plain flour?

  • QL

    hi! i noticed your ingredients listing stated potato starch, but in your methods, you wrote cornstarch. are they the same, or interchangeable?

    i’m actually going to test out your garlic chicken teriyaki recipe, and it calls for potato starch, but i couldn’t find it at my local supermarket, so i got tapioca starch instead. are those two interchangeable as well?

    • If you don’t have potato starch, you can use corn starch or tapioca starch. I like to use potato starch because it doesn’t spread out like corn starch when deep frying foods. It sticks to the food well. Tapioca starch is good too, but I like to use it for noodles and bread to give a more soft and chewy texture.

      • QL

        thanks! that really helps. i tried searching the internet but didn’t get a clear answer. good luck to me to for trying your garlic teriyaki chicken recipe!

  • Eerie

    me and my husband tried this at a little ramen place in a food court at our local China town a few years ago and since then we have been hooked.
    The best part was that he got karaage ramen, so the karaage was in the ramen broth, the thing that excited him the most about this was that despite it being in the broth, it was still so crispy.

    We love Japanese food!