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Tempura Vegetables on a Black Plate with Chopsticks and Dipping Sauce on the Side
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5 from 7 votes

Easy Tempura Vegetables

These tempura vegetables are coated in a light batter, shallow fried to crispy perfection, and served with a savory-sweet soy sesame dipping sauce.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American, Japanese
Servings: 6
Calories: 323kcal
Author: Alissa

Ingredients

For the Sesame-Soy Dipping Sauce

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

For the Batter

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups seltzer water or beer (pale ale, pilsner, or another light beer), chilled
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder — only use if making beer tempura

For the Tempura Vegetables

  • ½ cup peanut oil, or another high smoke point oil such as canola, plus more as needed
  • 1 small sweet potato, sliced into ¼ inch thick slabs
  • 1 small broccoli crown, broken into small florets
  • 10 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed
  • ½ large onion, sliced into thin strips or rings
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Soy Sesame Dipping Sauce

  • Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Make the Batter

  • Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder (for beer tempura only) together in a medium bowl
  • Whisk in the beer or seltzer water until the ingredients are completely blended.

Fry the Vegetables

  • Pour about ¼ inch of oil into a large skillet and place it over medium heat.
  • Give the oil a few minutes to heat up. When it begins to shimmer, test it by dropping in a small amount of batter into the skillet. If it starts to sizzle within a few seconds, the oil is ready.
  • When the oil is ready, dip one of your veggies into the batter, coating all sides. Shake off any excess batter, then transfer the veggie to the hot oil.
  • Repeat the process, adding as many veggies to the skillet as you can fit without crowding.
  • Fry the vegetables for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until crispy.
  • Transfer the tempura vegetables to a paper towel-lined plate to drain when they're finished frying.
  • Continue dipping and frying the vegetables, adding oil to the skillet as needed.

Serve

  • Serve your tempura vegetables immediately, with the dipping sauce on the side.

Notes

Nutrition information is for recipe using seltzer water.

Nutrition

Calories: 323kcal | Carbohydrates: 33.8g | Protein: 5.8g | Fat: 18.9g | Saturated Fat: 3.2g | Sodium: 513mg | Potassium: 318mg | Fiber: 3.3g | Sugar: 4.7g | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 2.7mg