Karaage Chicken is one of the most popular Japanese dishes not only within Japan but abroad as well. The chicken is marinated with soy sauce, sake, ginger, and mirin to give a touch of sweetness.
I originally posted this recipe in September 2016 and updated in 2018 with a recipe video. Now I’ve improved the video as well as the contents.
This is a little-known secret outside of Japan, but the chicken pieces are deep fried twice to make them crunchy on the outside and juicy inside!
Karaage Chicken is my children’s long standing no. 1 favourite dish within my repertoire. Whenever I declare that I will cook a Japanese meal for them, Karaage Chicken comes up first.
About Karaage
Some people might be thinking that karaage is Japanese-style fried chicken. But this is not correct. The word ‘karaage‘ (唐揚げ) is a generic term for deep fried food coated with or without flour. You don’t have to use chicken.
So Karaage chicken is ‘tori no karaage‘ (鶏の唐揚げ, fried chicken) in Japanese, qualifying that it is chicken (tori, 鶏).
Karaage originally meant deep fried meat or fish without any marinating. The cooking method of pre-marinating ingredients came from China in the early Edo period. At the time, Japanese people called China ‘tou’ (唐), but this kanji character can also read ‘kara‘, particularly when combined with other characters. Hence the word 唐揚げ became ‘karaage’ instead of ‘touage‘.
If you marinate the meat/fish with some flavourings such as soy sauce before coating with cornflour, the dish becomes ‘tatsuta age’ (竜田揚げ). You can see the tatsuta age recipe using mackerel here.
As explained in the post Mackerel Tatsuta Age, only if the fish/meat is flavoured and coated with corn flour before deep-frying, it is called Tatsuta Age.
On the other hand, the definition of Karaage is rather vague. You can deep fry fish/meat with or without flavouring, and you don’t have to coat the ingredient with flour. The flour can be any kind of flour.
People often call Japanese-style fried chicken Karaage because chicken is the most popular Karaage ingredient.
What’s in My Japanese Fried chicken (Karaage Chicken)
There aren’t many ingredients involved in making Karaage Chicken. The marinade is made up of typical Japanese pantry items.
- Chicken thigh fillets cut into large bite-size pieces
- Corn flour/cornstarch
- Vegetable oil for deep-frying
I sometimes use thigh fillets with skin on, but sometimes I use skinless fillets (as seen in the video). Instead of thigh fillets, you can use breast fillets, but the cooked chicken will be a little bit dry.
I used corn flour/cornstarch to coat the chicken pieces this time, but I often use plain flour instead. You could also use equal parts corn flour and plain flour. I find that corn flour makes the coating lighter when deep fried.
Marinade
- Soy sauce
- Cooking sake
- Mirin
- Freshly grated ginger, including juice
There are so many variations to the marinade. Some recipes don’t add mirin. The younger generations appear to like the marinade with garlic added, making the flavour closer to the Chinese version. I like it without garlic to keep the authentic Japanese flavour. And that’s the Karaage Chicken flavour that I remember.
How to Make Japanese Fried chicken (Karaage Chicken)
My karaage chicken is marinated before frying.
- Cut the fillets into large bite size pieces – about 5cm x 4cm / 2″ x 1½”.
- Put the chicken pieces and the Marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag, and massage well to coat every piece of meat with the marinade.
- Marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Pat-dry the chicken pieces.
- Coat the chicken pieces with corn flour/cornstarch.
- Deep-fry the chicken pieces at 160°C/320°F.
- Rest the fried chicken for 3-4 minutes, then deep-fry at 190-200°C/374-392°F.
The temperature of the oil is critical. If the temperature of the oil in step 6 is too high, your chicken pieces become dark brown while inside of the chicken is still raw. If the temperature of the oil in step 7 is too low, you will end up with oily Karaage Chicken.
If you have a kitchen thermometer, that will be great. If you don’t, dip a pair of bamboo chopsticks in the oil and check the approximate temperature. If tiny bubbles are quietly forming around the chopsticks, then it is about 160-165°C/320-329°F, if larger bubbles are quickly rising, it is 180-190°C/356-374°F. You might find it difficult to see the difference in the comparison photo below, but hopefully you can see larger bubbles are coming up in the right photo.
Secret to Crispy Karaage Chicken
The secret to great Karaage Chicken with crunchy outside and juicy inside is the double-frying.
- Cook the chicken pieces by deep frying them at a lower temperature (about 160-165°C/320-329°F). The objective of this step is to cook the chicken to just before fully cooked without browning the surface too much.
- Rest for 3-4 minutes during which the residual heat cooks the chicken through.
- Deep fry the chicken pieces for the second time at about 190-200°C/374-392°F to make the outside of the chicken crunchy. This step is necessary because the first frying will make soggy fried chicken due to the lower temperature.
Frying twice as above ensures that the outside of the Karaage Chicken is crunchy and golden brown while the inside is juicy.
Yes, you need to do deep-frying (some people don’t seem to like it), but it is worth the effort.
Yumiko
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Recipe Video Above. One of the most popular Japanese dishes, not only within Japan but abroad, Karaage Chicken is pretty easy to make as long as you don't mind deep frying. Just marinate the chicken, toss in flour, and deep fry. Simple as that. The key is double frying so that the chicken becomes crunchy outside and juicy inside.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 350g/12.3oz chicken thigh fillets , cut into large bite size pieces (Note 1)
- 20g/0.7oz corn flour / cornstarch
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- 1/2 tsp mirin (Note 2)
- 2 tsp freshly grated ginger including juice
- Shredded lettuce or cabbage
- Sprigs of parsley
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Pat chicken pieces dry with paper towel. Put the chicken and the Marinade ingredients into a ziplock bag or a bowl.
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Massage the bag well ensuring that all pieces are coated with the marinade. Marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.
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Heat enough oil in a deep pot or pan to 160°C/320°F (note 3). The depth of the oil should be about 3-4cm/1¼-1½”.
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Meanwhile, drain excess marinade from the chicken, place the chicken pieces on paper towels to remove excess liquid, and put them in a bowl.
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Sprinkle over the corn flour and turn chicken to coat every piece with corn flour.
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Fry chicken in batches. Add several chicken pieces to the oil one by one and fry for about 2.5-3 minutes (note 4). You may want to move the chicken pieces around as they tend to stick to the bottom of the pot/pan.
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Take the chicken pieces out of the oil and rest for at least 3-4 minutes (note 5) on paper towels. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
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Skim any flour crumbs from the oil if there are any and increase the temperature of the oil to 190-200°C/374-392°F (note 3).
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Put the chicken pieces back into the oil in batches and fry for about 30 seconds to 1 minute until golden brown and crunchy. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
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Serve immediately with shredded lettuce and parsley for decoration if using.
1. I cut the chicken thigh into about 5 x 4cm/2 x 1.6". You can make it smaller or slightly larger. Then cooking time would need to be adjusted.
2. Sugar can be substituted for mirin. The sweetness of sugar vs mirin is 2:1 so use 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. Make sure you mix the marinade well to dissolve.
3. I don't normally use a thermometer to check the temperature of the oil. I dip a pair of bamboo chopsticks in the oil and check the approximate temperature. If tiny bubbles are quietly forming around the chopsticks, then it is about 160-165°C/320-329°F, if larger bubbles are quickly rising, it is 180-190°C/356-374°F.
4. To maintain the temperature of the oil, do not overcrowd the oil with too many chicken pieces. I used a 20cm/8" pot and deep fried in 2 batches with no more than 5-6 chicken pieces at once.
5. While resting, the chicken continues to cook slowly resulting in tender juicy chicken.
6. If you are making a large amount of Karaage Chicken, hold the fried chicken in the oven. Before frying the chicken, turn the oven on to around 80-100°C (176-212°F). As you finish frying the chicken pieces for the second time, keep them on the tray in the oven while you fry the others.
7. Nutrition information assumes that the vegetable oil absorbed into the fried chicken is about 8% of the weight of the chicken. Garnish is not included.
serving: 217g calories: 523kcal fat: 40g (62%) saturated fat: 7.9g (40%) trans fat: 0.3g polyunsaturated fat: 8.1g monounsaturated fat: 21g cholesterol: 166mg (55%) sodium: 705mg (29%) potassium: 411mg (12%) carbohydrates: 9.4g (3%) dietary fibre: 0.8g (3%) sugar: 0.7g protein: 30g vitamin a: 3% vitamin c: 0.2% calcium: 1.8% iron: 7.6%
Originally published in September 2016, updated in September 2018 to include a recipe video and Meal Ideas, improved contents with new photos and video in February 2022.
Meal Ideas
A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.
You should try to match the oily main dish with some vegetables that can assist digestion. The daikon (white radish) in the salad is perfect for this. Hijiki Seaweed Salad adds a different flavour to the meal.
- Main: Japanese Fried Chicken (Karaage Chicken) – today’s recipe.
- Side dish 1: Persimmon Daikon Salad – if persimmon is not in season, try Daikon Salad with Pickled Plum Dressing.
- Side dish 2: Hijiki Seaweed Salad – make ahead, alternative can be Scrambled Tofu (Iri Tofu) if you cannot buy hijiki seaweed.
- Soup: Miso Soup of your choice from Miso Soup Ingredient Combinations – I would go with potato, wakame seaweed and shallots/scallions.
- Rice: Cooked Rice.
Lilly says
I just made your Karaage Chicken. I only marinated the chicken with soy sauce and sugar as I did not have the other items. It tasted amazing and my sons loved it. I will make again with all ingredients. Thank you!
– Karaage is served with a Spicy Mayo here in San Diego, California. Served on top of Sushi too. I need a receipe for it. Is it an original sauce served in Japan?
Yumiko says
Hi Lilly, I’m glad you liked it! Adding mayo to Karaage is a new trend (Westernised). Young people seem to like it but Karrage without mayo is still the most popular way of eating it in Japan. When adding mayonnaise, often they simply squeeze out Kewpie mayonnaise. As for spicy mayo, I am not sure what’s in it as there are many variations to it. The spiciness must be coming from either chilli, chilli bean paste, tabasco, wasabi or mustard. Sometimes, ketchup is added to make is orange.
Giorjanna says
What is sake? How do you make or where do you buy it? Thanks.
Yumiko says
Hi Giorjana, sake is Japanese rice wine and alcoholic. There are drinking rice wine and cooking rice wine. Drinking rice wine can be used in cooking, too. The cooking rice wine usually contains a bit of salt but these days you can buy cooking rice wince with no salt in it as well.
cooking rice wine comes in a bottle (plastic or glass, small or large) and you can buy it at supermarkets and Asian grocery stores. Drinking sake can be purchased at bottle shops if they stock Japanese sake but they are much more expensive that cooking sake.
Please do not substitute sake with Chinese rice wine as it is quite different in flavour and aroma. Chinese rice wine usually does not suit to Japanese cooking unless the dish is Chinese style.
Linda says
Hi Yumiko. Can this chicken be done in an airfryer?
Yumiko says
Hi Linda, I don’t have an air fryer but I read several articles and it looks like you can use air fryer to fry Karaage Chicken. Let me know how it goes.
jun says
what do you do with the cooking oil after … discard? or re-use? for how many times if ever…thanks.
Yumiko says
Hi Jun, you can re-use the oil few to several times as long as you store it after filtering the oil, removing crumbs etc. Number of times depends on how cleanly you filtered, the ingredients you fried and the temperature the oil was heated in the past. The more filter, less smelly food (eg vegetables vs fish) and lower temperature, the more times you can re-use.
I have an oil container to store with a mesh strainer at the top (bought it a Japanese grocery store) but you can use a very fine stainer and a container to filter. It is even better if you lay a oil filter paper (kitchen supply shops, Daiso sell them) or kitchen paper on the strainer.
When re-using it add some fresh oil to improve the oil quality.
When the oil had its life, you will know it as the oil becomes a bit thick when poured and lots of tiny bubbles surfaces while heating up. I also discard oil after frying fish as the oil becomes fishy.
Ann Clark says
Can you marinate overnight?
Yumiko says
Hi Ann, it can be marinated overnight but no more than 6-8 hours. When marinated too long, eg 24 hours, the meat absorbs too much of marinade that make the meat too salty and its texture harder. You may also reduce the amount of marinade slightly when leaving it overnight for the same reason.
Salma says
Hi. Is there an alternative to sake as this has alcohol which I cannot use.
Thanks
Yumiko says
Hi Salma, would you like to read my reply to the comment from David dated 9 September? He asked the same question for a different reason but my answer covers your question in the latter half of my reply.
Stephanie says
I have the same restrictions andI have used rice vinegar with decent results as a replacement in a few recipes. I have tried one similar to this and it was very good with that swap. I just wish I could learn to fry properly to get that nice, crispy coating.
Kathy says
Hi Nagi, could you please give me the brand you use for Chinese cooking wine and dry sherry. I live in small town and cannot find. Thanks, Love, Love, your blog and recipes!!!!
Yumiko says
Hi Kathy, I am Yumiko, the owner of RecipeTin Japan. I forwarded this question to Nagi.
Lyn says
Love the video and all your suggestions…I’ll report back after I make. Curious about coatings…cornstarch versus flour? Someone used rice flour with success…What is the most authentic coating???
Yumiko says
Hi Lyn, thank you!
In Japan, rice flour is sometimes used at Japanese restaurants because it makes the karaage light and crunchy. But at home, rice flour is not a staple ingredient. Flour or cornstarch are the traditional coating used for karaage.
Jaypatto says
Hi Yumiko, the recipe I’ve always used is almost the same as yours but uses potato starch in place of corn flour. The cruchiness and flavour are superb, a bit like chicken and chips 😎
Yumiko says
Hi Jaypatto, when I was in Japan, I used potato starch which was more commonly available than corn starch. I liked it as it makes Karaage crispier and need less amount to thicken liquid.
Jaypatto says
It is now more available in Australia, usually in the gluten free section of the supermarket. Fantastic as a coating on calamari too! Thanks for your wonderful recipes.
David says
Hi Yumiko!
In America, you need to be 21 yrs old to but alcoholic beverages. I’m currently a high schooler and live away from my parents. Is there a way to substitute sake with something?
Yumiko says
Hi David, that’s really strict! In Australia, legal drinking age is 18 and in Japan, it’s 20. The first question I’d ask is whether or not it is illegal to buy a bottle of ‘cooking sake’ which is called ‘ryōrishu’ (料理酒) in Japanese. It contains a bit of salt in it and is not considered to be drinking alcohol in Australia and Japan, i.e. can sell without a license and children can buy it. I often use cooking sake when sake is needed. But you need to be aware of the amount of salt for the dish you are cooking as cooking sake already contains a bit of salt.
Failing the above, the only other options are:
1. If quantity is small (like this recipe) omit or replace with water (if consistency is an issue)
2. If the recipe includes sake and sugar, replace with mirin which is similar to combination of sake and sugar). The sweetness of mirin is about 1/3 of sugar, i.e. if using 5g sugar, you will need 15g mirin to get the same sweetness.
3. If sake is the key ingredient of the dish, e.g. sakamushi (steaming food with plenty of sake), then I am afraid you’d have to ask adult friend to get a bottle for you.
I hope you can buy cooking sake.
Gillian DidierSerre says
Hi Yumiko !
Thank you for the recipe and the wonderful back story about the chicken and sweet story about Nagi.
FYI Nagi is a wonderful recipe writer and I have cooked many of her recipes successfully and so I will try your recipe also👍
Yumiko says
Hi Gillian, thanks for your kind words. I am going to re-post this recipe with a video and Meal Idea. In doing so, I am planning to cut back my personal matters such as Nagi’s “Karaji” story. Now you are making me re-think my plan…