Vegan Tempura Recipe

Crispy, light, and easy to make, our vegan tempura recipe uses seasonal vegetables and a plant-based batter to create this truly moreish and mouth-watering restaurant style dish at home. It's an deal side, appetizer, or can make up part of a larger Japanese feast.

What is tempura?

Tempura is a beloved Japanese dish traditionally made with a light batter and deep-fried vegetables or seafood. At home, it is a simple comfort food, often made with seasonal vegetables and served over rice (tendon, a type of donburi or rice bowl topped with tempura), alongside noodles like soba (buckwheat noodles) or udon (thick wheat noodles), or packed into bento (Japanese lunchboxes). It is common to find ready-made tempura in supermarket deli counters and convenience stores, making it a familiar part of everyday meals. But tempura also has a more refined side: when served at specialty restaurants (tempura-ya, shops that specialize in tempura) or as part of multi-course kaiseki (traditional Japanese haute cuisine) meals, it becomes an elegant, high-skill dish, especially varieties like shrimp tempura (ebi tempura, prawn tempura), which are considered more traditional and celebratory.

Can tempura be made vegan?

Although traditional tempura recipes often include eggs, it is easy to adapt the batter for a plant-based diet. This vegan version keeps the signature crispiness and light texture using just flour, cornstarch, and sparkling water. When done well, it is a show-stopper, perfect for celebrations, special occasions, or simply as a treat at home. This tempura pairs beautifully with noodles or sushi. Serve it with your favorite vegan sushi, or use as a topping over a bowl of vegan ramen.

Jump to:

• What is tempura?
• Ingredients
• How to Make Vegan Tempura
• Tips for making perfect Japanese tempura
• What to serve with tempura
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• FAQ
• Other popular recipes
• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4 | Prep time 25 mins | Cooking time 25 mins

For this recipe, you'll need:

• A mix of vegetables such as sweet potato, eggplant, mushrooms, broccoli, nori, and daikon (or radish).
• Pantry staples for the batter: plain flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and ice-cold sparkling water.
• Neutral oil for frying.
• Classic tentsuyu dipping sauce ingredients: vegan dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and a touch of sugar, with optional ginger, spring onion, and daikon for garnish.

See the recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities.

What are the best vegetables to use for tempura?

Aim for no more than five different vegetables at a time so each flavor and texture has room to shine. Sweet potato, aubergine, mushroom, broccoli, and daikon are all classics. Zucchini, asparagus, red bell pepper, onion, and carrot also work beautifully, but many other seasonal vegetables will give great results. In Japan, tempura often features kabocha pumpkin, aubergine, mushroom, and seasonal greens, so feel free to mix and match depending on what is available locally. For a more adventurous take, you can even dip apple, banana, or other fruits in the batter and dust with sugar for a sweet version of tempura. Modern twists include tempura cheesecake, where slices of cake are fried in the same light batter. One day I would love to try creating a vegan version of that!

How to Make Vegan Tempura

Making tempura at home can feel intimidating, but it really comes down to five key steps. I'll walk you through each one with tips, timing cues, and advice on how to avoid the common pitfalls that can make tempura greasy or heavy instead of light and crisp. Follow these, and you'll be surprised at how achievable restaurant-style tempura can be in your own kitchen.

There are five steps for making vegan tempura:

1. Make the dipping sauce (tentsuyu)
2. Prepare and slice the vegetables
3. Mix the tempura batter
4. Heat the oil, then coat and fry the vegetables
5. Drain, plate, and serve while still crisp

For a concise, printable version of the recipe, head to the recipe card at the end of this post. Below, I'll walk you through each step in detail.

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1. Make the dipping sauce (tentsuyu)

Start with the sauce so the flavors have time to settle. Combine vegan dashi (see our vegan dashi guide if you need it), soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a small saucepan. If you have ginger or spring onion, add them for extra depth. Bring it to a gentle simmer, stir until the sugar dissolves, then set aside to cool. This light dipping sauce balances the crisp batter and is a big part of what makes tempura so distinctly Japanese.

2. Prepare and slice the vegetables

Once you have gathered your vegetables, focus on cutting them to an even size. Shape and thickness make a big difference to how tempura cooks. 

Slice the sweet potato into thin half-centimetre disks so it softens through without the batter burning. Keep aubergine and mushrooms to about 1 cm thick for the same reason.

Use kitchen shears or scissors to cut the nori sheet into eight small squares, about 2 by 2 inches (roughly 5cm by 5 cm). Keep the pieces even so they cook quickly and don't tear in the batter. Next, trim the broccoli stems so they fit neatly in your frying pan. Shorter stems are easier to handle and fry more evenly.

If you like, finely slice some green onions and grate a little daikon or ginger to serve on the side as a garnish.

3. Mix the tempura batter

In a large bowl, whisk together plain flour and cornstarch, and set aside another bowl with plain flour for dusting the vegetables. When you are ready to fry, pour in ice-cold sparkling water and stir quickly with chopsticks. Do not worry about lumps, they are a good sign. Overmixing activates the gluten and makes the batter heavy. Add a few ice cubes to keep it cold as you work. Cold batter means lighter, crispier vegan tempura.

For an extra crunchy finish, sprinkle a small handful of panko crumbs over the batter and give it just one quick stir. Any more and you risk overmixing, which makes the coating heavy instead of light.

4. Heat the oil, then coat and fry the vegetables.

Fill a deep frying pan or wok with neutral oil to a depth of about 4 cm and bring it up to 180°C (350°F). This is the sweet spot: if the oil is too cool, the batter will soak it up and go greasy; if it is too hot, the outside will brown before the vegetables cook through. If you do not have a thermometer, drop in a little batter; if it sizzles and floats right away, the oil is ready.

Once the oil is ready, work piece by piece. Lightly dust each vegetable in plain flour before dipping into the batter and lowering gently into the pan. Nori is the exception where we'll skip the flour and dip it straight into the batter. This is because the nori sheet is so thin, flour makes it heavy and clumpy instead of light and crisp.

Fry just one or two pieces at a time so the oil temperature stays steady. Overcrowding cools the pan and leaves you with soggy tempura. Each piece should cook quickly, turning pale golden and crisp. Lift it out with chopsticks or tongs and drain on paper towel before adding the next.

Keep going in small batches until all the vegetables are fried, crisp, and ready to serve.

5. Drain, plate, and serve while still crisp.

Arrange the tempura on a platter and serve alongside the dipping sauce. Tempura is at its best straight from the fryer, light and airy with a crisp bite.

What to serve with tempura

Tempura is so versatile, it can be a snack, a side, or the centerpiece of a main meal. Here are some serving suggestions:

• Vegan sushi rolls like avocado maki or uramaki for a light, fresh contrast.
• Noodle bowls like tempura soba, these quick tofu noodles or a spicy ramen for a hearty main.
• Rice-based dishes like donburi or Japanese fried rice for a more filling dinner.
• Lighter sides such as kinpira gobo or soy seared pak choi to balance the richness.

Substitutions

• Vegetables: Use whatever is locally available and in season. Zucchini, asparagus, bell pepper, onion, and carrot all work well. We haven't tested beetroot, turnip, string beans, silverbeet, or cabbage but these and plenty of other vegetables may also be worth trying - experiment and see what you like! Leafy greens, like kale, can be trickier since they absorb more oil, but they can add a nice contrast once you get the hang of them.
• Dipping sauce: Swap daikon for regular radish, or simply leave it out.
• Sparkling water: Chilled still water wont' work quite as well as sparking but is fine to use if sparkling is not available.

Variations

• Spicy: Add ½ to 1 teaspoon of chili powder into the batter.
• Sweet: Try apple, banana, or even mochi, then dust with powdered sugar once fried.
• Extra crunchy: Add ½ cup of panko crumbs to the batter for more texture.

Equipment

You don't need anything fancy, just a mixing bowl, a saucepan for the dipping sauce, and a deep frying pan or wok. A thermometer helps for getting the oil to the right temperature, but it's not essential. Chopsticks or tongs work well for frying and handling the tempura.

Storage

Tempura is best eaten fresh as it's at its crispiest right after frying. It does not store well and quickly loses its crunch. If you have leftovers, the oven or an air fryer will bring back some of the texture, though it will never be quite the same. Skip the microwave, it makes the batter soft and soggy.

FAQ

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