• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Chef JA Cooks
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • About
  • Shop
  • 日本語
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • About
    • Shop
    • 日本語
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Vegetable Dishes

    Eggplant Tempura

    Feb 2, 2023 by JURI · This post may contain affiliate links

    5 from 1 vote
    JUMP TO RECIPE JUMP TO VIDEO

    Learn how to quickly cook delicious, light Eggplant Tempura with this easy recipe, and Enjoy the wonderful flavor of a classic Japanese dish at home!

    vegetable tempura.

    Japanese eggplant is one of the best and most classic vegetables for Tempura. It has a crisp, light texture that makes you want to eat it again and again! Yummy!

    With this recipe, you can enjoy a crunchy coating of tempura skin and an invitingly tender interior.

      This recipe is for you if:
    • You love tempura and eggplant.
    • You want to make eggplant tempura.
    • You are looking for easy eggplant tempura recipe.

    Let me walk you through the ingredients and the instructions. If you want to check the recipe, jump to the recipe. Let's get started!

    Jump to:
    • About this recipe
    • 📋 Ingredients
    • 🔪Instructions
    • Helpful tips for making crispy Tempura
    • How to Make Tempura Batter 3 Ways!
    • How to eat it
    • Best vegetables for Tempura
    • Thanks For Stopping By
    • 📖 Recipe
    • Eggplant Tempura

    About this recipe

    • Japanese eggplant tempura recipe
    • Tips for crispy Tempura
    • The batter without egg
    • Vegetable variations

    📋 Ingredients

    Here are the ingredients (amounts are in the recipe card below).

    Ingredients for eggplant tempura.
    • Eggplants
    • Oil - I love using White sesame oil (taihaku) or rice oil to get an extra crispy texture. You can use your regular cooking oil, like vegetable oil, or olive oil.
    • Batter - This recipe uses water, cake flour, and baking powder. No egg is required.
    • Tentsuyu (Tempura sauce) - This is the tempura dipping sauce. Put grated daikon radish in mentsuyu (noodle soup) in this recipe.

    Tempura batter mix

    The fastest way to make tempura batter is by using tempura batter mix or tempura flour. You need to add water and mix it up.

    But we won't use it as we can easily make the batter with simple ingredients.

    🔪Instructions

    Let me show you how to make it. Click here to watch the recipe video.

    Instructions for eggplant tempura.
    1. Cut eggplants into quarters and make thin slits.
    2. Make a batter by mixing water, flour, and baking powder in a large bowl.
    3. Dust the eggplant with flour.
    4. Put oil about 2 cm (1 inch) high in a pan and heat it to 170C (335F). Dip the eggplant in the batter and put them in the pan.
    5. Deep fry until cooked about a couple of minutes. The skin will be light beige color (not golden brown). Place them on a cooling rack to drip excess oil.
    6. Dilute mentsuyu (noodle soup) with water according to the bottle instructions and add daikon oroshi.
    Eggplant tempura on a plate.

    Here you go! They're so crispy and tasty. Dip them in tempura sauce and enjoy authentic Japanese cooking!

    Helpful tips for making crispy Tempura

    Tips for batter

    The batter is the key to the success of your Tempura. It's essential to avoid forming gluten in the batter! Otherwise, you will get a pancake-like heavy texture, not crispy!

    So, let's check the following easy and simple tips to make your Tempura perfect!

    tempura batter.

    1. Use cake flour - Use cake flour with a lower gluten content (about 7%). You can substitute it with all-purpose flour, which is 8%. Do not use bread flour with a high gluten content (about 13%).

    2. Use Cold water - Prepare cold water rather than lukewarm water because gluten is easily formed at high temperatures. It's also better to chill the flour if possible. By the way, fizzy water works well for making crispy tempura.

    3. Shift the flour - Shifting the flour makes the texture finer and lighter as air comes in.

    4. Do not mix it until smooth - If you combine the batter ingredients too much, the gluten will be formed, and your Tempura will be heavy and chewy.

    5. The timing to Make the batter - The batter will become sticky over time, so making it right before frying is better.

    Other Tips

    deep-frying kabocha tempura in a frying pan.

    1. Dust flour on the ingredients - If you dust ingredients with flour, the extra surface will reduce the water content of vegetables and keep them from getting soggy. In addition, the batter sticks to vegetables, and you can fry them without having the tempura skin come off.

    2. Do not fry too many at once - You will lower the oil temperature by adding many ingredients to the pot. Then the moisture in the batter will not evaporate well, and your Tempura might become soggy. To keep the oil temperature consistent, put the ingredients in less than ⅔ of the pot and save some space open.

    3. Remove Tenkasu (Agedama) - Tenkasu (or agedama) is crunchy bits made from the leftover batter during cooking tempura. If you leave them in the pot, old tenkasu stick to the new Tempura and ruin the texture. Remove them with a fat skimmer spoon before adding a new Tempura to the pot.

    4. Drain off the oil - Place cooked tempura on a wire rack or paper towel to remove any excess oil. Keep them upright as much as possible, and do not stack them.

    How to Make Tempura Batter 3 Ways!

    Get creative in the kitchen with three simple tempura batter recipes - from traditional Japanese to gluten-free or vegan options.

    How To Make Tempura Batter (3 Ways)
    5 from 1 vote
    With just a few ingredients, you can make a delicious homemade tempura batter! Learn the best tricks to making delicious and crispy tempura.
    Make This Recipe
    vegetable tempura on a cooling rack.

    How to eat it

    tentsuyu and daikon oroshi.

    If you go to Japanese restaurants, Tempura serves commonly with tentsuyu (tempura sauce) or just salt. But at home, you can enjoy more options. Here are how to eat Tempura!

    • Tentsuyu: It's a dipping sauce for Tempura made from soy sauce and dashi. See the following section for more details.
    • Salt: Add a pinch of salt on top and eat it; then, you can enjoy the simple taste. You can also use flavored salts such as matcha, spicy, citrus, etc.
    • Soy sauce: Add a bit of soy sauce. Do not dip in it as it is salty and overpowers the taste of Tempura.
    • Chuno sauce (Japanese Worcestershire-style sauce): Add the sauce to your taste.
    • Or without any condiments.

    Tentsuyu

    mentsuyu in a glass cup.

    Tentsuyu is a special dipping sauce for Tempura made from dashi (soup stock), soy sauce, and mirin.

    Mentsuyu (noodle soup) is made from the same ingredients, and it's easier to get at a store, so I use store-bought mentsuyu for this recipe. (You can also check my homemade mentsuyu recipe here)

    Adding grated daikon to tentsuyu is common as it helps digest fatty food like Tempura. You can also add lemon juice or grated ginger for the same reason.

    If you are a vegetarian

    Store-bought tentsuyu or mentsuyu include dashi stock made from fish, so you should avoid using them.

    Best vegetables for Tempura

    Let's make more vegetable tempura!

    best vegetables for tempura.

    Shiso, asparagus, and okra are all delicious. There is so much variety in this Japanese dish that you could try something new every time!! Try these veggies!

    • Kabocha squash, Sweet potato, Eggplant, Bell pepper, Okura, Shiso, Shishito pepper, Asparagus, Zucchini, Onion, Carrot, Shiitake mushroom, Maitake mushroom, Eringi mushroom, Enoki mushroom, Lotus root, Kale

    My favorites are shiitake mushrooms and sweet potato! Check other vegetable tempura recipes below!

    Kabocha Tempura
    5 from 2 votes
    Here's a great way to enjoy the taste of Japan at home. Learn how you can easily cook delicious, light Japanese kabocha tempura with this easy recipe!
    Make This Recipe
    kabocha tempura
    Sweet Potato Tempura
    5 from 3 votes
    Learn how to make delicious Sweet Potato Tempura using only three ingredients! Tempura is one of the most iconic Japanese dishes and is super easy to make. I'm sure your whole family will love it!
    Make This Recipe
    sweet potato tempura on a plate.

    Thanks For Stopping By

    eggplant tempura.

    Thank you for taking the time to read my blog♡ If you've tried this recipe(or any other recipe on the blog), please give it a star rating below!

    Also, feel free to leave comments if you have any questions. I love hearing from you!

    Chef JA Cooks is a Japanese food blog that shares simple and healthy Japanese home cooking recipes, including vegan and vegetarian. From traditional Japanese recipes to modern recipes with step-by-step instructions.

    More Recipes You Might Like

    • Vegetable tempura recipe
    • Kakiage (Vegetable fritters)
    • Kakiage Don (Rice bowl)
    • Sweet Potato Tempura
    • Kabocha Tempura
    • Panko Crusted Fried Eggplant

    📖 Recipe

    eggplant tempura on a plate.

    Eggplant Tempura

    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep: 5 minutes
    Cook: 10 minutes
    Total: 15 minutes
    Servings: 4 serving
    Author: JURI
    Learn how to quickly cook delicious, light Eggplant Tempura with this easy recipe, and Enjoy the wonderful flavor of a classic Japanese dish at home!
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 Eggplants
    • Oil for deep-frying

    Batter

    • 200 ml Cold water
    • 100 g Cake flour
    • ½ teaspoon Baking powder

    Tempura Sauce

    • 600 ml Mentsuyu, Dilute with water according to the bottle instructions.
    • 1 inch Daikon radish

    Instructions

    • Cut eggplant: Cut eggplant into quarters and make thin slits.
    • Prepare a pan: Put oil about 2 cm (1 inch) high in a pan and heat it to 170C (335F).
    • Make the batter: Add cold water to a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder with a strainer, and mix.
    • Dust with flour: Dust the eggplant with flour.
    • Deep-fry: Dip the eggplant in batter, put them in the pan, and deep-fry until cooked (about a couple of minutes). Place them on a cooling rack to drip excess oil.
    • Make Tentsuyu: Grate the daikon radish (daikon oroshi). Dilute mentsuyu (noodle soup) with water according to the bottle instructions and add daikon oroshi.

    Video

    Notes

    • Equipment: I use an Iron frying pan 22 cm/9 inches. Any deep pot is ok.
    • Variations: See "Best vegetables for tempura" for more variations.
    • Do not mix the batter until smooth. If you mix too much, the gluten will be formed, and your tempura will be heavy and chewy. 
    • Do not fry too many at once to keep the oil temperature consistent.
    • Do not throw the leftover batter. You can make tenkasu (tempura flakes) and use it as a topping on noodles or rice bowls.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1serving | Calories: 160kcal
    Course: Main
    Cuisine: Japanese
    Keyword: eggplant tempura, vegetable tempura
    Did You Make this recipe?Please Leave a star rating!

    More Vegetable Dishes

    • potato mochi served with mitarashi glaze.
      Potato Mochi
    • miso mayo dipping sauce with vegetables.
      Creamy Miso Mayo Dipping Sauce Recipe
    • vegan miso soup in a saucepan.
      10-Minute Vegan Miso Soup
    • How To Cut Daikon Radish (6 Ways)

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    WELCOME!

    Hi, I’m Juri! If you love Japanese food, you’re in the right place! I love sharing easy and simple Japanese recipes with minimal ingredients. Read more!

    Popular Recipes

    • Vegan Matcha Pound Cake
      Vegan Matcha Pound Cake
    • 米粉と豆乳のパンケーキ
      Fluffy Rice Flour Pancakes (Gluten-Free)
    • 12 variations of easy onigiri.
      17 Easy Onigiri Recipes (Japanese Rice Balls)
    • fluffy tamagoyaki(Japanese omelette)
      The Best Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelet)
    • Kake Soba (Japanese Simple Soba Noodle Soup)
      Easy 20-Minute Soba Noodle Soup (Japanese Kake Soba)
    • natto gohan with kimchi
      8 Ways To Enjoy Natto Gohan (Natto Rice)

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
    • 日本語日本語
    • EnglishEnglish

    Free Vegetarian Recipe ebook

    Join our newsletter and get our FREE ebook! !

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

    Language

    • Japanese
    • English

    Newsletter

    free vegetarian ebook.

    Chef JA Cooks participates in amazon affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions if you purchase products after clicking an affiliate link. No extra cost to you.

    Copyright © 2022 Chef JA Cooks

    1 shares