Chicken Karaage is one of the all-time popular dishes for bento and outdoor recreation. The crispy outside and juicy inside make the karaage so delicious!
Let’s prepare the chicken. Prick the skin side using the tip of a knife. This will help the chicken to absorb the seasonings.
Flip it over. Trim off the excess fat. Make several cuts across the tough, stringy part. Then, prick the chicken with the tip of the knife again.
Cut the chicken into large bite-size pieces.
Place the pieces into a bowl. Add the soy sauce, sake, salt, pepper, grated ginger root and garlic and the sesame oil.
Toss to coat, rubbing the seasonings into the chicken thoroughly. Let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes, allowing it to absorb the seasonings. Be sure to rub it thoroughly so that the chicken will be ready in 30 minutes.
Let’s make the karaage. To the seasoned chicken, add the beaten egg a little at a time and rub it in thoroughly, almost squeezing it into the chicken. This will help soften the karaage and allow it to retain the savory juices inside.
Add the potato starch. Lightly toss to coat.
Heat the vegetable oil to a relatively low temperature. Place the chicken pieces into the oil. At about 160 degrees °C or 320 degrees °F, small bubbles will form around the chicken.
Don’t touch them until the batter firms up otherwise the outer layer will break apart. When the batter firms up, flip them over.
Lightly brown the pieces, remove and place them onto a cooling rack. The remaining heat will continue cooking the inside.
Heat the oil to about 180 degrees °C or 360 degrees °F on high heat. Then, place the chicken into the oil again. Brown the chicken pieces evenly.
One of the advantages of using a set of kitchen chopsticks is that you can feel how crispy the outer texture is.
When the outside is crispy and the color is golden brown, remove the excess oil thoroughly and one by one place them onto the cooling rack.
Place the karaage next to the lettuce and parsley leaves on a plate.
Recipe Notes
Cooking at a low temperature first will help cook the inside and then deep-frying at a high temperature will help remove the excess oil easily. This 2 step deep-frying method will help avoid undercooking the inside and also overcooking the outside so you can easily make the delicious karaage.
The karaage is still delicious when cooled so it is often used as a bento sidedish.
I recently moved from Aomori and I miss the food very much. Now in Texas, USA I’m glad you’re still in my kitchen . We miss Francis!
Glad to hear you are still making our recipes in Texas!😍 We miss Francis too!🐩 Haven’t visited Aomori but really want to see Nebuta Festival!
Hi im joan always watching you’re video everytime i cook thanks its very big help for me Thanks
Glad to hear that! 🙂 I love the chicken karaage too. Oishii