Can I use cornstarch for deep

The culinary world has produced so many duos of ingredients: heavy cream and half-and-half, butter and shortening, breadcrumbs and crackers. But today, we are breaking down the differences and ways to use flour (starch made from wheat) and cornstarch (starch made from corn). Both are commonly used in thickening sauces, frying foods, and in baking, but what are the differences between them?

Table of Contents Show

• Which fried dishes can benefit from cornstarch?
• What is “velveting,” the Chinese cuisine technique employing cornstarch?
• Is cornstarch a traditional Chinese cuisine ingredient?
• Any specific tips for frying using cornstarch?
• Is it better to use cornstarch or flour for deep frying?
• Can I use cornstarch instead of flour for dredging?
• Can I use cornflour to deep fry?
• Can I use cornstarch as batter?

Thickening

Adeena Zeldin

Both flour and cornstarch are bomb ingredients for thickening sauces. Cornstarch lacks a taste and, when added to a sauce, it'll create a glossy appearance while thickening. You also need less of the ingredient; when using cornstarch, use half of the amount you would use for flour. For example, for 2 tablespoons of flour, you'd use 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.

If, by chance, your sauce has an acidic or vinegar taste, it's best to use flour to tone down the acid. Flour also works best if your sauce is based with a fat; if your recipe calls for butter to start with, use flour to thicken.

Frying

Caroline Liu

Both flour and cornstarch will fry foods, but they do have slight differences. Flour will do just fine as a breading, but it won't get as golden and it doesn't quite achieve that coveted crispiness. Many recipes—e.g., fried chicken—will call for a 50-50 amount of flour and cornstarch to achieve ultimate crisp.

Using cornstarch to fry foods, however, will get you the golden color and extreme crunchiness. This is because cornstarch is almost completely starch whereas flour has a lower starch content because it also has gluten. Some recipes might even use only cornstarch to ensure the food gets ultimate crisp status.

Baking

Jocelyn Hsu

Flour and cornstarch are both common ingredients in baking. Both can thicken pie fillings, but they can also be used to adjust the texture of baked goods. Primarily, cornstarch is often used along with flour to "soften" the flour, resulting in nice crumbs without the goods totally falling apart.

Another differences in their uses—flour tends to be the go-to dry ingredient in most baking. Cornstarch, however, can be substituted to make a baked good gluten-free! Just be sure to use less, as the two ingredients absorb liquid in different amounts.

Naomi Hoffner

Flour and cornstarch are the brother and sister in thickening, frying, and baking, but they each have their little differences and tricks. They are super easy to substitute when need be, or if you want the dish to be more crispy or tender. Depending on how you want the dish to turn out, try using one or the other. Don't be afraid to experiment!

It’s not the sexiest-sounding player in the pantry, but it sure is handy if you want to fry something. We reached out to a top chef—and onetime “Top Chef” contestant—for the nitty-gritty.

Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.

My cornstarch knowledge was until recently pretty basic. I’ve used it to thicken gravies and sauces, bind fruit in pies, and so forth. And I’ve used it in my deep-fry game, which is where it shines the most, creating chicken wings that are seductively crispy and lacy-edged.

But I didn’t really understand how cornstarch worked, or when precisely to use it in my frying. It turns out, the stuff is simply a “flour” made from the corn kernel, and is commonly used as a thickening agent. Chefs like that it’s gluten-free and largely disappears in the flavor of a dish.

I’d recently noticed it was lending a sort of crisp exterior to my plush pan-fried eggplant, and kept it from falling apart. (I’d coat salted, dried slices of eggplant in cornstarch before frying it.) So I reached out to Dale Talde of national mini-chain Talde and new Manhattan restaurant Rice & Gold. He specializes in “creative Asian-American cuisine,” and he had a lot to say about using cornstarch more smartly. Here’s how to use it, how not to use it, and why it tastes so familiar.

Which fried dishes can benefit from cornstarch?

Talde uses cornstarch in a batter for whole fried fish, thickening water with it to make what’s called a “slurry,” then packing it in more dry cornstarch before finally deep-frying it. “It creates this really lacy batter or crust around the fish,” he said. “It’s a Chinese method that I learned from a chef.” More simply, though, use it “any time—especially if there’s a gluten sensitivity—if you want something ultra-crispy.” Think: shrimp, chicken wings, beef, and certain veggies.

What is “velveting,” the Chinese cuisine technique employing cornstarch?

“Velveting” a protein, says Talde, “is kind of what makes Chinese food Chinese food.” Cornstarch is a major player in a velveting marinade, which might also include baking soda, rice wine vinegar, white pepper, egg white, Shaoxing wine, and sesame oil. (You might actually know the technique or the texture if you’ve ever had General Tso’s chicken.)

Is cornstarch a traditional Chinese cuisine ingredient?

Not necessarily. As Fuchsia Dunlop’s book Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking clarifies, “The Chinese use a variety of plain starches to thicken sauces and to give a silky mouthfeel to wok-cooked meat, fish and poultry.” Dunlop suggests buying potato flour, with cornstarch as a backup. As Talde adds, “Bad-good American Chinese food—if you’re trying to replicate it, cornstarch is a must.” He says it’s “Chinese people making Chinese food that they thought American people would like. Like General Tso’s chicken, 100 percent.”

Any specific tips for frying using cornstarch?

If you’re going to go beyond using cornstarch in a simple velveting marinade, and want to dip a food in it just before frying—a common technique seen in this delicious Vietnamese wings recipe, among others—you’ll want to somehow adhere the cornstarch to your food. Talde gently corrected my tendency to salt eggplant, dry it, and then pan-fry it in oil before adding it to pastas. I’d noticed that the cornstarch was flaking off my dried eggplant slices. “You got them too dry,” he said. “There has to be something that sticks to it. Don’t dry them too much.” Using a marinade before dipping them in cornstarch could also work.

Cornstarch is a “very, very sturdy starch,” notes Talde, excellent for creating crispy, lacy crusts on food. Make sure you’ve marinated or otherwise moistened your protein so the cornstarch will stick, and then go to town experimenting.

Alex Van Buren is a food and travel writer living in Brooklyn, New York whose work has appeared in Bon Appétit, Travel + Leisure, New York Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Gourmet, and Epicurious. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @alexvanburen.

Is it better to use cornstarch or flour for deep frying?

Can I use cornstarch instead of flour for dredging?

Can I use cornflour to deep fry?

Can I use cornstarch as batter?