Chicken Nanban: Sweet-Sour Vinegar Soaked into Fried Chicken, with Tartar on Top
A thin coating of flour and then egg, fried and dipped in a sweet-sour soy-and-vinegar sauce, drained, and finished with a chunky tartar of fresh cucumber, onion and boiled egg. No breadcrumbs, no pickles.
Chicken breast is seasoned with salt and pepper, dusted with flour, coated in beaten egg and fried. While it is still hot, it goes into nanban vinegar, a sweet-sour mix of soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and mirin with a little shichimi togarashi. Lifted out and drained, it is plated with vegetables and covered with a tartar sauce in which you can still see small pieces of cucumber, onion and egg. The flavors stack in that order: fried chicken, sweet vinegar, then the creamy tartar.
This is chicken nanban (チキン南蛮, chikin nanban), a dish from Miyazaki Prefecture in southern Kyushu. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) describes two lines of the dish: the common style with tartar sauce poured over, and a simpler style eaten with the sweet vinegar sauce alone. This article cooks the tartar style.
The recipe here is the 2-serving version published by MAFF on its regional-cuisine site "Uchi no Kyodo Ryori" ("Our Local Cuisine"), which credits it to Miyazaki no Kyodo Ryori Herashio Recipe from the Miyazaki Prefecture Dietary Improvement Promotion Council. Every amount and the order of the steps follow that recipe; frying time, cut size and the kind of side vegetables are not part of it, so they are not invented here.
This recipe has not been kitchen-tested by Sekai Gohan. The amounts and order are reproduced from the published Miyazaki recipe.
Ingredients: 2 Servings in Three Groups
Everything is listed by weight, so a kitchen scale makes this easier. The table runs in three groups: chicken and coating, tartar sauce, and nanban vinegar. Two items appear twice with different amounts, so measure them separately: sugar (a small amount for the tartar, a larger amount for the vinegar) and egg (raw beaten egg for the coating, chopped boiled egg for the tartar).
Vegetables for the plate: as needed, any kind you like.
Equipment
- Deep pan or pot for frying
- Thermometer for the frying oil
- Clean instant-read food thermometer for the chicken (keep it separate from the oil thermometer)
- Wire rack or clean rack for the fried chicken
- Small saucepan for the nanban vinegar
- Mixing bowl for the tartar
- Shallow dishes for the flour and beaten egg
- Separate cutting board, plates and tongs or chopsticks for raw chicken, and clean ones for cooked chicken
Shopping and Choosing: Nothing Rare, but Keep the List Exact
Every item is an ordinary Japanese pantry or supermarket ingredient: chicken breast, cake flour, eggs, regular and light soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sugar, shichimi togarashi, mayonnaise, ketchup, cucumber and onion. Light soy sauce (usukuchi) is a separate ingredient in this recipe, not an optional extra. Do not replace it: swapping in more regular soy sauce or a soup-base product would be your own change, not an equivalent.
Use whichever vinegar and frying oil you normally cook with. For the plate, use any vegetables you like, in any amount. Cabbage, lettuce or any particular salad is not part of the recipe.
Chicken breast has traditionally been the usual cut, and thigh, which is fattier and more filling, is also used today. The amounts in this recipe are for 240g of breast; no thigh version with its own amounts is given here.
This dish contains wheat (cake flour, and many soy sauces), egg (the coating, the boiled egg and the mayonnaise) and soy (soy sauces). Shichimi togarashi and other blended products can contain further ingredients depending on the brand. Check the labels of every product you use.
Method: Tartar, Then Nanban Vinegar, Then the Fried Chicken
Make both sauces before the chicken goes into the oil, so the fried chicken can go straight into the vinegar and then onto the plate.
Tips for a Steady Result
Keep the coating order. MAFF explains that dusting with flour before coating with egg lets the coating soak up the sweet vinegar more easily and gives it a pleasant texture in the mouth. Breadcrumbs don't belong here.
Keep the sauces in their places. The vinegar goes onto the chicken after frying, the excess is drained away, and the tartar goes on at the very end. Dip, lift and drain rather than leaving the chicken to sit.
Measure doneness, not color. The 170°C figure is for the oil only. Put the thermometer probe into the thickest part, and confirm 75°C held for at least 1 minute.
| Problem | Likely reason | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The center hasn't reached 75°C | The chicken is thick or the oil temperature dropped | Keep cooking and check the thickest part again. Don't judge by the color of the coating |
| The coating looks like a breaded cutlet | Breadcrumbs were used | Next time, use only flour and then beaten egg |
| The tartar tastes like pickle relish | Pickles were used instead of fresh cucumber | Use fresh cucumber and raw onion, finely chopped |
| The plate is flooded with sauce | The chicken wasn't drained after dipping | Lift it out of the vinegar and let the excess drip off before plating |
| The tartar is too sweet or the vinegar too mild | The two sugar amounts were swapped | Sugar for the tartar is 3g; sugar for the nanban vinegar is 30g |
| The vinegar tastes off-balance | Only one kind of soy sauce was used | Measure 18g regular and 18g light soy sauce separately |
Born in Nobeoka, Spread Across Miyazaki's Homes and Restaurants
MAFF describes chicken nanban as a dish known to have originated in Nobeoka, a city in northern Miyazaki, and passed down across the whole prefecture. According to the ministry, it began as a makanai (staff meal) at a Western-style restaurant in Nobeoka in the Showa 30s (roughly 1955 to 1964). In the Showa 40s (roughly 1965 to 1974) it became a treat for families eating out, and later spread into school lunches, home cooking and the everyday menus of restaurants throughout the prefecture.
Miyazaki Prefecture's own quarterly magazine, Jaja, tells the story in more detail. In the prefecture's account, the roots lie in the staff meal at a Nobeoka Western-style restaurant called London (ロンドン), where it was something like fried chicken soaked in sweet vinegar, with no formal name and no tartar sauce. The prefecture says that around Showa 39 (1964), Mr. Goto (後藤直) put the dish on the menu at his restaurant Naochan (直ちゃん), and that at about the same time Kai Teruyuki (甲斐照幸) of Ogura's Ōse branch (おぐら大瀬店) developed the now-mainstream style served with tartar sauce and salad. These are the prefecture's accounts; MAFF's shorter summary does not name individual shops or people, so no single inventor is claimed here.
The prefecture also describes chicken nanban as Miyazaki soul food that has become popular nationwide, and notes that in 2009 the city of Nobeoka declared itself the "birthplace of chicken nanban." MAFF mentions that restaurants serve their own house tartar sauces and spin-offs such as chicken nanban curry. For more dishes from across the country, see our Japan page.
As for the name, MAFF explains that nanban is linked to the Portuguese and their culture, who arrived in Japan during the Sengoku (Warring States) period, and to nanban-zuke, dishes marinated in sweet vinegar with chili. The ministry says the chicken dish is said to have taken its name from that connection with nanban-zuke. This is the ministry's explanation, not a settled etymology.
With Tartar or Without: Two Ways to Eat It
The recipe in this article is the tartar style: the sauce contains ketchup, and chopped boiled egg, fresh cucumber and raw onion are mixed into the mayonnaise.
MAFF also records a simpler style in which the chicken is eaten with the sweet vinegar sauce alone. It is a separate line of the dish, not a shortcut or a failed version of the tartar style. The image above shows that style only as an example; its exact recipe is not given here.
If you leave out the tartar at home, you are moving to the sauce-only style rather than cooking this recipe with one part missing. The chicken, coating and nanban vinegar stay the same; only the tartar ingredients drop out.
Food Safety and Leftovers
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) warns that Campylobacter is frequently found in retail chicken and that food poisoning from undercooked chicken dishes is common. Because pathogens can get inside the meat, the ministry advises cooking chicken through to the center, with 75°C at the center for at least 1 minute as the guide. In this recipe that check is separate from the 170°C oil temperature, and no frying time is given.
MHLW also advises keeping raw meat refrigerated and preventing cross-contamination: don't let raw meat or its juices touch other foods, including cooked dishes and vegetables eaten raw. In practice, that means separate boards, plates and tongs for raw chicken, and keeping the vegetables for the plate well away from them.
We don't give a storage time or reheating method for leftovers, because the references used for this article do not set one for this dish or for the tartar sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where in Miyazaki did chicken nanban come from?
Both MAFF and Miyazaki Prefecture point to Nobeoka. MAFF describes it as starting from a restaurant staff meal in the Showa 30s; the prefecture's magazine names the restaurant London as the root and credits Naochan and Ogura's Ōse branch with putting it on menus and creating the tartar style. The level of detail differs between the two accounts, so we don't name a single inventor.
Does chicken nanban use breadcrumbs?
Not in this recipe. The chicken is dusted with flour, coated in beaten egg and fried. Breadcrumbs are not among the ingredients.
Is it still chicken nanban without tartar sauce?
Yes. MAFF records the style eaten with sweet vinegar sauce alone as its own line of the dish alongside the tartar style.
How many minutes should I fry the chicken?
The recipe gives no frying time, and how long it takes depends on the thickness of the chicken. Fry in 170°C oil and use a food thermometer to confirm the thickest part reaches 75°C at the center for at least 1 minute, following MHLW's guidance.
Do I need cabbage on the side?
No particular vegetable is required. The plating step says only to serve the chicken with vegetables, without naming a kind or amount, so cabbage is not part of the recipe.
Sources
- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), "チキン南蛮 宮崎県 | うちの郷土料理" (Chicken Nanban, Miyazaki Prefecture | Uchi no Kyodo Ryori). Recipe provided by Miyazaki no Kyodo Ryori Herashio Recipe (Miyazaki Prefecture Dietary Improvement Promotion Council). Supports the 2-serving ingredients, amounts and method; the Nobeoka origin and spread into homes, restaurants and school lunches; the explanation of the name; the tartar and sauce-only styles; the flour-then-egg coating; and the note on breast and thigh. https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/k_ryouri/search_menu/menu/chikin_nanban_miyazaki.html
- Miyazaki Prefecture, Miyazaki Appeal Division, quarterly magazine Jaja, "チキン南蛮" (Chicken Nanban). Supports the prefecture's account of the restaurant London, Naochan and Ogura's Ōse branch, the spread in the Showa 40s, and Nobeoka's 2009 "birthplace of chicken nanban" declaration. https://www.pref.miyazaki.lg.jp/contents/org/shoko/appeal/jaja/19_03.html
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), web magazine Kosei Rodo, "お肉による食中毒の原因や予防方法について紹介します。" (Causes and prevention of food poisoning from meat). Supports the Campylobacter warning for chicken, the guide of 75°C at the center for at least 1 minute, and advice on refrigerating meat and preventing cross-contamination. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/web_magazine/closeup/08.html
