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    Home » All Recipes » Keto Tempura

    Keto Tempura

    May 8, 2017 by Ashley 44 Comments

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    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free

    I've been living in Japan for about 2.5 years now and sometimes it can be really hard to stay on track with my diet as Japanese people have a pretty heavy carb diet.  From cakes, donuts, ice cream, rice bowls, sushi, noodle places, every single restaurant or convenience store always sell high carb options and barely any low carb ones.  Living here, one of the things that I do miss eating is tempura. That perfect flaky crust over veggies, meat or fish goes so well with a simple broth or smothered in a spicy sauce.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free

    Luckily, Scott Swenson from the 'She Calls me Hobbit' website created a keto version using whey protein and eggs. However, he unfortunately decided to take a break from blogging and so his website is no longer available (hence no link).  He did however create a third book on Amazon called 'Ketofy Everything but the Kitchen Sink' with all of his recipes that were on his website so you can definitely check it out there. When I tried his tempura recipe, it really reminded me of those Chinese chicken balls that we get at the Chinese restaurant back in Canada.  It has a pretty thick batter that surrounds the veggies or meat, and has a nice crispy crust.  However for me, it wasn't close enough to the real thing.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free

    Japanese tempura tends to have a very light crust that covers the ingredients.  It is never thick and doesn't usually resembles those chicken balls, so I decided to experiment with his recipe and see if I could change anything so that it would make it more of a light crust like the real thing. I was looking in my pantry to see what type of ingredients I had and started thinking about the real tempura batter that uses flour and sparkling water. I had whey protein isolate and oat fiber on hand, and those two 'flours' tend to be really close to real wheat flour when baking so I decided to give it a go with those two.  I took Scott's recipe and the first thing I tried was to make it with oat fiber instead.  I also made some with a combination of oat fiber and whey protein, some with sparkling water and some with none. I tried four different combinations to see what type of results it would bring.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free

    I tried the different batters using shrimps because I felt like shrimp tempura.  In the second picture above, the first two shrimps are made with whey protein and the other two with oat fiber.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    whey protein isolate, eggs, guar gum
    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    whey protein isolate, eggs, sparkling water, xanthan gum

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    oat fiber, eggs, sparkling water, guar gum
    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    oat fiber, whey protein isolate, eggs, sparkling water, xanthan gum

    I tried each recipe with guar gum and xanthan gum and both are interchangeable.  The first picture is Scott's recipe, but I used guar gum instead of xanthan gum to see if it worked and it did. The third picture, I used the same recipe as Scott's, but I changed the whey protein for oat fiber.  As you can tell from the picture, it quickly fell apart. As for the fourth picture, a combination of both oat fiber and whey protein made the tempura really stable, but as far as taste goes, the oat fiber has a bit of a strong taste for my taste buds and so I didn't like them very much so picture 3 and 4 were out of the question.  The second picture was by far the best tasting one.  The batter wasn't thick like the first picture, it carefully wrapped the shrimp with a light batter. For me, that was the perfect tempura.  I tried making the recipe with guar gum and xanthan gum, and both times worked exactly the same. In each recipe, I also added a bit of granulated dashi because we usually add it in tempura batter here.  It gives the batter a nice flavour.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    Scott's recipe
    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    whey protein isolate, eggs, guar gum, sparkling water

    I tried Scott's recipe again with some veggie slices and it did the same thing.  It was more of a Chinese deep fried chicken ball, rather than tempura. For me it was too much of a thick batter.  I really preferred the batter when it was light and flaky because it reminded me of real Tempura.  Adding the sparkling water to the batter really did the trick.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free

    The tempura is also really good with a simple tsuyu, which is dashi broth with some coconut aminos in it (or soy sauce usually). You can also add a bit of stevia powder to the broth to make it sweet if you want.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free

    The batter itself just has 0.76g of carbs from the eggs, but the nutritional information I put here also includes the veggies and shrimp that I used.

    My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
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    5 from 12 votes

    Keto Tempura

    You won't need any flour for this recipe! Flaky and crispy just like the real deal!
    Course Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch
    Cuisine Japanese
    Prep Time 10 minutes
    Cook Time 10 minutes
    Total Time 20 minutes
    Servings 2 people
    NET Carbs 3.84g
    calories 196kcal
    Protein 29.76g
    Fat 5.79g
    Cook Ashley

    Ingredients

    • 3 slices zucchini
    • ⅛ red bell pepper
    • 1 large mushroom
    • 2 sticks asparagus
    • 2 slices lotus root
    • 50 g broccoli
    • 4 shrimps (deveined, peeled)
    • oil for frying (lard, tallow, coconut oil)

    Tempura Batter

    • 6 tbsp whey protein isolate
    • 1 tsp baking powder
    • ½ tsp baking soda
    • ½ tsp Himalayan salt
    • ½ tsp guar gum (or xanthan gum)
    • ½ tsp dashi (or granulated chicken/beef)
    • 2 eggs
    • 2 tbsp sparkling water

    Instructions

    • Slice and cut the veggies the way you want.
    • Heat the oil between 160-170C or 320-340F.
    • Add the tempura batter to a bowl and whisk vigorously for a good minute *important* this will ensure there are no more 'flour' bumps.  The batter should be a light creamy yellow.
      My PCOS Kitchen - Keto Tempura - These delicious crispy and flaky tempura pieces remind me of the real Japanese alternative. Perfect with some sauce or cooked in some hot sauce! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Low Carb, Sugar-free, Wheat-free
    • Dip your veggies and shrimps inside the batter, coat nicely and fry in the preheated oil on both sides until cooked through and the batter is golden brown. Transfer to a grill or some kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
      *If you let the batter sit for a while, make sure to whisk it back together for 20 seconds or so to ensure perfect consistency in you tempura every time.

    Notes

    Whey Protein Isolate has less carbs than normal whey protein so try that use that 🙂
    • I recommend eating these the same day if you're just going to eat them as is or with some dipping sauce.  However, if you coat the tempura in some sauce like sweet chili or anything like that, they'll be good in the fridge for a couple of days.
    Tried this recipe?Mention @mypcoskitchen or tag #mypcoskitchen!
    Follow me for more Low Carb Recipes!Mention @MyPCOSKitchen so that I can see all of your goodies!!
    Nutrition Facts
    Keto Tempura
    Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
    Calories 196 Calories from Fat 52
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 5.79g9%
    Saturated Fat 1.63g10%
    Cholesterol 236mg79%
    Sodium 179mg8%
    Carbohydrates 5.64g2%
    Fiber 1.8g8%
    Sugar 1.93g2%
    Protein 29.76g60%
    NET CARBS 3.84g8%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    Nutritional information is provided through calculations made on fatsecret.com. They are approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on mypcoskitchen.com. Sugar alcohols are included in the fiber count. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber (which include sugar alcohols).

     

    All text, pictures & videos are copyright protected © by Mira Richard-Fioramore for My PCOS Kitchen.

     

    Shares are very much appreciated, just make sure to share a link and not a screenshot.

     

    Copy/pasting full recipe text to websites and social media is prohibited. Excerpts, single photos, and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.mypcoskitchen.com with appropriate link back to the original content.

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    Ashley

    Food Blogger | Beating PCOS through diet and lifestyle | Healthy Food Enthusiast | Amateur Photographer | Animal Lover | Based in Virginia

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Larry

      April 29, 2021 at 11:55 pm

      5 stars
      Great recipe. I altered it slightly, skipping the dashi, and adding about 1/4 cup of water to make it a much thinner batter like the tempura batter I cooked with before I went keto. It worked great. Cooked chicken tenders and assorted veggies. The batter was thin, crispy, and spread out in a perfect uneven coating like it should be. I will absolutely make this recipe again. The extra batter coming off the food as it settles in the hot oil also spread out and made a beautiful web like tenkasu. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
    2. Tami

      February 21, 2021 at 11:41 pm

      5 stars
      Just finished eating shrimp using your recipe. Oh dear lord these were over the top! Excellent recipe, simple to follow and the best thing I have eaten in over a year. Thank you, oh and my non keto family love them!

      Reply
    3. Rita Coss

      January 30, 2021 at 2:36 am

      5 stars
      Yay! I’ve been eyeballing this recipe for awhile now being an off again on again keto gal and finally got around to making it tonight and it was so amazing! It’s one of those sounds too good to be true recipes that really is all you hope for! Thank you so much!!!

      Reply
    4. Jackie

      July 04, 2020 at 4:57 pm

      Oh my goodness, I was just about to pack this whole keto in as I miss battered stuff too much. Pork rind, almond flour batter just don't cut it, do they? Tempura + tsuyu with grated daikon and boom I'm in heaven. Thank you thank you thank you!

      Out of curiosity, do you think this batter would work to make kakiage?

      Reply
      • Mira

        July 10, 2020 at 1:49 am

        Hmm, I've never tried to make it with kakiage, but I assume it would work as I make tempura with maitake or onions.

        Reply
    5. LordMonkey

      February 14, 2020 at 3:39 pm

      5 stars
      I tried the batter last night. Made a double batch. Subbed oat fiber for the whey since I can’t do dairy. Added an extra egg and used a tea spoon of Chicken better than bouillon (didn’t resize I had dashi until after I was done. Absolutely amazing.

      Reply
    6. Dana

      December 29, 2019 at 12:39 am

      5 stars
      This recipe is delicious! I was so pleasantly surprised at how light, fluffy and crispy the batter turned out. Did it with asparagus, mushrooms and peppers. Can’t wait to try it again with EVERYTHING! Amazing Keto dish. Thank you! ❤️

      Reply
    7. globalnomad63

      September 10, 2019 at 12:35 am

      5 stars
      Great recipe! Worked really well on eggplant, peppers, and okra. I didn't have any other veggies in the fridge or we would have kept going! Thank you so much for working out the recipe and for sharing!

      Reply
    8. Milena

      March 23, 2019 at 8:08 pm

      Can you use it with chicken cut into cubes ? I’m worried that the chicken wouldn’t be cooked through by the time the tempura is ready...

      Reply
      • Mira

        March 27, 2019 at 5:52 am

        Hi Milena, I tried with chicken once and it didn't cook through. One way I found was to boil the chicken halfway first and then cover it in batter and then deep fry it until cooked through.

        Reply
    9. Roxanne Clarke

      January 22, 2019 at 3:55 am

      Im having trouble with the batter sticking to fish. Any ideas?
      Thanks

      Reply
      • Mira

        January 24, 2019 at 9:54 am

        Hi Roxanne, you could try to pat the fish dry or add a little bit more almond flour to the batter. Make sure you add that xanthan/guar gum to make sure everything sticks!

        Reply
    10. Michelle

      November 02, 2018 at 3:44 am

      Is the dashi absolutely necessary? Is there a sub?

      Reply
      • Mira

        November 02, 2018 at 11:22 am

        Hi Michele, it says in the ingredients right beside dashi (or granulated chicken/beef). You can use any granulated stock, but if you don't have it no worries. It's just to add flavour.

        Reply
        • Slm

          June 11, 2019 at 2:42 am

          Used yeast flakes and it turned out pretty tasty. For previous comment dusted items with ultrafine almond flour and stuck maybe too well for zucchini--a bit thicker coating than shown. Awesome recipe.

          Reply
    11. ABCDave

      July 26, 2018 at 2:13 am

      5 stars
      Just wondering if anyone has tried to make tempura flakes with the batter in this recipe. I recently gave up wheat and most grains after reading wheat belly which is basically eating low carb(no grains)/high fat.

      many Japanese recipes call for using tempura flakes so it'd be amazing if making some grain free tempura flakes was a possibility

      Reply
      • Kelsey

        September 15, 2018 at 9:00 pm

        5 stars
        Haven’t tried that. But nutritional yeast makes a yummy ripper if you want the flakes for sushi.

        Reply
    12. Kelcee

      June 07, 2018 at 1:47 am

      5 stars
      Wow! You are a genius for figuring out this recipe. It was so perfect and I don't even think I used all the right ingredients. ...lol. My family loved it and thought of all the other things they wanted to batter with it. I even took a picture of how nice it looked and sent it to my keto friends...along with the link, of course. Thank you for your hard work creating this 🙂

      Reply
    13. Bettie

      April 04, 2018 at 7:40 pm

      5 stars
      Has anyone tried this with an AIR FRYER?

      Reply
      • Mira

        April 04, 2018 at 10:37 pm

        I don't think it will work as the whey protein needs to be inside the oil to activate and bubble/crisp up.

        Reply
    14. Hélène Nicole

      February 04, 2018 at 6:07 pm

      5 stars
      I used to love tempura so am so happy it's back in my menu again. Thanks Mira!

      Reply
    15. Kimberley

      December 05, 2017 at 12:50 am

      5 stars
      I’ve been craving fried pickles so I thought I’d try this recipe with pickles. It worked for a good alternative, obviously wasn’t the same but it will do!!! Thank you for the recipe!!!

      Reply
      • Mira

        December 05, 2017 at 1:48 am

        Awesome! I'll have to try it too!

        Reply
    16. Kirsten Dangler

      September 15, 2017 at 12:13 pm

      Can't wait to try this! But now I am curious about chicken balls. I've never heard of them? How are they made? Sorry it's off topic but darn it I can't get chicken balls out of my head now. 🤔

      Reply
      • Mira

        September 15, 2017 at 1:26 pm

        Usually in Chinese restaurants, you can order chicken balls! It's mini pieces of chicken breast smothered in a flour/milk batter and deep fried. They look like this: http://www.chineserecipesforall.com/images/uploads/recipes/sweet-and-sour-chicken-balls-recipe-RecipeMain-Chinese-Recipes-For-All.jpg

        Reply
    17. wendy

      September 09, 2017 at 9:58 am

      awesome recipe..thank you so much for sharing it with everyone..!! I fried some shrimp, avocado, and zucchini..Can't wait to fry a batch of fish with this recipe..so delish..!!

      Reply
    18. Skeeter N (@SkeeterN)

      September 03, 2017 at 10:04 pm

      I am sorry to ask but what are the thread things on top?

      Reply
      • Mira

        September 03, 2017 at 10:24 pm

        It's just thinly sliced dried red peppers.

        Reply
    19. Alana

      August 15, 2017 at 5:32 am

      Oh my goodness!! Where have you been all my keto life?? Thank you for this recipe!!

      Reply
      • Mira

        August 18, 2017 at 12:20 am

        Haha you're welcome!! I made some shrimp tempura the other day. Sooo good!

        Reply
    20. Gus Morgan

      July 29, 2017 at 9:16 pm

      Will this work with Whey Protein Concentrate (not Isolate)?
      https://us.myprotein.com/thezone/supplements/whey-isolate-vs-whey-concentrate/

      Reply
      • Mira

        July 29, 2017 at 11:30 pm

        Any type of protein powder should work 🙂

        Reply
    21. Jess

      July 28, 2017 at 5:53 am

      I wish there was a dairy free option other than oat fiber. I'm DF and can't have whey. Thanks for sharing your results!

      Reply
      • Mira

        July 28, 2017 at 8:43 am

        Sorry! I haven't found a way for it to be dairy-free yet! The oat fiber works though if you want to try it.

        Reply
    22. Josephine Miller

      July 07, 2017 at 9:51 pm

      This looks amazing! Can't wait to try making it this weekend.
      I was wondering you if you have had takoyaki and okonomiyaki, since you live in Japan. Any idea how to make low carb versions of them?
      Thanks in advance!

      Reply
      • Mira

        July 08, 2017 at 11:45 am

        We usually make them with soy flour since it's low carb here in Japan, but in the West, soy flour is a big no no... I did try with coconut flour once and it was absolutely disgusting so I wouldn't recommend it!! But there are also versions with just eggs.
        I should make a recipe and upload it so you can make some 🙂 I'll think of a soy-free version for this blog.

        Reply
    23. tastyfoodistasty

      May 30, 2017 at 5:37 pm

      Out of curiosity, do you recall how much oat fibre you used in your protein powder / oat fibre combination attempt? Some oat fibres have a really strong flavour, and others don't, so I'm considering experimenting with both together to see if I can get it to not taste "oat"-y.
      Thanks!

      Reply
      • Mira

        June 01, 2017 at 10:11 am

        one try was with 1 tbsp oat fiber, 1 tbsp protein, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp satl, baking soda and xanthan gum. The other try was 2 tbsp protein, 1 tbsp oat fiber, 1 tbsp carbonated water, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp baking soday, salt, xanthan gum.

        Reply
    24. Jo Simmons

      May 21, 2017 at 2:46 am

      This is amazing, can't wait to try this and the fried chicken recipe!
      You can use the wayback machine to access the hobbit website -
      Try this link - https://web.archive.org/web/20161023185358/http://shecallsmehobbit.com:80/

      Reply
      • Mira

        May 21, 2017 at 4:47 am

        thanks a lot!

        Reply
    25. Shantel

      May 20, 2017 at 9:33 pm

      Can you use other types of oil?

      Reply
      • Mira

        May 20, 2017 at 11:56 pm

        You can use any type of oil you want.

        Reply
    26. Celne

      May 09, 2017 at 6:12 am

      Can I use Chicken Bone Broth Powder Protein in the tampora???

      Reply
      • Mira

        May 09, 2017 at 6:19 am

        I've never tried that so can't really help you. Sorry.

        Reply

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    Ashley is a self-taught home cook, originally from Montreal, Canada, that was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) as a teenager.

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