Air Fryer Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken)

Karaage is a Japanese dish typically made from deep fried boneless chicken thighs. Like most deep fried things, it is extremely satisfying and popular with children. It’s the chicken nugget of Japan. Except fancier. As is also the case with deep fried things, it is kind of messy to make. Here’s where the air fryer karaage recipe shines. Take your marinated chicken thighs, dredge them in flour and potato starch, and air fry for just 10 minutes. Same comforting taste, no oily mess.

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What is Karaage and How Do You Pronounce It??

Karaage is pronounced “kah-raah-ge,” make sure you hold out that “ah” in the middle. It refers to a way of preparing food by dredging and deep frying. Compare this to tempura, which is a deep fried food that is made with a batter. There’s actually a whole category of deep fried foods in Japan, which I will not get into because… to be honest it still kind of confuses me. But if you’re interested, this NHK article has some good information on different fried foods in Japan.

Anyway, chicken karaage is made from boneless chicken thighs that are dredged in a mixture of potato starch and flour and deep fried. Some karaage recipes leave the chicken unseasoned but for simple squeeze of lemon juice prior to eating. I prefer marinated recipes, because why not?

Karaage is very popular with children in japan, a fancy equivalent of the chicken nugget here in America. However, unlike the homely chicken nugget, karaage can also be served in traditional Japanese bars called Izakaya, making it a perfectly acceptable adult food!

I know, I know…some would argue that chicken nuggets are still a perfectly acceptable adult food in America, and judging by how frequently I find myself eating them after an impulsive trip to McDonald’s, I really hope they are correct.

Anyway, I digress. Karaage. Casual Japanese comfort food at its finest.

Karaage vs. Fried Chicken

One thing I feel like is worth mentioning is that Japanese people probably don’t think of karaage as “fried chicken.” Yes, chicken karaage is technically… fried… chicken. But the term “fried chicken” usually conjures up images of American style fried chicken, which has two key differences from karaage. One: karaage is always boneless; fried chicken usually is bone-in. And two: American fried chicken usually has seasonings in the breading whereas karaage has seasonings in the marinade only, if seasonings are used at all. So although sometimes I may refer to Japanese foods by their English names, like “broiled salmon,” I typically call karaage “karaage.”

Ingredients for Karaage

According to the queen of Japanese food blogging, Just One Cookbook, karaage is traditionally made with boneless chicken thighs that have the skin still on. However, in America, it’s pretty difficult to find. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work just fine here.

The only other special ingredient that may be difficult to find in typical American grocery stores is potato starch. In Japanese, this is called katakuriko. I usually buy this at my local Japanese market, but you can find the exact same brand I have on Amazon.

If you’re like, “What am I going to do with a bunch of leftover Japanese potato starch?” Never fear! Katakuriko is a necessary ingredient in mochi recipes to keep the mochi from sticking. You can use it with my chi chi dango recipe, or my daifuku recipes, or even to make Chinese snow skin mooncakes!

Now onto the marinade…

How Long to Marinate Karaage

Most standard karaage recipes I see call for marinading the chicken for 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours. HOWEVER. We need to adapt our recipe for the air fryer. We need to make up for the lack of fat-a-licious flavor that we would normally get from deep frying. One of the ways I account for this is by marinating my chicken overnight. If you are pressed for time, you can certainly still get away with a 30 minute marinade. But for optimal flavor, overnight it is!

How to Make Karaage in the Air Fryer

All things considered, karaage is a very easy recipe to adapt to the air fryer. You keep most things the same, except for the marinating time, as I mentioned before. The other thing I added was an extra teaspoon of kosher salt to your breading ingredients. Again, this is to make up for the loss of oily goodness you would normally get in deep frying.

Otherwise, the technique for karaage in the air fryer is pretty much the same. Cut your chicken. Marinate. Dredge in a mixture of potato starch and flour. Air fry.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Literally. You often serve karaage with a squeeze of lemon at the end.

And that’s it! You can serve chicken karaage as a main dish with rice or as an appetizer. If you give this recipe a try, make sure to rate it down below and let me know how it went in the comments. Don’t forget to find me on Instagram as well!

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More Asian Air Fryer Recipes

If you liked this recipe, be sure to check out my air fryer mochiko chicken and air fryer tempura recipes as well!