This Easy Chicken Karaage Recipe Will Blow Your Mind!
Karaage is a technique of Japanese cooking where an ingredient is lightly coated and deep fried. Most common is chicken karaage but you can also have things like ika karaage (squid) or geso karaage (squid tentacles). Along with our main course, we are making Spam Fried Rice! Find out: What is karaage chicken made of? What is the difference between fried chicken and karaage? Why is karaage chicken so good?
Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1″ cubes
2 T soy sauce
1 T sake
1 t sugar
1 T ginger minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup cornstarch
High heat oil for deep frying
1. In a bowl, marinate the chicken in the soy sauce, sake, sugar, ginger, and garlic for 30 minutes at temperature, in a slightly cool spot. (Letting the chicken rest at room temp means that the chicken won’t drop the temperature of the oil, which means that it’ll cook up crispier. Also, it’ll cook faster than if you cook it cold from the fridge. If you are air frying or baking, add a 1/2 tablespoon oil to the marinade.)
2. Place the potato starch and cornstarch in a bowl or gallon sized Ziplock bag and, working in batches, toss and coat several pieces of chicken, making sure they are well coated. The chicken should be well coated and look fairly dry.
3. Prepare a wire cooling rack over a paper towel lined rimmed baking sheet. Heat up 2 – 2.5 inches of oil in a deep heavy bottomed pot until it reaches 325°F. It doesn’t need to be too deep, it depends on the size of your chicken.
4. Use a pair of tongs to gently add a couple of pieces of chicken to the hot oil, being careful not to overcrowd. Fry in batches until lightly golden, about 1 1/2 minutes.
5. Remove from the oil and let rest on your prepared wire rack. Repeat with the remaining chicken until all of it has been fried once.
6. Turn the heat up to 350-375°F and fry the chicken a second time around until deeply golden and crispy, another 1-2 minutes.
Enjoy as soon as possible!
Chicken Karaage dips
Usually karaage is served on it’s own with a lemon wedge or some Kewpie mayo, but you can definitely serve up some dips too!
Kewpie mayo: The classic, just squeeze it right out of that iconic bottle!
Spicy mayo: mix 2 T kewpie mayo with 2 t sriracha
Garlic mayo: mix 2 T kewpie mayo with 2 cloves minced garlic
Ranch: mix 2 T kewpie mayo with 1 T buttermilk, 1 T sour cream, 1 t rice vinegar, 1 T finely chopped parsley, and pinch of garlic powder
Jalapeño ranch: mix the above with 1 jalapeños, reseeded and diced
Creamy parmesan: mix 2 T kewpie mayo, 2 T finely grated parmesan, 2 t milk
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