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Japanese Fried Chicken (Karaage)

Karaage is Japanese fried chicken, usually round bite-size pieces seasoned mostly with soy sauce. It is one of the most popular classic Japanese dishes for everyone. You often see this in a lunch box in Japan. There are different varieties of Japanese fried chicken nowadays, each family might have a unique recipe for Karaage. You can enjoy arranging and seasoning it with your taste.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Resting time15 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: crispy, Japanese fried chicken, juicy, Karaage
Servings: 2 people
Author: Rinchan

Ingredients

  • 250 g boneless chicken thigh
  • Salt as needed
  • Black pepper as needed
  • 1 Tbsp sake
  • 1 Tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • ½ tsp grated garlic
  • 3 Tbsp potato starch
  • Cooking oil as needed

Optional garnish

  • Lemon wedges
  • Grated Japanese radish daikon oroshi
  • Japanese mayonnaise
  • Seven flavor chili pepper (shichimim/nanami)
  • Yuzu citrus chili paste (Yuzu kosho)

Instructions

  • Get all the ingredients and condiments.
  • Cut the chicken thigh into a bite.
    Cut the boneless chicken thigh into a bit bigger bite-size. You may get rid of unwanted fat from chicken thighs as needed.
  • Season the chicken thigh and rest it.
    Season the chicken with salt and pepper first, and put the chicken into a bowl. Add sake, mayonnaise, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic, and mix them well. Package it with plastic wrap and rest it for 15 minutes. Plastic wrap helps soak up and prevents unwanted drying.
  • Coat the chicken.
    Add potato starch mix well, and coat the chicken.
  • Deep fry.
    Pour the vegetable oil into a pan until about 3 cm/ 1-2 inches from the bottom and heat to 170℃/ 340℉ over medium heat. When you don't know if the oil is hot enough, check with chopsticks. Put a chopstick into the oil, if you see small bubbles around its surface, that means it is ready to go. Fry 3 or 4 pieces at a time. In 1 and a half minutes to 2 minutes, they color golden brown then it is time to flip them off, and another 1 and a half minutes to 2 minutes more. When they look nicely colored, take them out from the pan.

Mayo dipping sauce

  • Combine mayonnaise and Seven-flavor chili pepper (shichimi/Nanami). Sprinkle seven-flavor chili pepper on the mayonnaise as much as you like.