Asparagus Tempura

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This super quick and easy to make asparagus tempura is light, crispy, super moreish and highly addictive. Best scoffed then and there, it makes great impromptu snack to enjoy during short asparagus season.

Course Appetiser, Snack

Cuisine fusion, Japanese

Keyword asparagus tempura

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

Servings servings

Calories 211kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Kitchen Scales*
Elongated dish for mixing batter You want slightly deeper dish that will hold the batter and is long enough for the asparagus.
Fork
Large Cast Iron Round Casserole Pan, 26 cm*
Kitchen Tongs*
Digital Kitchen Thermometer
Slotted Spoon*

Ingredients

250-300 g asparagus woody ends trimmed; see notes
50 g plain (all-purpose) flour
50 g cornflour/cornstarch/potato flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
150 ml ice cold water
good pinch of salt
500 ml neutral oil for frying I use cold-press rapeseed oil but sunflower oil would be great too
your favourite sea salt to serve

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Prepare the asparagus by trimming their woody ends.
250-300 g asparagus
Fill the large pan with oil (at least 4cm/1.5in deep) and gently heat it up until it reaches 180°C/350°F.
***Quick Tip*** Use digital kitchen thermometer if you've got one or if you don't, submerge the end of a wooden spoon into the oil and if you see bubbles appearing around it, it means the oil is ready. Alternatively, drop small amount of batter into the oil and if it sizzles and floats to the top, your oil is ready
500 ml neutral oil for frying
In a large dish long enough to fit asparagus spears and deep enough to accommodate some liquid, mix together plain flour, cornflour and salt.
Add ice cold water and very briefly mix it into the flour to create quite a thin batter. The less you mix the better as mixing develops gluten and in case of tempura batter takes away the lightness which we don't want. Don't worry about the lumps, they're absolutely fine.
Dip prepared asparagus spears into the batter ensuring that they're well covered.
50 g plain (all-purpose) flour, 50 g cornflour/cornstarch/potato flour, ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 150 ml ice cold water, good pinch of salt, 250-300 g asparagus
Once oil has reached required temperature, carefully place the asparagus spears into the hot oil without overcrowding the pan.
Let them fry for about a minute before flipping/rolling each spear over and let them fry for another minute or so.
***Quick Tip*** I like to use two forks to flip the asparagus but you could use kitchen tongs as well.
The batter should be getting nice and light golden brown by this point which is just how we want it. It means crisp batter with perfectly cooked asparagus that is tender yet with some bite still to it.
Using slotted spoon or kitchen tongs lift asparagus out of the oil and onto a plate or baking tray lined with some paper towels to soak up excess oil.
Repeat with the remaining asparagus.
Serve immediately with plenty of sea salt and your favourite dip. Enjoy!
your favourite sea salt to serve

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (based on 2 servings) and does not include the oil for frying. It should be treated as a rough guideline only.
The weight of asparagus bunches you can buy differ with 250g-300g being an average size. You get way more batter than needed so it will definitely accommodate more asparagus.
Asparagus tempura is best consumed straight away but leftovers can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days. For more information on how to reheat leftover tempura see 🥡 Storing and reheating Asparagus Tempura.

Don't overmix the batter or you risk chewy and heavy texture as opposed to light and crispy. Gently and only just incorporate water into dry ingredients with a fork, lumps are fine, no smooth batter required here.

Batter should be mixed at the last minute when your oil is almost at the right temperature for frying, as the longer it sits the more gluten develops.

Always use ice cold water for your batter. It slows down gluten formation. You can even add few ice cubes to the batter to keep it super cold. Again, it'a all to keep the batter light.

Don't be tempted to use strong bread flour. Only plain (all-purpose) flour will do.

Keep an eye and adjust temperature of the oil if need be in between batches. You don't want for it to be too cold as tempura will soak up too much oil and become heavy and chewy or too hot as it will burn.

Nutrition