5 from 6 votes

This Kakiage is a crispy and delicious Japanese vegetable fritter sure to become your all-time favorite. Try it for an easy, flavorful fried dish!

Looking for tempura dishes? Try my Vegetable Tempura, Eggplant Tempura, Sweet Potato Tempura, or Okra Tempura!

I’ll walk you through the ingredients and step-by-step instructions. I hope you enjoy it!

Why You Will Love This Recipe

The thin slices of vegetables, coated in a light batter, create an irresistibly crispy texture.
This recipe is straightforward and easy to follow, with only 6 ingredients.
The Kakiage is easy to customize with a diverse array of ingredient variations to suit your preferences (See the “Variations” section).

Kakiage

Kakiage is a tasty tempura dish crafted from thinly sliced vegetables, coated in a light batter, and fried to crispy. Enjoy it on its own or as a topping for rice bowls, known as kakiage don. It’s also a popular addition to noodle dishes like udon and soba (kakiage udon, kakiage soba).

Recipe Ingredients

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this Kakiage Tempura Recipe:

Vegetables: Onions and carrots are the most popular ingredients for kakiage, and adding scallions will give it a nice pop of green color. You can also try the different ingredients listed in “Variations.”
Batter: We use cake or all-purpose flour, potato starch, and cold water. You can substitute potato starch with corn starch.
Oil for deep frying: I use rice oil to get an extra crispy texture. You can use vegetable oil, olive oil, or fresh cooking oil.

How To Make Kakiage: STEP BY STEP

Here are some quick visual instructions! For the video and all the detailed ingredients and instructions, go to the printable recipe card below.

Step 1

Cut vegetables. Add cold water, flour, and potato starch.

Step 2

Combine well.

Step 3

Put vegetables in a frying pan heated to 160C/320F.

Step 4

Deep-fry until crispy.

It has a light, crispy texture that’s absolutely amazing! Please enjoy this kakiage immediately, or you will lose the crispy texture over time. I don’t recommend keeping them in the fridge.

Recipe Tips

Cut the vegetables into even slices so that they cook evenly and the kakiage will have a uniform texture.
Use cold water rather than lukewarm water. The batter will be light and airy and crisp up beautifully when fried.
While deep-frying, make a couple of small holes inside to make it easier to fry.
Scooping the vegetables with a large spoon and shaping them round can help ensure that each kakiage is roughly the same size, which will help them cook evenly.
Keep the temperature of the oil between 160C/320F – 170C/338F for best results.
Place the cooked kakiage on a wire rack or paper towels to remove the excess oil, which will help to keep them crispy.

Variations

You can add many other ingredients to kakiage to create different flavor profiles and textures. Here are some popular alternatives:

Root vegetables – Burdock root, lotus root, sweet potatoes, potatoes
Green vegetables – Green beans, edamame, green peas, kale, green parsley
Other – Natto, sakura ebi (small shrimp), nori seaweed

How to Eat Kakiage

Dip your kakiage in mentsuyu or simply sprinkle with salt. Mentsuyu is made from dashi, mirin, and soy sauce, adding a rich flavor to tempura. Alternatively, a touch of salt can enhance the natural flavors of the vegetables.

What To Serve With

To complement this kakiage tempura, serve it with steamed rice, wakame miso soup, and pickled daikon for a well-balanced Japanese lunch.

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I hope you enjoy this Kakiage! If you try it, don’t forget to leave a rating to share your thoughts—I love hearing from you!