We are officially breaking all the rules of Japanese cooking techniques and replacing the deep fryer for a cleaner and lighter air-fried chicken that still packs the same crunch and crispiness! Yes, you read that correctly. Today's recipe, Karaage Chicken, is typically marinated chicken coated with corn starch and deep fried to produce a wonderful Japanese Fried Chicken, AKA JFC, perfect for snacking with beers or pairing with rice for a full meal. However, rather than deep frying the chicken and making a huge mess that stinks up our kitchen, we are going to use an Air Fryer to get almost identical results that you may even deem semi-healthy! It's crispy, crunchy, and unless you knew it was made in an Air Fryer no one would be the wiser so get ready to have your mind blown with this easy recipe take on a Japanese classic. Let's get cooking!
One of the key aspects to Japanese Karaage chicken is the initial marinade, which not only adds flavor but also helps tenderize the meat. Begin by combining the egg whites, soy sauce, rice wine, cornstarch, salt, and white pepper in a bowl and whisk until it becomes somewhat frothy. Feel free to use egg whites from a carton or separate them yourself from the yolks. We don't need the yolks at any later part of this recipe so you will have to spend some time on Google searching for egg yolk recipes like pound cake or lemon curd, but I digress. I have found it quite convenient to just keep a carton of egg whites in the fridge at all times. They last quite a while and just save time when it comes down to it.
While the term Karaage itself can apply to any type of meat or veggie, this recipe is obviously chicken so take some skinless, boneless chicken thighs and break them down into bite-sized pieces. Obviously you can debone and deskin whole thighs if you wish, but it's perfectly okay to be a little lazy once in a while with the pre-prepped stuff. Chicken in any form isn't that expensive...YET.....so take advantage of someone else's labor, eh? Once it is all cut down to size, either add it to the marinade bowl or pour the marinade over the chicken in a ziplock bag and let it hang out in the fridge for a couple hours, but limit it at 2 hours max. The pieces are small and just don't need that much marinade absorption for this recipe. We just want a nice light flavor addition from the soy and some protein breakdown by the egg whites and rice wine.....trust me when I say it's magic food science so don't expect me to explain the process!
The next step, dredging, is pretty straight forward so we will just quickly discuss the process. After the chicken has taken its marinade bath for about an hour or so, drain the excess marinade and simply coat the chicken with cornstarch. You can pour it all in a bag and shake it like a polaroid picture till the chicken is evenly coated or dip the individual pieces in a shallow dish full of cornstarch. Either way, it's that simple. Get the chicken lightly coated with cornstarch and cornstarch only. You don't need to add any flour or seasoning. Now, compared to a regular flour dredge, this will appear much lighter and almost nonexistent. Check the photo below for reference, but get all the chicken coated and load up your Air Fryer being careful not to overdo it and have too many pieces touching one another. My Air Fryer is quite large and I still ended up doing this in two batches so just use your best judgment. The chicken will not get crispy where it overlaps other pieces so it's better to do more batches than less. Hell, each batch only takes 10 minutes so not like it will add a ton of cooking time to this recipe.
Give the coated chicken a light spray with some cooking oil, shut the lid, and let it cook for 5 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit before flipping each piece over and repeating the process. Don't forget to spray the other side with cooking oil after you flip it either. That light spray is key to getting a nice crispy crunchy coating in the end. After 10 minutes, your chicken should look pretty good on the outside, but is likely still somewhat raw, which we will address shortly.
Remove the chicken from your Air Fryer and let it cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes. It will continue to cook somewhat from the internal heat, but we want to remove it and let it cool to really set the crust and make sure it stays crispy. This would be a good time to go ahead and knock out a second batch if yours didn't all fit the first time.
After all your chicken has been Air fried and cooled at least 10 minutes, you can load it all back into the Air Fryer as a single batch. We have established our crust at this point so the chicken can be overlapped and touching. Cook the chicken an additional 5 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure it is fully cooked through to at least 165-175 degrees internally.
Pretty simple, eh? Just like that we have made our own healthier Japanese Karaage Chicken without stinking the house up by using a deep fryer! This Karaage Chicken can be enjoyed as is on its own as an appetizer or added to other recipes as the base protein. The best part of this chicken is that it will stay crispy and crunchy even after you toss it with a heavy sauce or add it to a stir fry with other veggies and wet ingredients. It retains that wonderful crust we achieved and stands up to even the wettest and thickest of sauces! However, if you are like me and just love fried chicken or have kids that live on chicken nuggets 24/7, these little chicken bites will satisfy anyone's cravings right from the Air Fryer. Get in the kitchen, dust off that Air Fryer you haven't used in ages, and make up a batch of this Japanese Karaage Chicken. Let me know how you ended up enjoying your Air Fryer Karaage Chicken on Instagram by tagging me at @grubbongrub with your final dish. It's really that simple. Remember, anyone can make delicious food with a little time and effort...Just keep cooking!
AIR FRYER JAPANESE KARAAGE CHICKEN
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