Ebi Fry (Japanese Fried Shrimp) (2024)

Ebi Fry (エビフライ)

Ebi Fry, or panko fried shrimp, is a dish beloved by children across Japan, and it's often included as an option for teishoku meal sets and bento box lunches. To be perfectly honest, I never really cared much for Ebi Fry, but while testing different techniques to develop this recipe, I found a winning combination that produces plump, juicy fried shrimp with the perfect ratio of ultra-crispy crust. Here are my tricks for the best Ebi Fry!

Why This Recipe Works?

• Dry brining the shrimp with baking soda and salt before washing it not only firms up the shrimp's texture it also eliminates any unpleasant shrimpy odors.
• Coating the shrimp with batter before the panko ensures a nice thick, crispy crust that doesn't go soggy very quickly. It's also more foolproof than the usual 3-step flour/egg/panko process as it's harder to end up with bald spots.
• Cutting small slits into the shrimp's belly and giving its backside a massage keeps them from curling up when you fry them.
• Scraping out the liquid inside the tails prevents them from bursting in the hot oil when you fry them.

Ingredients for Ebi Fry

• Shrimp - Because the batter coating method results in a thicker crust, I recommend using the largest shrimp you can find to ensure you get a good ratio of crust to shrimp. I used 13/15 black tiger, which means there were 13 to 15 shrimp per pound. These can also be labeled "colossal".
• Dry Brine - For the dry brine, I like using a combination of baking soda and salt. The baking soda firms up the texture of the shrimp while deodorizing it. The salt seasons the shrimp while drawing out excess moisture from the shrimp.
• Batter - The batter is a combination of egg, water, and flour. Because the size of every egg differs, you may need to add more water or flour to get the right consistency.
• Panko - I've used fresh panko, which you can make by removing the crusts from stale sandwich bread, tearing it into pieces, and pulsing them in a food processor until you have some shaggy breadcrumbs. Dried panko from the store will also work.

How to Clean and Prepare the Shrimp

The first thing you need to do is peel and devein the shrimp, I have a detailed tutorial on cleaning shrimp, but there are a few differences for this recipe. The main one is that you want to leave the last segment of the shell and the tail on. This is not only decorative; it gives you something to hang onto when you batter and bread the shrimp. Because we leave the tail on, it's important to remove the telson (the sharp spike in the center of the tail) as it tends to burst when you put the shrimp in the hot oil.

Then you can work the baking soda and salt into the shrimp using your hand. Let this rest for a few minutes, and then rinse the shrimp thoroughly until the water runs clear. Drain the shrimp well and use paper towels to dry it off.

To prevent the shrimp from curling, you can make 4-5 slits into each shrimp's underside at a 45-degree angle. Then, flip them over and press on the backside with your fingers. You should hear a popping noise as the muscle fibers separate but don't go overboard here, or the shrimp will turn to mush.

Finally, you'll want to use a knife to scrape out any water in the tail. This also creates an opening at the tail tips that will allow steam to escape so they don't explode when you fry them.

How to Make Ebi Fry

Whisk the egg and water together in a bowl until uniform in color. Add the flour and whisk until the batter is free of lumps. I recommend mixing the batter before you prepare the shrimp, as this gives the gluten in the batter a chance to relax.

Preheat a heavy-bottomed pot with 2-inches of oil to 340 degrees F (170 C).

Grab a shrimp by its tail and dip the shelled part into the batter to coat it evenly. Let the excess batter drip off, and then transfer the shrimp onto the panko.

Cover the shrimp with panko and then press on it gently to ensure the breadcrumbs adhere well to the shrimp. Repeat the battering and breading steps with the rest of the shrimp.

When the oil is up to temperature, fry the shrimp until the panko is golden brown, flipping them over once in the middle (this took a total of 3 minutes for my shrimp). If your shrimp are smaller, you will want to fry them for a shorter amount of time.

Drain the shrimp on a paper towel-lined rack for a minute and serve with shredded cabbage and tartar sauce or tonkatsu sauce.

Other Shrimp Recipes

• Chawanmushi
• Shrimp Shumai
• Shrimp Fried Rice
• Ebi Chili (Chili Shrimp)

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