The best homemade crispy Prawn Tempura recipe ( Japanese battered prawns ), anyone can make with simple ingredients! A perfect combination of crispy, airy, light Japanese-style batter and succulent flavourful prawns. Learn how to make fry it perfectly with my simple tips and instructions.
If you enjoy making Japanese-style prawn/shrimp dishes at home, Prawn Katsu and Prawn Gyoza are must-try prawn recipes or crispy Panko Chicken, if you are a fried chicken lover.
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Why you would love this recipe
You can find the high-quality shrimp tempura only at the authentic Japanese restaurants and they are quite pricy. Some of the regular takeout and readymade supermarket Tempura king prawns can be too greasy and the crust is too thick. When you make it at home you can use the best-quality large prawns, freshly homemade crispy batter, and it also saves your wallet.
It takes only 30 minutes to make everything from scratch and it tastes so good! Both the freshness and crispiness are way more better than takeout and frozen tempura prawns.
In this recipe, I am sharing our family favourite quick and easy prawn tempura recipe that all our familly members love. Serve with homemade savoury soy dipping sauce or a choice of sauce for a perfect appetizer or savoury snack!
What is Prawn Tempura?
Tempura is one of the most popular Japanese dishes in Japan and across the world. There are many different tempura like, vegetable tempura, seafood tempura, chicken tempura, etc. You can add your choice of vegetables or protein in the tempura batter and deep fry it to crispy perfection.
Among these tempura recipes, Tempura Prawn stands out as the famous one. We call it ' Prawn tempura ' or ' Tempura King Prawn ' in the UK and is known as, ' Shrimp Tempura ' in the USA. In Japanese language, tempura fried prawns are called Ebi No Tempura ( エビの天ぷら ) or Ebi Ten, in short.
Essential Ingredients
- Choice of prawns/shrimp - We love to make it with large tiger prawns. Feel free to use your choice of large king prawns, jumbo prawns, shirmp, white prawns, etc.
- Batter - You will need plain flour, corn starch, one egg, baking powder, and cold water.
- Plain Flour - To dust the prawns before dipping in the tempura batter.
- Frying Oil - As I've mentioned in my previous Chicken Tempura recipe, neutral flavour high smoke point oil is ideal for deep-frying. Vegetable oil, canola, sunflower, or peanut oil are great choices.
- Seasonings - Japanese do not usually add any seasonings in the prawns to emphasize the natural flavour of prawns. But I love to season the prawns with a pinch of salt and pepper before dusting them with the flour.
- Dipping Sauce - Make a quick soy dipping sauce with soy sauce, rice vinegar, Japanese mirin, brown sugar, and a dash of grated ginger.
How to make this Tempura Battered Prawns
Prepare the prawns:
- Prawns should be peeled, deveined, and pat dry with paper towel or clean cloth to remove excess moisture. ( You can either leave the tail-on or remove the tails to your preference. )
- To prevent the prawn from curling, cut shallow diagonal slits on the bottom and also on the top of the prawn. Then gently press and flatten it make it straight.
- Season the prawns with salt and pepper to taste.
- Lightly dust each prawn in the plain flour and set them aside.
Batter and Deep-frying:
- Combine plain flour, corn starch, and baking powder in a small bowl and set it aside. Whisk one egg and cold water in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the flour mixture in. Stir gently for 1-2 minutes and don't worry about the lumps.
- Fill the pot with frying oil about 3-4 inches high. Heat the oil over medium-high heat between ( 340º-350º F ). Test with few drops of batter if the oil is ready or not. Once the oil is hot enough, dip the prawn in the batter mix, gently toss excess batter.
- Add the battered prawns in hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes or until crispy. Flip occasionally. Then remove from oil and place it over the cooling rack. ( Repeat the process and do not overcrowd the frying oil. Fry with small batches. )
- Make dipping sauce - Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and grated ginger in a small bowl and whisk until sugar dissolved.
Top Tips
- It is important to use cold water as frying cold batter in the hot oil is one of the key method to achieve crispy coating. You can also keep the flour mixture and egg in the fridge to keep them cool before mixing them.
- Mix the batter gently and do not need to mix it into smooth paste. Press and stir the flour mix gently into the egg-water and it is completely fine to have lumps in the batter mix.
- To maintain the batter cool, add few ice cubes in one large bowl and place the batter bowl on top.
- To prevent the coating from being greasy and soggy, oil temperature should be steady during the frying process.
- Deep fry with the temperature between 340º to 350ºF. According to the size of the frying pan, oil amount, and the size of prawns, frying temperature and cooking time can be varied.
FAQ
Shrimp tempura should be serve immediately and tastes best when is freshly fried but you can keep the leftovers in the fridge or freezer. To keep in the fridge place the tempura in the air-tight container. It usually last in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. To freeze it, place them in the freezer-safe bag for later use. It usually last in the fridge for a couple of months.
Air-frying is the best option for reheating shimp tempura. Place the tempuras in the pre-heated air-fryer ( 180ºC/ 470ºF ) for 3-5 minutes or until hot and crispy. ( Frozen tempura do not need defrosting. )
Tempura prawn is delicious on its own or you can serve with dipping sauces, such as Japanese Tentsuyu ( Tempura dipping sauce ), soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, spicy mayo, hot chilli sauce, etc. You can also add it in the noodle soup, sushi roll, salad, or pair it with rice and Japanese curry sauce.
More fantastic crispy seafood recipes
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Prawn Tempura ( Battered Prawns )
Ingredients
- 16 pieces Large Prawns/shrimp Large king prawns, tiger prawns, shrimp, ( Peeled, deveined, and tail-on )
- 2 tbsp Plain flour To dust the prawns
- Oil for frying Vegetable or neutral flavour oil
- Salt & pepper to taste To season the prawns
Batter Ingredients
- 100 gram Plain flour All-purpose flour
- 30 gram Corn starch Or potato starch
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- 1 Egg
- 200 ml Cold water
Dipping Sauce
- 1 tbsp Soy sauce Light soy or all-purpose Japanese soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Mirin Japanese rice cooking wine
- 1 tbsp Rice vinegar or lemon juice
- 1-2 tsp Brown sugar or white sugar
- ¼ tsp Grated ginger
Instructions
Prepare Prawns
- Prawns should be peeled, deveined, and pat dry with paper towel or clean cloth to remove excess moisture. ( You can either leave the tail-on or remove the tails to your preference. )
- To prevent the prawn from curling, cut shallow diagonal slits on the bottom and also on the top of the prawn. Then gently press and flatten it make it straight. Season the prawns with salt and pepper to taste.
- Lightly dust each prawn in the plain flour and set them aside.
Make Tempura Batter
- Combine plain flour, corn starch, and baking powder in a small bowl and set it aside. Whisk one egg and cold water in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture in. Stir gently for 1-2 minutes and don't worry about the lumps.
Deep-Frying
- Fill the pot with frying oil about 3-4 inches high. Heat the oil over medium-high heat between ( 340º-350º F ). Test with few drops of batter if the oil is ready or not. Once the oil is hot enough, dip the prawn in the batter mix, gently toss excess batter.
- Add the battered prawns in hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes or until crispy. Flip occacionally. Then remove from oil and place it over the cooling rack. ( Repeat the process and do not overcrowd the frying oil. Fry with small batches. )
Dipping Sauce
- Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and grated ginger in a small bowl and whisk until sugar dissolved.
Notes
- Prawns - You can use large king prawns, tiger prawns, white prawns, shrimps, etc.
- Do not recommend using cooked prawns for this recipe.
- Tempura batter - should be light and crispy and the batter consistency is not too thick nor too watery. If the batter is too thick you can adjust the consistency by adding more cold water. Do not whisk the batter too much.
- You can create more fluffy tempura crust by sprinking few drops of batter over the prawn while deep frying.
- Use a fine mesh strainer to clear the oil between batches.
- You can also serve prawn tempura with Tentsuyu, sweet chilli sauce, hot chilli sauce, spicy mayo, etc.
- This recipe is for 14-16 prawns and you can serve up 4 people as an appetizer or up to 2 people as a main dish.
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