Chicken Katsu is the crispiest chicken a simple dish of breaded and fried chicken cutlet you can easily make at home! generally made with pork or chicken cutlets in Japan. with a sweet-and-savory sauce and a side of crisp shredded cabbage and steamed white rice, is a simple and delicious weeknight meal, whether you buy it at the food court or fry it in your own kitchen.
What is Chicken Katsu?
Chicken Katsu (チキンカツ) is chicken fillet breaded with flour, egg, and Japanese panko breadcrumbs, then deep-fried until golden brown. It’s the chicken counterpart of Tonkatsu, pork cutlet.The very best part of eating this chicken cutlet is that you made it yourself. With just a few simple ingredients from your pantry, chicken katsu is something you can accomplish even for a weeknight meal!
What You’ll Need for Chicken Katsu
Chicken katsu is made with easy-to-find ingredients you may already have on hand, making it a great go-to dish that doesn’t require a trip to the store. Here are the key ingredients you’ll need.
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts work well here, as they’re easy to thinly slice into even pieces.
- Panko breadcrumbs: Japanese panko breadcrumbs are made from crustless bread that’s processed into flakes that fry up extra crunchy. Don’t use regular fine breadcrumbs here.
- Flour and eggs: To get the breadcrumbs to adhere to the chicken, you’ll also need the standard ingredients for dredging: flour and beaten eggs.
How Long Does Chicken Katsu Keep?
Chicken katsu will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. The only way to make the breaded chicken crispy again is to put in the oven or oven toaster to reheat. Do not use the microwave to reheat.
Can You Freeze Chicken Katsu?
I always double the recipe and freeze the extra for kids’ lunch or another meal. After deep-frying the chicken, let cool completely before storing it in the airtight container to freeze.
When you are ready to serve, reheat the frozen chicken katsu on a baking sheet at preheated 350 ºF for 15-20 minutes, then serve with Tonkatsu sauce.
How to Serve Chicken Katsu
Chicken katsu is traditionally served with rice and a salad usually made of shredded lettuce or cabbage, but it’s also good in sandwiches or covered with curry sauce. Leftovers warm up quite nicely in the oven and can even be thrown onto salads.
Katsu the crispiest Japanese chicken
Ingrédients
- 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 3 large eggs
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 10 ounces each)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups vegetable or canola oil, for frying
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Prepare the breading. Place 2 cups panko in a pie plate, add 1/2 teaspoon of the kosher salt, and stir with a fork to combine. Beat 3 large eggs in a second shallow bowl with the fork until evenly combined. Place 1/2 cup all-purpose flour on a plate.
- Slice the chicken. Cut the tenders from 2 chicken breasts if still attached. Positioning a knife almost parallel to the cutting board, slice each breast crosswise at an angle into pieces about 1/3-inch thick. The pieces will not all be the same size, and that’s okay.
- Season the chicken. Place the chicken, including the tenders, on a baking sheet. Season on both sides with the remaining 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Dredge the chicken. Working with one piece of chicken at a time, dredge completely in the flour, then dip into the eggs, and finally thoroughly coat with the panko. Place back on the baking sheet in a single layer. Refrigerate while you heat the oil.
- Heat the oil. Heat 3 cups vegetable oil in a large frying pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until 350ºF, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fit a wire rack over a baking sheet. Make the sauce while the oil is heating.
- Make the sauce. Place 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar in a small serving bowl and whisk to combine to make the sauce; set aside.
- Fry the chicken. Fry the chicken in batches of about 5 pieces to prevent crowding: Add the chicken and fry, flipping once with tongs, until cooked through and golden-brown, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to the wire rack and repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Slice the katsu and serve. If desired, slice the katsu crosswise into 1/2-inch wide pieces. Serve drizzled with the katsu sauce or serve the sauce on the side for dipping.
- you can drizzled it with tonkatsu sauce.
Notes
- Storage: Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days.
- Dishes using cutlets usually involve pounding out the meat first to get thin, even slices. But when researching chicken katsu, I discovered there’s an easier way to get thin pieces of meat instead: slicing at an angle. I saw this technique in Japanese cookbooks way and :
To do this, start by checking the chicken breasts to see if the tenders are still attached. Chicken tenders are the little strip of meat that’s on the underside. If you find them, pull them off first and set them aside. They won’t go to waste and will be fried up for the katsu. Then cut the chicken crosswise on a slight diagonal, holding the knife almost parallel to the cutting board. Aim for slices about 1/3-inch thick, and don’t worry that the pieces aren’t uniform in shape since the chicken breasts are usually a bit thinner at each end.Cutting the chicken this way is a lot easier than pounding out chicken and yields quite a number of pieces from just one pound. While you don’t get big pieces to serve each person, this method provides lots of surface area for the coating to adhere to and turn crispy.