74 have already made this dish!
The preparation:
-
Mince the ginger and garlic and cut the chicken pieces into bite-sized pieces. Make sure ALL the chicken pieces are the same size. Otherwise, the frying time will vary.
-
Then add the following ingredients to a freezer bag: ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sake/white wine, sugar and a little oil approx. 1 tbsp + any additional ingredients you wish. Other ideas include pepper, peppercorns, oyster sauce....
-
Once everything is well mixed, add the chicken and mix everything well.
-
To allow the marinade to work optimally, place the bag in the refrigerator and allow the marinade to work for 20-30 minutes.
-
Now heat the oil. (If you want to double fry, first heat the oil to 150°, fry the pieces for 5 minutes and heat the oil to 180° and fry again). For simple frying, just heat the oil to 180° and fry the chicken pieces.
-
Before frying, roll the pieces in the cornstarch. You can also season this with pepper.
-
Then fry the chicken pieces for about 5-10 minutes. (depending on the thickness and depending on double frying)
-
The dish is ready. Serve with mayonnaise :)
Table of contents:
Summary
Karaage, a traditional Japanese dish, features tender pieces of chicken, usually thighs or drumsticks, marinated in a flavorful blend of ginger, garlic, high-quality soy sauce, sake, and sugar before being coated in a thin layer of starch for frying. This method results in juicy, melt-in-your-mouth chicken with a delightfully crispy exterior, especially when double-fried for added crunch. Perfect for a bento box, Karaage maintains its deliciousness over time, pairing wonderfully with rice, sliced cabbage, and Japanese mayonnaise, making it an excellent choice for any meal. The versatility of its marinade also allows for customization with additional spices, enhancing its already superb taste.Karaage is a traditional Japanese recipe made from chicken drumsticks. The chicken pieces, whether breast, thighs or wings, are cut into bite-sized pieces and marinated in a spicy marinade. We recommend using chicken drumsticks or chicken legs. You only need to separate the meat from the bone yourself. With a little practice, this is easy to do. Because of the fatty skin on the chicken leg, this part of the meat tastes much better after frying than the lean chicken breast.
The right way to fry
Kara-age is not breaded, but only coated with a thin layer of starch. Kara-age becomes very juicy by frying and the tender meat melts in your mouth. Make sure you use real starch (potato starch or corn starch are both suitable), as this creates a super crispy crust. Another tip for especially delicious karaage is double frying. Similar to the very famous Korean fried chicken. Double frying creates an especially crispy crust. First you fry the chicken pieces at about 150° oil and then fry them again completely at 180° oil.
The unique marinade
The ideal spicy marinade consists of fresh ginger, good smelling garlic, high quality soy sauce, original Japanese sake and sugar. These ingredients are available in every German supermarket nowadays and are not expensive. Soy sauce and sake can also be used for many other Japanese dishes and should therefore not be missing in your Japanese cooking cabinet. You can add other spices to this basic marinade. Pepper, even better Japanese pepper Shansho, egg yolk, oyster sauce or fruit juice (optimally from yuzu) complement the basic marinade many times over.
Kara-age is perfect for your bento box
Karaage is also ideal as the contents of your bento box . Frying keeps the chicken pieces juicy and crispy and they taste almost as good as freshly prepared. Ideally, you should also add rice, thinly sliced cabbage and Japanese mayonnaise . These ingredients take the dish to the next level. A light Misu Shiro then rounds off the dish.
Comments
I think it's great that you can enter the number of people, and the quantity of ingredients is calculated for me automatically. Awesome feature! I tried the Karaage and found it very delicious. So it's 5 stars from me ;)
Hi Luca, thanks for your praise :) We try to make our blog as user-friendly as possible :) If you have any further suggestions for improvement, feel free to share them with us :) Best regards, Ryu
Have never eaten such amazing chicken before
Hehe, hey Laura, nice to hear :) I also loooove eating chicken like this :) Best, Ryu
I first discovered Karaage when I stayed with my host family and was really impressed. I wanted to try making it at home, but I didn’t have the recipe, so I found this website. And the result: Simply AMAZING! Tastes just like my host dad’s. Definitely 5 stars!
Hi Lea, that's so nice to hear :) I'm glad you like the recipe :) Have fun cooking more :) Best regards, Ryu
Sounds delicious, we had something similar once at a street festival. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember the name... But it looked very similar, so I’ll definitely try this one! :D Great website Quick question: Do you think the chicken would also work well in an air fryer or should it be oil because of the starch? I don’t really have much experience with that :-)
Hi Sascha, I think it will work in the air fryer as well, but it won't taste exactly the same, since hardly any fat is used for this. I don't have an air fryer and have always fried in a pot so far, which also works well. Try both :) Best regards Matthias
You write in your recipe description, "Coat the pieces in starch before frying," but the product linked is potato fiber, not potato starch. Which one is correct? Great site with good recipes.
Hallo Daniel, Thank you very much for your comment, we're happy that you like our blog! :) Before frying, you can use both potato fibers and potato starch. Cornstarch is also an option. So you can choose as you like. Best regards, Ryusei