Crisp and perfectly crunchy with a sauce that adds just enough flavor, but not too much. A classic mushroom tempura is a lesson in elegant, minimalist cooking. If you're like me, after you learn the basics you'll want to get creative. Think of the batter as a blank canvas for your favorite seasonal ingredients.
The Best Mushrooms For Tempura
This is the perfect place for small-bite sized button mushrooms, but you can use just about any mushroom you like as long as they're clean. Each season has different possibilities in shape, size and texture. In the off-season, thinly sliced king oysters or tempura shiitakes are a good choice.
Enoki and thinly sliced pheasant backs are a good version for spring. You can use morels as pictured in this post but they need to be cooked for ten minutes to be safe, and you'll need to monitor the heat carefully.
One of the best versions I've had was whole black trumpet mushrooms and perfect, young chanterelle buttons. Although they shrink a bit, this can be a decent recipe for gem puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum) which are what I used for the instructional images in this post.
Chef Tips
The burn scars are gone, but my early years on fryer station taught me important lessons. Tempura is finicky and more nuanced than something like French fries. Here's the best advice I have:
- I typically clean wild mushrooms with water. This recipe is the rare exception and the mushrooms must be as dry as possible. Mushrooms harvested after a recent rain shouldn't be used either.
- You can add different ingredients like sliced kabocha squash, cut in thin slices so they cook quickly.
- The tempura batter must be extra cold. The chef trick is keeping the batter in a metal bowl placed in another bowl filled with ice. Metal transfer hot and cold faster than plastic and won't let you down.
- If you can, use carbonated water in the batter.
- Some don't, but I toss ingredients with flour or cornstarch before frying to help the batter adhere.
- Using a toothpick or skewer to transfer the mushrooms to the oil for the best crust.
- Keep the temperature constant by gradually adding battered ingredients. Crowding the pot will lower the temperature and can cause ingredients to clump together.
- Pick a few edible weeds to garnish the plate for the most attractive presentation.
How to Make Tempura Mushrooms
First you make a simple batter of water, flour and egg. I use this tempura recipe at home, but I'm including the gluten free tempura recipe I used in restaurants in the recipe notes too.
Make sure to sift the flour and only mix the batter until barely combined. If it's beaten too much gluten develops which alters the crust.
You'll need to heat the oil with a high heat candy thermometer for the best result. I couldn't live without the one I use. If you can find it, rice bran oil is one of my favorite high smoke point oils for frying.
Add the mushrooms one at a time to the batter to prevent lowering the temperature of the oil too much. I often fry tempura mushrooms a little longer than vegetable tempura recipes call for to make sure the crust is crisp and crunchy.
When mushrooms are crisp and light golden brown drain them quickly on a paper towel for a moment. You'll need to add a pinch of paprika to the batter for it to take on any noticeable color.
I like to serve tempura on a bed of fresh greens-whatever I can scrounge up. It's a good use for jumbo nasturtium leaves or edible weeds from the yard.
Tentsuyu, the traditional tempura dipping sauce is just soy mixed with sugar, mirin and dashi. I like to use maple syrup instead of sugar.
While it wont work for every recipe, vegetable stock works as a dashi substitute in a pinch. If you have some of my fermented ramp soy sauce this is a great place to use it too.
Besides just mushrooms, small young greens like nettles, hop shoots, fiddleheads and asparagus can add variation in flavors and textures. Herbs like shiso or basil leaves are a nice touch too.
Related Posts
- Fermented Ramp Soy Sauce
- Zavirne: Southern Italy's Fried Angelica Blossoms
- Crispy Baked Oyster Mushrooms
Mushroom Tempura
Equipment
- 1 heavy 2 quart sauce pot for deep frying
- 1 Toothpick or skewers
- 1 Medium mixing bowl
- 1 Small baking sheet
Ingredients
Mushrooms
- 8-16 oz Fresh mushrooms morels, puffballs, shiitakes, etc.
- 2 cups Frying oil like rice bran oil, grapeseed, or peanut oil.
Tempura Batter
- 1 large Egg chilled
- 1 cup All purpose flour plus a pinch for coating the mushrooms.
- 200 ml ice cold water, ideally soda water (¾ cup plus 4 teaspoons)
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika for color
Dipping Sauce (optional)
- 2 Tbsp Mirin
- 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp Maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp Dashi vegetable stock or even water can be used in a pinch.
Instructions
Dipping Sauce
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small mixing bowl and reserve. It should taste light and mellow and is meant to compliment the mushrooms rather than overpower them.
Tempura Batter
- Sift the flour and measure out one level cup. Beat the egg into the water in a metal mixing bowl, then mix in the flour gently until barely combined.
- Put the bowl of batter into a bowl filled with ice or ice water and refrigerate until it's time to cook.
Mushroom Tempura
- Look over the mushrooms and make sure they're clean. If they're not perfectly clean use them for another purpose or dehydrate them.
- It's important the mushrooms are roughly the same size for the most even cooking. They can be thinly sliced, thickly sliced or whole depending on the type you have.
- Using a candy thermometer in a heavy bottomed pot suitable for frying, heat the oil on medium high heat until it reaches 350 F. You can test the temperature the oil by putting a chopstick in it, when it bubbles, it's ready.
- Meanwhile, toss the mushrooms with a pinch of flour to lightly coat them.
- Add the mushrooms to the tempura batter and mix gently until just coated.
- Working in small batches, gently pick the mushrooms out with a toothpick or long skewer, allow excess batter to drip off. Gently dip mushrooms in the oil, waiting for a moment for the crust to set before adding more to the pot.
- When the mushrooms are light golden and crisp, about 3-4 minutes, remove and drain on a paper towel lined baking sheet and serve on a bed of fresh greens with the sauce.
Video
Notes
Rice Flour Gluten Free Tempura Batter
From my restaurant files. The rice flour gets wonderfully crisp.- 8 oz white rice flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 cups soda water
- 3 teaspoons cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon paprika, for color, optional
Timothy Baxendale
Any chance you have a good tempura batter for serving vegans? I know eggs have so many wonderful binders so finding a replacement that also doesn't discolor greatly is not easy.
Alan Bergo
I’d suggest using the flax seed egg.
Mike Moranz
My favorite is battered Lobster mushrooms. They have taste, texture, and even look like shrimp, and can even fool those who don't like mushrooms.
I see you have little puffballs in your article and I would caution people to not fry them whole. I have seen steam explosions that throw the hot oil right in your face. I now make sure I cut all of them in half.
Also, the above comment about suckers brings back memories. We speared them and pickled or smoked with skins on. It's quite a challenge standing perfectly still on a sandy/gravel shoreline or dock for 10-15 minutes. They even spot you walking along shore! You can find them by listening for spawning splashes at night when the lake is flat and calm or slowly and quietly cruise the sandy/gravel weed free shorelines during the day in a clear lake. Ugly outsides but nice white flesh.
Alan Bergo
Hey thanks Mike, I'm going to add them to the list. I've done the puffballs whole like this a few times and I know Hank Shaw has too without issue. Good to know about the oil though.
Fred Clement
Hey Alan can you add a Pinterest button so I can save your recipes! Thanks Fred
Alan Bergo
Fred thanks for the reminder. I've neglected Pinterest for years and I know a lot of people use it. I'm going to ask my tech babysitters to add a plugin for a Pinterest button on Monday.
Christine
I like that little skewer-in-cork hack! I put corks under the handles of my metal pot lids so I don't burn myself (as much) and I imagine this also gives that same protection along with an easier grip.
Alan Bergo
Oh yeah. I use that as thermometer. Some chefs use metal cake testers. Stick it in a roast and touch it to the tip of your lip and you can teach yourself temperatures. Use it to poke vegetables and fish to see if they’re done too, and lots of other things.
Gilbert
In the previous century when a person could catch 10 lbs or more smelt with one scoop from the right stream at the right time on Lake Superior, smelt tempura with mushroom carrot spring onions in the same batter was a frequent meal. I understood that eggs and wheat flour soaked up oil. Used tapioca starch instead. In that period my neighbors got a sucker trap permit from the DNR. Sucker spawning on inland lakes followed smelt. Cut out back strap fingers for more tempura!
Alan Bergo
Oh of course, I forgot about adding fish.