Pan-Fried Chicken Katsu Recipe

What is Chicken Katsu?

Chicken Katsu is boneless chicken meat, coated with a layer, all-purpose flour, egg, and Japanese panko bread crumbs.

Essentially it's a deep-fried chicken from Japan and it's wildly popular there!

The word Katsu is a short version of the Japanese word for cutlet.

Another Japanese meat cutlet is pork Tonkatsu, which is prepared the same way. The difference is the choice of meat. Basically, chicken katsu is a variation of tonkatsu.

Chicken katsu also resembles other meat cutlets such as the Israeli Sesame Chicken Schnitzel and therefore also the Wiener Schnitzel or the Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Another delicious Japanese fried chicken that you might want to try is chicken karaage.

Ingredient Notes

• Chicken — the choice of chicken cuts is usually breast or thighs. We used thighs in the images because these chicken cuts are more flavoreful than the breast.
• Salt
• All-purpose flour
• Egg
• Panko Breadcrumbs — these make for a lighter fried breading experience than conventional breadcrumbs.
• Oil — vegetable oil or sunflower oil.

Chicken breast is more commonly available but boneless chicken thighs are more flavorful and turn out juicier. Breast meat dries out faster. Use whichever you prefer.

You will need a lot of oil because Japanese meat katsu cutlets are deep-fried.

Panko breadcrumbs are commonly available around the world in supermarkets. You can get them online too or in your neighborhood specialized Asian store.

Process Overview

This is an overview of how it's made from scratch. The full recipe with US and metric measurements and instructions is located further below in the recipe card.

Step 1

Pat dry chicken with a paper towel and season chicken on both sides with salt.

Step 2

Prepare two trays. One with scrambled egg and another with panko bread crumbs.

Step 3

Coat chicken on both sides with flour.

Dip chicken in egg and then coat with panko on both sides.

Step 4

Heat up a deep pan, wok, or deep fryer with oil. Wait for the oil to get hot.

Place chicken into hot oil and deep fry both sides golden.

Step 5

Cut fried chicken into strips and enjoy.

Storing

Keep the fried chicken in an airtight container, store it in your fridge, and use it up within a day or so.

I prefer to warm it up in the oven at a lower heat setting for about 10 minutes or so. That way, the katsu chicken is reheated gradually.

As with any fried chicken or breaded meat, you can choose to freeze it too by coating the chicken as instructed but skipping the cooking part.

Instead, you place the panko-coated chicken over a tray, and you keep that tray in the freezer until the meat is frozen hard.

Then you place the breaded chicken into a freezer-friendly container and store it in the freezer.

I recommend storing it for up to 2 weeks in your freezer at most.

To that, the chicken just keeps in the fridge to gradually defrost overnight. When the meat has thawed, you just need to fry it as per the recipe instructions.

Serving Ideas

Chicken katsu is cut into strips after the cooking process, when it's still hot but manageable. Katsu strips are added to bento boxes in Japan.

The panko fried chicken is usually served in Japan over rice, with shredded cabbage, vegetables, or with a miso soup. When the chicken is served over rice, it is called katsudon.

A napa cabbage salad or Japanese cabbage salad tastes great as a side dish with katsu chicken.

It's also commonly served with brown Japanese curry sauce, which is a curry based on a spiced curry roux. The UK loves chicken katsu curry!

Chicken Katsu is also commonplace in other countries, such as Australia and the US (especially Hawaii), where it can be served with a tonkatsu sauce.

You can also serve up chicken katsu with your ramen noodles or ramen noodle soup. Or how about katsu cutlets with your yakisoba stir-fried noodles?

Another delicious idea is to switch surimi for fried chicken strips to make an inside-out sushi roll like the California roll.

Or how about a Chicken Katsu Sandwich with a Japanese Pao bun?

FAQs