8 Ways to Make Your Recipes Extra Crispy - MyRecipes (2024)

FAQs

What makes food extra crispy? ›

Use the Right Batter: Using a light batter or tempura mix will help keep your fried foods extra crispy while still sealing in moisture and flavor. Monitor Oil Temperature: Maintaining a consistent temperature when deep-frying is key to achieving a perfect crunch.

(Note that dextrin from corn, potato, and other starch sources also exists but behaves differently from wheat dextrin.) Food manufacturers discovered many years ago that wheat dextrin can make fried foods crispier—and remain crispier longer—than those made with most conventional flours alone.

Turn up the Heat

Make sure that oven is hot by preheating it to 400° to 425°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or with aluminum foil that's been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

A baking stone, or pizza stone, is a large piece of thick, ceramic tile that sits on the rack of your oven. By preheating the stone along with the oven to a high temperature—think in the 450°F to 500°F range—it picks up and retains a ton of heat that provides exceptional browning for your bottom crust.

Simply place a layer of paper towels in the bottom of the container before adding the food. The paper towels will absorb any excess moisture and help to maintain the crispy texture. To ensure the best results, roll out the paper towels neatly and consider wearing disposable food gloves to avoid contamination.

The drier your food is when it goes in, the crispier it'll be when it comes out. Extra liquid can also cause splattering and smoking, so even if you think your ingredients are dry, give them one last pat with a paper towel before adding them to the basket.

But the baking powder is key, because it acts like a salt. It helps draw moisture to the surface, where it can evaporate. Since they have similar reactions, we typically combine baking powder and table salt to amplify this effect, resulting in extra-crispiness.

In brief, crunch is more muscular than crisp. While crispiness is almost always confined to the edges or outsides of foods, crunch is bold enough to carry all the way through. Crunch is loud, hard and tough. That's why thicker kettle-cooked chips fall into the crunchy category rather than the crispy.

Rice flour and cornstarch work particularly well because they fry up crispier than wheat flour. They also absorb less moisture and fat during the frying process, making the products less greasy. This is why rice flour is often used when making tempura because it produces a very thin and crispy, dry crust.

Some recipes—like Kenji's stir-fried crispy tofu—use cornstarch exclusively to achieve ultra-crispy textures. More starch means greater water absorption and enhanced gelatinization of starches; frying drives off water, leaving a porous, brittle network that we perceive as crunchy or crispy when we bite into it.

Does cornstarch or baking powder make things crispy? ›

Both can! Cornstarch creates a dry coating that crisps up beautifully when fried. Baking powder can also add some lift and a light crunch, especially when mixed with cornstarch.

If you're craving some extra crunch, look no further than a staple you probably already have in your pantry: cornstarch. Cornstarch is frequently added to foods to give them an extra bit of crispiness, but for some reason it's not commonly included in roasted vegetable recipes.

A pinch of baking soda can help produce crispy fried foods. It reacts with the acid in the batter to create carbon dioxide bubbles. These lead to an airy batter and a crisper, fluffier result.

Instead, bake the food on high heat for ten to fifteen minutes. This reduces the amount of moisture that can enter the food, making it crispy again.

Instead, bake the food on high heat for ten to fifteen minutes. This reduces the amount of moisture that can enter the food, making it crispy again.

Tips to Fry Food Right

Always deep-fry in a deep pot and fill it only a third or half full with oil. Tall, narrow pots help extend the oil's frying life, since less of the oil's surface is exposed to oxygen. Use a deep-fry thermometer and adjust the heat while frying to maintain a steady temperature.