You can give your food delivery apps some rest for a while once you know how to make chicken karaage at home. Also, if you have been a fan of fried chicken for the longest time, it’s time to give the recipe a tastier twist.
It’s a finger food. So, you can savor all its flavors in a bite. Also, the magic lies in the coating. It’s not the flour-coated deep-fried chicken pieces in your regular takeaway chicken bucket. In an authentic chicken karaage recipe, the coating is always done using potato starch.
So, the crispiness on the outside perfectly balances the juiciness of the flavored chicken pieces inside.
Do you want to learn the recipe? Let’s get started.
Making Chicken Karaage At Home
If you take account of the preparation and cooking time, chicken karaage gets ready in around 35-40 minutes. So, if you have guests coming over or you want to get some snacks ready in minutes, it’s the best choice.
Ingredients You Need To Make Chicken Karaage
You will need boneless chicken thighs. I don’t use breast pieces because the thighs turn out to be juicier. Keep the skin on.
If you take around 250-300 grams of chicken, use 1 tablespoon of cooking sake (fermented rice alcohol), and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. (You can increase the use of soy sauce by 1 tablespoon).
Further, you will need grated ginger (5-7 grams) and crushed garlic cloves (2-4 cloves).
In addition, for the coating, you will need potato starch and cooking oil.
I serve the fries with mayo and lemon wedges. However, you can also go for ketchup or the hottest sauces.
Let’s Make Chicken Karaage
I cut the chicken pieces with a little skin and fat on them. This little trick makes the chicken pieces crispier. While cutting the chicken, make sure that all the pieces are of finger size.
It’s time to marinate the pieces with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and cooking sake. Be careful while adding extra salt to the marination, as soy sauce will already have some salt. At this stage, I add my unique twist by adding some black pepper. I love it spicy!
Now, it’s the unique part. When you cook something as authentic as Birria tacos or chicken karaage, you need to understand where the specialty lies. Nonetheless, once the marination is done for around 30 minutes, I add ¼ cup of potato starch. Also, make sure that the mix does not have extra water. If needed, drain the extra water.
After coating the pieces, I fry them in sunflower oil for around 4-5 minutes. All the pieces should be nice, golden brown, and crispy.
I place the fried chicken pieces on a kitchen paper roll so that excess oil gets absorbed.
That’s it! It’s time to serve hot and crispy chicken karaage with may dip or sauces of your choice.
Want to know about chicken karaage calories before having a bite? One piece of chicken karaage is around 85 kcal. So, try them on your “cheat-diet days.”
How To Make Chicken Karaage Sauce?
When my friend visits and I make chicken karaage, she loves to have it with teriyaki sauce. There are many recipe videos for making this sauce at home.
I make a special green onion sauce at home to go with the homemade chicken fries. The sauce gets ready in 10 minutes.
So, this is how I make it.
- First, I wash and slice the green onion and keep the slices aside. Chopping the green onions at first helps in mellowing the pungency of the green onion.
- Then I make a mix using 3 teaspoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of mirin, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, a pinch of salt, and 1 tablespoon of cooking sake.
- Next, I add chopped green onion to the mix. You have to give the sauce some setting time so that the strong flavor of green onion is balanced.
Try to make this sauce at home. This sauce even tastes better when you serve it with cold chicken karaage.
How To Make Chicken Karaage Ramen?
If you want to give chicken karaage a more soulful or heartier twist, the best way is to put the pieces in a ramen bowl. Agree much Anime lovers?
Here is the simplest method to make a ramen bowl with fried chicken.
- Boil eggs in 500 ml of water for five minutes. Take the eggs out and keep them inside ice water to keep the yolk gooey when served.
- Now, boil the ramen noodles in the same water.
- Pour the ramen noodles with broth into a bowl, cut the eggs, add herbs, and place chicken karaage. Don’t forget to add sesame seeds as the finishing touch.
Do You Want To Try Air Fryer Karaage Chicken?
You can easily make air fry chicken karaage at home. The preparation process is very similar to the usual chicken karaage cooking method. However, you will need to rest the marinated chicken for longer (at least 1 hour).
Also, you will not pour the cornstarch directly into the bowl here. Instead, you will keep the starch separately and coat the chicken pieces one by one.
Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees F, place the chicken pieces, and spray canola oil. Make sure that there are gaps between the chicken pieces.
Karaage chicken will get ready in 10-12 minutes. However, check once in the middle and spray some more oil if needed.
Mayo dip is the best condiment to go with this air fryer version.
Final Words
It’s time to wrap it with some essential tips on chicken karaage recipes to try at home. First of all, don’t use chicken breast pieces, as the fries can turn out dry. If you don’t have/like thigh pieces, go for chicken wings.
Also, while frying the chicken, make sure that the oil temperature does not exceed 360-370 degrees F. Otherwise, the chicken will not get cooked properly.
That’s it! You have made the best chicken karaage. So, have it and enjoy it! Do you have some secret tricks for this recipe? Don’t forget to share.
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