Shrimp Tempura

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!

My crispy shrimp tempura recipe also doesn't require panko breadcrumbs or egg yolk keeping the ingredients list shorter! In fact, there are only 6 ingredients. This delicious crunchy tempura dish is best served with steamed rice or with udon soup noodles!

What is Shrimp Tempura?

Shrimp tempura is a great appetizer that originates from Japan. It's made of sweet shrimp with a light tempura batter. The simple batter is usually made of wheat flour or cake flour, with potato starch (or cornstarch) with salt and water. The battered shrimp is then deep fried in oil in a deep pot over a high temperature. 

You will find this crispy tempura shrimp served at your Japanese restaurant or sushi restaurants. It's one of those well-known Japanese dishes that is iconic to Japanese cuisine. 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. It can also be served as a side dish, appetizer or as a main course. A terrific way to satisfy any craving for shrimp. 

History of Tempura

The origins of crunchy 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.

In Japan, you'll find many types of tempura from vegetable tempura, like squash, yams, broccoli, onion, and other veggies or other seafood, like eel or squid. The most common is tempura shrimp or in Japanese "Ebi Tempura". Ebi means shrimp in Japanese. If you like juicy shrimps, check out my Tenmusu which are Shrimp Tempura Rice Balls that originate from Japan too!

Tempura is one of those Asian dishes that has become very popular among the Japanese people. In Japan you will find restaurants that specialize in serving good shrimp tempura!

Easy Recipe

I'll be sharing easy steps on how to make this dish! Shrimp Tempura can be one of those intimidating dishes, due to it's complex cooking method at Japanese restaurants. 

My shrimp tempura is so easy. You'll just need peel your deveined shrimp leaving the tails on and make tiny slits into the underside of the shrimp so it can fry flat. Then whisk your 4-ingredient batter, coat your peeled shrimp to deep fry as your drizzle more batter on top of the shrimp to make it extra crunchy! The cooking time is about 2 minutes per batch of fried shrimp, so this comes together quickly.

At the end of this frying process, you will have crunchy shrimp tempura that will be just as delicious made easy!

Ingredients

You will need the following shrimp tempura ingredients. Please scroll down to my below recipe card for full measurements: 

• Shrimp: Raw Jumbo shrimp will give you the best results. 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. 
• Avocado oil or any neutral tasting oil: You can also use vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil but please do not use olive oil as it doesn't have a high smoke point and it carries a taste and scent.

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. Most Asian grocery stores, Western grocers or online retailers, like Amazon, will carry this ingredient. If you can't find this ingredient, sub with cornstarch. 
• Cake flour: Cake flour contains cornstarch which creates a crispy batter. You may use substitute with all-purpose flour if needed.
• Salt: This is important to help flavor the batter.
• 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. Your Japanese or Korean grocer is likely to sell this ingredient or you may find it online on Amazon.
• Water: To dilute the very salty flavor of the Tsuyu.

How to make Shrimp Tempura

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 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. 

​Cooking 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

How long will this last for?

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. 

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. 

Any substitutes for potato starch?

You may substitute with corn starch. 

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