Tempura is one of the most popular type of Japanese food that is widely enjoyed around the world. Among all kinds of tempura, shrimp tempura is probably most common one as you see on menus in Japanese restaurants. Besides being a standalone dish, shrimp tempura is also served as part of donburi (Tempura Donburi) or soba/udon noodle soup (Tempura soba/udon).
More than a month ago, one of my favorite food bloggers, CG from Cooking Gallery, requested the shrimp tempura recipe. If you haven’t visited her blog, you must check out her cutest bento (lunch box) collections. CG’s bento is always superb and her creations always make me smile… If you want to spice up your lunch box for your kids, her blog is definitely a great source for inspiration.
So it’s been a while since I accepted the request but I finally just completed the recipe. The reason is I failed to take decent pictures every time. My kids and husband were really happy eating the Shrimp Tempura donburi, Shrimp Tempura soba, and Shrimp Tempura as appetizers and they absolutely loved it. I hope you like the recipe, CG!
Happy Wednesday!
Ingredients:
- 10 Large or jumbo shrimp (if frozen need to thaw, the bigger the shrimp the better)
- Corn starch to dust
- Oil for deep frying
- 100 g (little bit more than ¾ cup) all purpose flour
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 200 ml ice water
- 3/4 cup (200 ml) dashi stock (or 3/4 cup water + 1 tsp. Hondashi)
- 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. mirin
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 inch daikon, grated and squeeze liquid out
- shichimi (Japanese 7 flavor chili pepper)
Instructions:
- Prepare shrimp. Please read step-by-step pictures and explanations of How To Prepare Shrimp for Shrimp Tempura so that shrimp will be straight instead of curly.
- You can start heating the oil when you are almost done with cleaning shrimp. You want to bring the oil to 170C (338F). You can check the temperature with chopsticks or with a thermometer. When you see small bubbles around chopsticks, it’s pretty much ready for deep frying. If you want to read more about deep frying method, please read How To Deep Fry Food.
- When oil is getting close to 170C (338F), start preparing batter. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
- Beat egg yolk gently and add iced water and 2 ice cubes. It’s important to keep the batter icy cold at all time. The crispiness of Tempura comes from the temperature difference between oil and batter.
- Pour the egg mixture into flour mixture. Using chopsticks, mix but only circulate around the bowl 10 times. You want to leave some of the flour unmixed and clunky. The key here is not to produce gluten in order to have crispy tempura.
- Sift some corn starch on top of shrimps.
- When oil is 170C (338F), dip shrimp in batter several times, making sure shrimp is completely covered by the batter and start deep frying.
- Deep fry for about 2-3 minutes or so (depending on how many shrimps you deep fry at the same time and oil temperature), and after it’s cooked, place the shrimp on a wire rack (paper towel is okay but try to place it vertically) to get rid of extra oil. Keep in mind the more shrimp you have in the pot the cooler the oil temperature will be.
- If you want your Shrimp Tempura to look like ones from restaurant (extra batter around shrimp), then you have to follow this method. Please see video below (in the post) as I couldn’t capture myself doing it while deep frying… My trick for restaurant style skin is to pour extra batter on top of the shrimp after it’s been deep frying for about 5-7 seconds. You can use a spoon to do this but DO NOT drop the ice cube in the oil or else it’ll result in possible accidents.
- Heat all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium high heat. When boiling, turn the heat off and set aside.
Did you see the person dip his hand in the oil??? Crazy, isn’t it?
Hi, I'm Nami. Thanks for stopping by Just One Cookbook. You can read little bit more about me 
{ 96 comments… read them below or add one }
Namiiiiiiii, you can’t do this do me!!! I love tempura (never made it, though) and I loooove shrimps! I must try these… NOW (well, not now now… It’s 9:30 AM
)!
Nami, we ordered Tempura whenever we take meal in Japanese restaurant, especially my daughter and I love it! Thank you so much of sharing this recipe and the good tips on how to get crispy Tempura, am going to try soon.
Nami, this is what I call the complete guide to shrimp tempura! I have never posted shrimp tempura although I make it sometimes: my shrimps were always extremely curled (instead of the belly cuts etc.) and only a week ago I realised I kept on using the wrong type of shrimp…. They were very thick but short. Now I know where to find the ones from your photos and hope I’ll manage to make them!
Looking at your step by step photos I want to have tempura now! The video is fantastic! This person must do tempura very often… I find myself more and more resistant to heat every year. I think hands simply get used to this, but he is incredible!
Hi nami
Ohh… U just a helper!!
recent day I try to find any great tempura recipe at youtube, I already apply them but the result is not as great as show on the video
I think when I find a bigger shrimp I will try ur recipe
Tq!!
Looks better then anything I have seen in any restaurant! Lucky family you got there!
I love tempura! Thank you for posting this! I don’t eat shrimp (I know, I am weird… hehehe), but I would LOVE to try this recipe with something else… maybe some vegetables? It looks so crispy and delicious!!! Ohhh I can see that guy from the video dipping his fingers in boiling oil… how does he do that?????? Scary!!!
I guess he’s been doing that every day and oil to him is just like water! You can substitute with veggies like eggplant, kabocha, shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, shiso leaves, etc. In Japanese restaurants in the US, you also see broccoli, zucchini, carrot etc although they are not very common ingredient for tempura in Japan.
Very interesting tip to include ice cubes in the batter. I’ve seen the batter being mixed over an ice bath but adding ice cubes is much easier. I like such tips. I actually thought of tempura when I got up this morning, its been a while since I had it!
Nami you’ve absolutely no clue how much I love shrimp tempuras. I am so craving one NOW! I indulge in these when we have the Dubai Shopping Festival…. that’s when they set up the Global Village. And i make it a point to go to the Japanese Pavillion just to eat prawn tempuras.
Hi Nami.
Ooh shrimp tempura! Love them! There’s this restaurant that I go sometimes which serves them with different types of salt – green tea being one of them. Yum. Thanks for bringing great jap food into our homes.
Love, love, love, shrimp tempura! Yours looks absolutely beautiful, wish I could just pluck it from my screen
Jiro loves shrimp tempura but I seldom deep fry at home. One of his favorite dishes is tempura udon. Thanks for the tips on making the batter extra crispy.
Tempura looks delicious! I love this post and the youtube video is interesting!
I really want to try tempura! I have heard so much about it, seen so many tutorials on how to make the perfect ones that i can’t wait to actually try it!
What vegetable do you think I can use to make tempura?
Hi Chinmayie! You can substitute with veggies like eggplant, kabocha, shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, shiso leaves, etc. In Japanese restaurants in the US, you also see broccoli, zucchini, carrot etc although they are not very common ingredient for tempura in Japan.
I didn’t know that ice cubes have to be added to the batter. Looks dellshh!! I have always had shrimp tempura at Asian restaurants, but really never tried making those at home. Thanks for this unique recipe
Hi Mai! You can substitute with veggies like eggplant, kabocha, shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, shiso leaves, etc. In the Japanese restaurants in the US, you also see broccoli, zucchini, carrot etc…although they are not very common ingredient for tempura in Japan.
Ohhhh…my girls & I love tempura! I’ve made tempura several times but all weren’t perfect. I’m glad you posted this, Nami. This would be a big help!
Oh my, I haven’t had tempura in so long and these look amazing! Yum
I love your step by step pictures, those are incredibly helpful!
This is probably my most fav thing from Japanese cuisine..Love Love Love the way you explained the techinque behind it..I always wondered how it was so crisp..now I know..I can have a pound of those fried shrimps
Yum yum yum! Shrimp Tempura is one of Trinity’s favorite dishes! Everytime we go to our favorite Japanese restaurant, her usual is a plate of shrimp tempura and a side order of fried rice, they would be gone before my spicy tuna rolls even arrive! Thanks for sharing Nami!
Ooohh…. I love shrimps, this is one of my favorite. Yours looks extremely good and delicious.
Oh Nami, now it is I who wants to be your neighbour. I love tempura prawns especially in soba noodle soup. I don’t deep fry that much. I’m very accident prone. The guy in the video seems to be swirling the oil with his bare hands! Talk about asbestos fingers.
yummy! something I won’t do at home is fry (too messy) but I will admire your tempura from here.
This is crazy… but i’ve never had tempura! It looks great
My favorite too
I love shrimp tempura and now that I’ve seen your recipe I want them so bad LOL I’ll need to make some 
Nami, what are you doing to me? I love tempura!!! I did not make it myself so far, but often order it in restaurants… It looks divine! This is something I WANT to try
Thanks for sharing the recipe 
MMM!!! This one is another hit for me!! Most of my friends love sushi and we have this wonderful sushi restaurant here, I got a “crunchy” sort of roll, that had shrimp tempura in it. I ordered it for myself, thinking no one else would want it as it was tempura and ended up with only one piece as everyone else loved it too!
Nicely done, Nami!!
I was waiting for you to post this!! Thank you!
This looks delicious Nami. Me and my family love shrimps and this is great way to make it..yummy yum! Also I love your pictures…making me hungry right now:))
I love tempura- I didnt know the trick of adding ice cubes to the batter! So smart Nami chan!
I love enoki mushroom and eggplant tempura, oh and green beans too! My best friend likes this one place that does tempura natto. Your pics made me crave japanese- so that is where I am heading for lunch!
YAY…!!!! Finally the recipe is on
)!! Thank you so much, Nami…:)! The tempura looks gorgeous and I am so going to make it…:)!! Pity that it’s so late already here, or I would have tried your tempura recipe 
! If I don’t arrive home too tired tomorrow, I’ll definitely give it a try and make myself happy (just like your husband and kids 
!!). Btw, you’re right, that guy is crazy, dipping his hand in oil…! I guess he’s so used to making tempura, he doesn’t notice the heat anymore 
!
What a beautiful job you did with these, Nami. And I can see why they never stuck around long enough for you to take pictures. I’d be all over those!
PS – interesting you should think that the word “Nanaimo” sounded like Japanese..it’s the name of a city on Vancouver Island, but it is definitely a First Nations (Native American) word, so I imagine that the roots of the two languages are somewhat similar.
Wow this looks amazing! Nice job
Another great recipe Nami. I love stopping by to get inspired. Your tempura looks perfect. I get such a kick out of the Cooking Gallery`s bento recipes. I wish I had known about them when my kids were young.
Delicious! I love tempura of all kinds but my daughter loves shrimp the best. I know about the ice-cold batter, which makes me feel nervous about trying it. I don’t like soggy or oily tempura; can’t bear it! Probably I should practice and become proficient
I will save this recipe for my BF: he loves shrimp and tempura!!!!
Looks fantastic, one my favorite dishes
Nommers Nami “giggles” I think that rhymed! The tempura looks superb! Whenever I order Udon, I always skip the noodles and go for the goods!
Nami, your tempura looks absolutely gorgeous!! I bet it’s delicious too..definitely not easy to achieve a good tempura
Thanks for sharing!
These look so crisp and light. I’m always a little frightened to try Tempura but you make it sound so easy I might just try it.
Amazing tempura! I only have such things in restaurants
Some foods are SO hard to photograph, but you certainly did these justice! They look delicious!
love tempura so so good
Nami, the shrimp tempura looks so good…almost makes me want to eat shrimp. I’m not a shrimp fan but I do make it for my family. I like you step-by-step and how-to tips. Do you use all purpose flour?, for some reason I thought rice flour. I don’t deep fry too often so this will help me want to do it right! I find it interesting that the veggies you said to use all have a pretty high water content. Does that help them turn out better when deep frying? I couldn’t watch the video, (I’m on a different computer) I’ll try later! Thanks CG, great suggestion!
Hi Lyndsey! Yes, I use all-purpose flour. Hmm, I’m not sure the veggies will turn out better because of high water content, but it’s quite delicious when it’s coated with batter and deep fried. Thanks for your question and comment Lyndsey.
Great Post Nami! Your picture looks perfect! I wish my kids liked shrimp. I never make it at home, but always order it when we go out!
I am crazy about tempura .. and I always thought that you need bread crumbs for that. I have to try this recipe. Looks so delicious. And that man is crazy to dip his hand in that hot oil. I have seen many chefs doing that .. i think they just get used to
Ok, I need to order this for 4 people. My family loves Tempura ; )
shrimp tempura is my hubby’s fav dish. thank you for sharing and the step by step. i cannot beleive he put his hand in th hot oil..ouch
Oh goodness! I love tempura anything – but especially shrimp! Thanks so much for posting this Nami =)
Aww, these look like little artworks!
I will be definitely making this Nami! I LOVE shrimp. This sounds so good : )
Gorgeous shrimp tempura (one of my favorites). This looks delicious! Can’t believe that guy has his hand in the oil, that’s insanity!
Thanks for sharing the step by step, I love tempura
You make everything looks so easy to make. Hubby and my mother in law loved shrimp tempura. Depending on how Tiffany feels I may make some these days.
She got a virus and for the last couple of days she had fever, today we ended up at the ER
mmmmmmmmm love tempura..thank you for all the tips
I could not keep watching the video any longer…watching this guy keep putting his fingers into the steaming hot oil, just gave me the “creeps”…no sensory feeling in his hands?
Love your shrimp tempura, and the perfect recipe! I also love veggies dipped into the tempura batter, as well!
Great recipe, and totally professional presentation along with the video, as well!
This tempura looks PERFECT Nami! Golden, light, and just gorgeous! Happy Friday!
Nami – you just got me very excited and hungry at the same time. It’s almost midnight in Malaysia, but now I can only think of some crunchy delicious tempura. Yum…As always, your tutorial is excellent! I love your trick of getting that restaurant style skin.
Awesome recipe Nami! That is such a great tip about the temperature difference, I didn’t know that! Do you not use panko breadcrumbs for tempura? I’ve also heard that a little bit of sparkling water or seltzer in the batter helps keep it light and crisp, have you heard of this? I can’t wait to try!!
Thank you Katherine! No, we don’t use Panko for tempura. When it is coated in Panko, we call it Ebi Fry (Fried Shrimp) in Japanese and it’s quite common menu at home and Japanese restaurants. I learned about the sparkling water technique from fish and chips batter. “Traditionally” tempura recipe doesn’t include sparkling water (plus it’s not widely known or “common” drink in Japan). I think I should give it a try with cold sparkling water instead of iced water next time to see the difference! Thanks Katherine!
I love the pictures! And I love tempuras, especially shrimp ones
In home, my mom sometimes uses squids too. Thanks for the article on how to devein and prepare the shrimps, I always wondered how restaurants get their shrimps’ tails so nicely shaped.
Nami, sorry this is late. Super post, as ever – gosh, that video with the tempura-d fingers is something else! Love your shrimps all neatly laid out, awaiting the magic dip. It’s ages since I made tempura and you’ve inspired me to get back on it again. It always seems such a song and dance in the kitchen, but it’s SO worth it. Yours looks fantastic!
Wow that surely looks so crunchy! I love tempura I cant dine in a Japanese restaurant without ordering one
Nami, my other half is a chef in arestaurant and his best seller is tempura prawns! He hates them because everybody orders them!! I’m going to show him this recipe, I think he uses beer or fizzy water though. He wears gloves to dip them in the fryer not like that nutter in the video!!
Hi Natalie! I’m so happy to hear his best seller is a Japanese dish! =) I see the beer/fizzy water technique in Western cooking (like fish and chips) but traditionally it’s not common method in Japan (plus sparkling water is not widely known or common drink in Japan). Oh it’s good that he protects his fingers…. I get some burnt marks on my hand from deep frying and it doesn’t look nice at all…
Nami, you are always my favorite cooking teacher! I have always wanted to make tempura but haven’t tried it yet. Fortunately deep-fried batters, doughnuts, etc. translate to gluten-free cooking easily. I never knew the proper name of the dipping sauce either (tentsuyu) so now I feel properly educated! Hope you are having a wonderful time with your mom!
love love love shrimp tempura…thanks for the detailed instructions!
I love shrimp tempura but have never known how to make it. I feel like I get an entire education in Japanese cuisine following your blog Nami. Thank you!
Wow! I am so impressed, but why I am not surprised that you would do such a beautiful job!! Your family is so blessed to have you!! Shrimp Tempura is one of my favorite dinners, and I think I might be able to pull this off! THANK YOU, THANK YOU NAMI!! Hugs
Your tempura looks perfect!! So crispy! I love shrimp tempura. I have never made my own though. You have inspired me to try
Aw, the video above doesn’t show up for me – The whole “dipping the hand in oil” thing though – I assume that’s working on the same concept as the idea they tested on that TV show, Mythbusters, where you can actually plunge your hand into molten aluminium with no problems if you do it in a special way. I think I’ll leave that for the braver people though.
When you say “add more batter with a spoon”… is it just a case of picking up the shrimp and dribbling some batter over it, or can I re-dip it in the batter or something?
It shows on Firefox. I think some users told me Internet Explore 8 doesn’t render correctly. Haha that’s scary! I think they make tempura everyday that skins got tough and tip of their fingers don’t feel anything….
“add more batter with a spoon” means to add more crispy skins around shrimp, you need to add extra batter. So you scoop some batter with a spoon and pour it over the shrimp that is deep frying in the oil. You do it in the beginning of deep frying. Hope it’s clear now… sometimes I can’t express well in English…
Oh, I’m using Firefox, though I think maybe it’s a problem with accessing Youtube over my network here at work at the moment. If I visit Youtube it’s showing up all funky… just text – no pictures, everything in one big column instead of being arranged about the page. I’ll try again at home I think
Hi NAMI, i’ll try this one out. BTW your name means “delicious” in Visayan Language (secondary to the main dialect here in the Philippines). No wonder your recipes are great. God bless.
Hi Recks! Sorry for my late response. Thanks for the message! Really? It’s great to know what my name means in other language! I’m glad my name means “delicious” rather than the opposite.
HI Nami, had to come check out your blog after seeing your beautiful tempura on Erin’s blog. Great job!! Looks like a fabulous recipe.
Nami, I’m making tempura tonight, but using vegetables. So I searched all over for a good recipe and I trust yours. Will definitely try your batter, sounds terrific! Thanks for sharing. I know I’ve read this recipe before and now I can’t recall why I didn’t leave a comment. Thanks again
Thank you so much Elizabeth! I’m going to check out your post now.
I always like a cook that does not hide any information. You really share all you know.
Your step by step photographs are one of the best I have seen. Your short chats are nice touch and informative. I will visit your site in future…bookmarked
Hi Amy! Thank you so much for your kind comment. I’m happy to hear you like my recipes with step-by-step photos. Hope you continue enjoying reading my blog. Thanks for writing!
Hi nami,
I just loved the tempura recipe which I am going to try today, thanks so much for sharing this recipe, every time go to a Japanese eatery I always have tempura.
Hi Pamela! I’m glad you like the recipe and I hope yours turned out well. Thank you for your feedback!
looks good!
Thank you!
Hi nami,
I just tried this recipe yesterday. It was nice n crunchy right after frying but my only problem was the shrimp tends to get soggy after a while. Do you know what I am doing wrong?
By the way, I tried your chawanmushi recipe. It’s excellent. Exactly like those in the restaurants. My 3 year old daughter is a picky eater but chawanmushi wins every time. She finishes it all!!
Hi Mary! Tempura is meant to be eaten right after being deep fried (the best experience is to eat tempura at the bar in tempura specialized restaurant). It will never been crispy and crunchy like the moment you deep fried after a few minutes. It’s hard to tell what went wrong as I wasn’t in your kitchen, but you can try your best to remove excess oil when you pick up tempura from oil. Extra oil definitely makes it soggier. And if you have a wire rack, please use it instead of paper towel, so it helps moisture to escape from the bottom of tempura. Hope this helps!
I’m so happy to hear that your daughter enjoyed my chawanmushi recipe! Thank you for letting me know!
THANK YOU MUCH!!!! The tempura was simply PERFECT!!!! Light and crispy.
Hi Terri! Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for letting me know!
Hi Nami! I just found your tempura recipe and I would like to give it a try. Would it be okay to use baking soda instead of baking powder? Or will it make a huge difference? Thanks and keep it up with this great blog!
Btw, I also found another tempura recipe that uses a whole egg, not just the yolk. How does using or not using the egg whites affect the finished product? Thanks again!
I used a whole egg for my Vegetable Tempura recipe. To me, the use of egg white doesn’t really make a huge difference as Tempura recipe requires so other important skills to make perfect tempura. Personally I won’t really see the difference, or it’s more like it’s hard to compare as each time I cannot make tempura the exact same way… Sorry I cannot help much.
http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/vegetable-tempura/
Hi Neko! Baking powder and baking soda are both leavening agents, and even though they are not the same chemical we can substitute one for another in recipes.
I googled and found out that triple the amount of baking powder to equal the amount of baking soda. So, you just need 1/3 of baking soda. Hope this helps.
Hi there! You have a really wonderful site and I love the way you show how easy some of this stuff is (I really feel like I could make them haha). I just have a question about the garnish in this recipe. Now this may sound kinda dumb, but do you want to include the liquid from the daikon? Or is it like you squeeze it out from the grated pieces then put those into your sauce? Just a little confused sorry.
Hi Keegan! Thank you for your kind words! I’m glad to hear step-by-step pictures are helpful. For grated daikon, I squeeze most of liquid, but I won’t squeeze really hard, just enough moist (but not dripping). Hope that helps! Thanks again!
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