Shrimp Tempura. Homemade shrimp tempura with a light crispy coating paired with a delicious dipping sauce. A simple 6-ingredient recipe! Ready in 20 minutes. The crunchy batter makes this popular dish so addictive!
What is Shrimp Tempura?
Shrimp tempura is a great appetizer that originates from Japan. This iconic dish is made of sweet shrimp coated with a light tempura batter and deep fried. The origins of tempura shrimp dates back to the 16th century. Furthermore, missionaries of the Portuguese Catholic church brought to Japan a Western style of cooking where they would batter foods with flour and fry it. This was the starting point of tempura in Japan.
You will find this crispy tempura shrimp served at your Japanese restaurant. Usually, crispy tempura is served over sushi rice, in a bento box, in your favorite sushi roll like Shrimp Tempura Rolls (aka Ebiten Makizushi), with noodles like udon noodle soup, ramen or tempura soba noodles. This Japanese dish is served as a side dish, appetizer or main course. It's my favourite side dish to order and I love it for it's contrasting textures and who doesn't like crispy food?
Ingredients
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
Note: Most Asian grocers will carry these ingredients. You may find some at your select grocery store or online, like on Amazon.
- Jumbo Shrimp: The size of the shrimp is important so there's enough juicy shrimp meat to enjoy! Make sure it's raw shrimp and not the cooked kind. Feel free to use fresh shrimp or frozen shrimp that has been defrosted. I highly recommend deveined easy peel shrimp if that's available to you! I like using black tiger prawn but feel free to use any large shrimp you can find.
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Avoid olive oil, coconut oil or any heavy scented oils.
Shrimp Tempura batter:
- Potato starch: One of the key ingredients to making a light batter. It gives the cooked shrimp that golden brown crispy texture.
- Cake flour: Cake flour contains cornstarch which creates a crispy batter. You may use substitute with all-purpose flour if needed.
- Salt
- Cold Water: Cold water is required for this traditional wet batter to help make it runny. We want the texture of the batter to be just right! That's why a cold batter is important, so it has the right viscosity. It helps improve the end result by far. I would even recommend using melted ice water.
Shrimp Tempura Sauce
- Tsuyu Sauce aka Tsuyu Concentrate Soup Base: This is a sauce to help flavor many dishes in Japanese cooking, like noodles, rice and more. It's made of mirin, soy sauce, sake, bonito flakes, and kombu. It's very savory and slightly sweet.
- Water
How to make Shrimp Tempura
Prepare Shrimp
Peel deveined shrimp leaving the tails on.
Optional to straighten the shrimp: Turn the shrimp over its back side and make small slits where the feet used to be. The more slits the flatter the shrimp will be. Naturally the shrimp will curl when fried, especially if it's a meatier breed. But the end result will still be delicious!
Pat dry the shrimp with paper towel.
Batter & Fry Shrimp
In a medium bowl, combine tempura batter ingredients until smooth.
Mix shrimp into the batter ensuring it's fully coated.
In a large pan or skillet, heat vegetable oil or any neutral oil on medium high heat until you reach 350 degrees F with a digital instant read cooking thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, place a wooden spoon into the hot oil and if you see bubbles rapidly forming, your oil is hot enough.
Lower battered shrimp into the hot oil away from you. Fry in small batches, about 3-4 pieces per batch. Do not overcrowd the pan.
Drizzle 2 teaspoon of excess batter on top of each piece of shrimp, flip it over and let this fry for 1 minute or until crispy. Then drizzle another 2 teaspoon of batter, flip over and fry for another 1 minute or until it's crispy.
Remove with tongs or a slotted spoon and transfer to a wire rack or paper towel baking sheet to allow excess oil to drip off. Too much oil in the coating causes for soggy tempura. Repeat for the remaining shrimp.
Sauce:
In a small bowl, combine sauce ingredients together and serve with tempura.
Storage & Reheating
Tempura in general is best consumed same day. If you have leftover tempura, store it in an airtight container in the fridge and it can last up to 3-4 days, but it will be soggy. To reheat, I suggest reheating in the air fryer or in the preheated oven for 4-5 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Expert Tips
- Buy easy peeled deveined shrimp. This will make the entire process even faster! A lot of western grocers carry this kind of shrimp.
- Pat dry your shrimp to remove moisture. This will help the batter stick better to the shrimp and prevents the hot oil from splashing back at you.
- Whisk the dry ingredients of the batter first before adding water. This is the best way to encourage even distribution of the cake flour, potato starch and salt.
- Use kitchen tweezers to help you pull the shrimp out of the batter. Kitchen tweezers are better than tongs as they are smaller in surface area, so they won’t remove the batter off the shrimp while pinching.
- To measure correct temperature of the oil, use a digital thermometer. They're very inexpensive and online retailers like Amazon will sell them. It's a great investment for any home cook!
- Make sure the oil is hot enough before you begin frying. To check this, place a wooden chopstick into the oil and look for bubbles if you don't have a thermometer.
- Transfer hot shrimp to a cooling rack or a paper-towel lined plate first. This will help remove any excess oil which makes them soggy.
FAQ
What kind of shrimp should I buy for shrimp tempura?
I would suggest buying raw jumbo shrimp. It has such a delicious and meaty chew. I also recommend the black tiger breed for best taste. Frozen or fresh work fine.
Where can I buy Tsuyu Soup Concentrate?
This is a sauce that can be found online or at most Asian grocers.
Other recipes you may like!
- Bang Bang Shrimp
- Thai Garlic Fried Shrimp
- Chinese Salt and Pepper Shrimp
- Gochujang Honey Shrimp
- Chinese Battered Shrimp
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Shrimp Tempura
Ingredients
- 10 shrimp jumbo size
- 2 cups vegetable oil or any neutral oil
Batter:
- ¼ cup potato starch or cornstarch
- ¼ cup cake flour or sub with all-purpose flour but see Notes below
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup water ideally ice cold
Dipping Sauce:
- 3 tablespoon Tsuyu Soup Concentrate
- 3 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Peel deveined shrimp leaving the tails on. Optional to straighten the shrimp: Turn the shrimp over its back side and make small slits where the feet used to be. The more slits the flatter the shrimp will be. Naturally the shrimp will curl when fried, especially if it's a meatier breed. But the end result will still be delicious!
- Pat dry the shrimp with paper towel.
- In a medium bowl, combine batter ingredients as listed above until smooth.
- Mix shrimp into the batter ensuring it's fully coated.
- In a large pan or skillet, heat vegetable oil or any neutral oil on medium high heat until you reach 350 degrees F with a digital instant read cooking thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, place a wooden spoon into the hot oil and if you see bubbles rapidly forming, your oil is hot enough.
- Lower battered shrimp into the hot oil away from you. Fry in small batches, about 3-4 pieces per batch. Do not overcrowd the pan. Drizzle 2 teaspoon of excess batter on top of each piece of shrimp, flip it over and fry for 1 minute or until crispy. Then drizzle another 2 teaspoon of batter on top of the shrimp, flip over and fry for another 1 minute or until it's crispy and shrimp is pink.
- Remove fried shrimp with tongs or a slotted spoon and transfer to a wire rack or paper towel baking sheet to allow excess oil to drip off.
- Between batches, remove any browned or crispy tempura bits in the oil with a mesh scoop (these can cause the oil to taste burnt). Repeat the above steps for the remaining shrimp.
- In a small bowl, combine sauce ingredients together and serve with shrimp tempura.
Notes
If you Don't Have Cake Flour:
- Measure out ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- Then remove ½ tablespoon of it
- Then replace with ½ tablespoon cornstarch. Whisk well.
Katerina | Once a Foodie
This is so much easier than other tempura recipes I've seen, Christie, thank you! I love the tip for using tweezers too - much cleaner that way!
Tasia ~ two sugar bugs
Thank you for this easy shrimp tempura recipe! The shrimp looks so crispy and irresistable!
Caleb - Never Ending Journeys
This shrimp tempura looks so incredibly tasty! I would love to try this over rice!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
A dinner that is easy to make and only takes 6 ingredients is always tempting, but those beautiful crispy shrimp make this dish an absolute must try!