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Japanese recipe for Tempura Twinkies takes America’s favourite snack to a whole new level

Oona McGee Jul 13, 2026
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Move aside, deep-fried Twinkies, Tempura Twinkies are in town.

While some people might argue that Japan is home to the best sweets and snacks in the world, for locals the fascination can sometimes be reversed, with curiosity about famous overseas sweets leading many to wonder what they really taste like.

Our reporter Takuya Inaba is one such curious local, who became fascinated with Twinkies after watching the 2009 zombie comedy film Zombieland, where the character of Tallahassee, played by Woody Harrelson, spends the zombie apocalypse desperately searching for the snack.

Back then, Twinkies were impossible to get in Japan, so Takuya had to give up on his own search for them. However, completely by chance the other day, he spotted them on Amazon, where two 10-pack boxes were selling for 1,350 yen (US$9.15) plus postage, which seemed surprisingly affordable.

▼ Thrilled at this unexpected find, he placed an order straight away and they arrived a week later.

He wasted no time in opening a box, and gleefully pulled out the contents.

▼ Twinkieeeeessss!

According to his research, around 500 million Twinkies are produced every year in the States, so he was very happy to have 20 of them in his home on the other side of the Pacific.

Filled with excitement, Takuya unwrapped one and marvelled at how it looked, and smelled, like a Japanese castella sponge cake, but it was surprisingly heavy.

Taking a bite, he found that it was filled with a generous amount of cream, reminding him slightly of a Tokyo Banana cake. The flavour, however, was in a league of its own.

Unlike Japanese sponge cakes, there was nothing delicate about the texture or the flavour profile. The cake was oily and intensely sweet, while the cream was so rich it practically clung to the tongue. There was so much cream inside that every single bite was relentless, with no let-up whatsoever.

▼ It felt like an all-out assault on his taste buds.

But then something strange happened – the taste really started to grow on him. That completely unapologetic, over-the-top sweetness somehow became oddly addictive, and he soon found himself reaching for another one. Before he unwrapped it, though, he recalled something he’d seen on the Twinkies website about deep frying them. At the time, that idea seemed like a totally forbidden upgrade, but now, after trying one, he couldn’t resist the urge to fry it.

▼ So he coated his next Twinkie in pancake batter, then lowered it into a pan of hot oil.

The Twinkie sizzled enticingly in the oil, sending sweet and sugary aromas around the room.

It didn’t take long for the deep-fried Twinkie to turn a golden brown colour, at which point Takuya took it out and gave it a slight dusting of powdered sugar for an elegant finish.

It looked so decadent that Takuya could immediately tell it was going to be intense, even before taking a bite.

Taking a cautious nibble, he was pleased to discover that it was actually insanely good!

The gooey cream oozed out from the centre, melding with the crispy, doughy casing to create an impressively harmonious blend of flavours. Strangely, the deep-frying process actually seemed to dial down the relentless sweetness, making it infinitely easier to eat.

▼ The aftertaste was now surprisingly light too.

Takuya became slightly fearful of the fried Twinkie, saying it was so good he could eat endless amounts of them. They were so deliciously addictive that he reckons if they sold them in popular places like Harajuku or Shin-Okubo, there would be huge queues. That got the cogs whirring in his creative mind, and he began to realise that after discovering the power of a deep-fried Twinkie, there was one more thing he just had to try.

▼ Tempura Twinkies.

For the Japanese-style frying method, Takuya used a homemade tempura batter containing 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of flour, half a beaten egg and 200 millilitres (6.8 ounces) of ice-cold water. He also used a Twinkie that had been frozen solid, as he was worried the cream would leak out during cooking. With high hopes that the crispy coating would pair perfectly with the filling, he coated the cold Twinkie in batter and fried it in about 2.5 to 3 centimetres (1-1.2 inches) of hot oil until…

▼ … a Twinkie armed with a golden coating was born!

To Takuya, this new creation reminded him of a warrior wearing a traditional samurai helmet. It was like a unique collaboration between the US and Japan, and it turned out to be a brilliant one – the texture was lighter than the pancake-mix version he made earlier, making it even more dangerously easy to eat.

The tempura Twinkie was the perfect finale to his fried Twinkie experience, and he now completely understands the appeal. As a new convert to the sweet treat, he’s glad he only has 17 left in his kitchen, because otherwise he’d be snacking on these every single day.

Twinkies might be delicious on their own, but they achieve a whole new state of deliciousness after being deep-fried. For Takuya, though, the tempura Twinkie elevates things even further, reaching new realms of deliciousness that everyone ought to try at least once.

So if you’re lucky enough to have Twinkies readily available at your local store, he urges you to try the tempura version, and feel free to leave him a comment or send us a photo of your creations – we’d love to know how you go!

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[ Read in Japanese ]