Chicken Karaage

Gluten-free | Sugar-free | Dairy-free | 

Makes 500 g (1.1 lb) or 4-5 serves

Why it’s delicious

Karaage, pronounced kah-rah-ah-geh is a Japanese style of deep frying, but of course deep frying is not a wonderfully healthy style of cooking, so in this recipe I take the principles of karaage which involves a delicious marinade followed by a quick blast in the air fryer. No deep frying required!

Helpful hints and tips

Eat this chicken hot from the air fryer in a salad, with a side of your favourite vegetables or as part of a gut healing bowl. You can also add it at the last minute through a vegetable stir fry. 

I use pickle liquid in the marinade which is directly from one of my prebiotic pickle recipes that I make. Click HERE for the recipe. If you don’t have any pickles made you can use mirin sauce instead.

I also use my Sweet As Fibre Syrup as a refined sugar substitute in this recipe due to its natural sweetness. My fibre syrup is a low-calorie prebiotic fibre made from 100% pure chicory. Feel free to use your own fibre syrup, but read the labels. Many companies lace their syrups with malt extract and stevia to make them sweeter. If your fibre syrup isn't golden, it probably isn't 100% pure. Click here if you would like to purchase my Sweet As Fibre Syrup.    

Ideally you’ll make this recipe in an air fryer. You can also make it in the oven, set on 250C (480F) for 8-12 minutes until cooked through. It wont get as crispy as an air fryer, but will still taste delicious. 

For optimum results, start this recipe the day before you intend to eat to allow the chicken time to marinade overnight. 

Ingredients

Marinade

• 30 ml (1 oz) low sodium tamari
• 30 ml (1 oz) pickle liquid (see above for details)
• 1 tbsp Sweet As Fibre Syrup
• 1 tsp natural sea salt
• 2 tbsp finely grated ginger
• 1 large garlic clove, freshly grated
• 1 tsp sesame oil, optional

• 500 g (1.1 lb) chicken breast or thigh, skin removed and sliced into long bite size pieces
• 60 g (2 oz) my Gluten-free Flour Blend, for dusting

Method

1. Make the marinade by whisking together the tamari, pickle liquid, fibre syrup, salt, ginger, garlic and sesame oil if using. Add chicken to the marinade and stir well to ensure the chicken is well coated in the sauce. 
2. Cover the chicken and rest in the fridge to allow the chicken to marinade for at least 2 hours, but ideally for a deeper flavour, overnight. 
3. When ready to cook the chicken, heat your air fryer as hot as it will go. My air fryer gets to 230C (450F) . For oven instructions, please see above. 
4. Add the gluten free flour to a bowl with a pinch of salt and dust each piece of chicken lightly in flour. 
5. Lay the chicken in a single layer on a rack in the air fryer ensuring the chicken isn't touching so the air can circulate freely around the chicken to cook it evenly. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may have to work in batches to cook your chicken. 
6. Cook the chicken for 7-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and  a little golden and crisp on the outside. 
7. Serve hot with salad, vegetables, in a gut healing bowl, or add last minute to a stir fry.