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Chicken Katsu Curry, Japanese Home Style
Crisp panko chicken over short-grain rice with a rich Golden Curry sauce, carrot and potato
Japanese home-style katsu curry: juicy chicken thigh in a shattering panko crust, with a glossy curry sauce made from onion, carrot, potato and Golden Curry roux. About 50 minutes, with every ingredient costed for Australian kitchens.
Ingredients for 4
Curry sauce
-
1 tbsp
neutral oil
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1 large (200 g)
brown onionsliced
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1 (150 g)
carrotcut into bite-size chunks
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1 large (250 g)
potatocut into bite-size chunks
- 700 ml water
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110 g (half a 220 g box)
Japanese curry rouxGolden Curry medium hot or mild
Chicken katsu
-
600 g
chicken thigh fillets4 pieces
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp white or black pepper
-
50 g (⅓ cup)
plain flour
-
2
eggsbeaten
-
100 g (2 cups)
panko breadcrumbs
- about 500 ml neutral oilfor shallow-frying
To serve
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300 g (1½ cups) uncooked
Japanese short-grain ricecooked
-
150 g
cabbagevery finely shredded
Australian tablespoons are 20 ml. Weights are given for the ingredients where it matters.
Method
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Step 1Prep everything
Slice the onion and cut the carrot and potato into bite-size chunks. Put the chicken between baking paper and pound it to an even 1.5 cm thickness. Season with salt and pepper. Start the rice.
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Step 2Soften the onion
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft and golden at the edges. Add the carrot and potato and stir for 1 minute.
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Step 3Simmer the vegetables
Add the water, bring to the boil and skim off any foam. Cover and simmer for 12–15 minutes, until the potato is tender.
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Step 4Melt in the curry roux
Take the pot off the heat. Break in the curry blocks and stir until they dissolve. Return to low heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring, until thick and glossy.
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Step 5Crumb the chicken
Coat each piece in flour, dip in the beaten egg, then press firmly into the panko on both sides. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
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Step 6Fry until golden
Heat 1.5 cm of oil in a frying pan to 170 °C. Fry the chicken for 4–5 minutes on each side, until deep golden and cooked through (74 °C inside). Rest on a wire rack for 3 minutes.
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Step 7Slice the katsu
Cut each piece into 2 cm strips with one firm stroke of a sharp knife, so the crust stays on.
-
Step 8Plate and serve
Put rice on one side of each plate and spoon the curry beside it. Lay the sliced katsu on top, add a pile of shredded cabbage, and serve hot.
Watch it in 45 seconds
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Get the appWhy this version works
- Thigh, flattened to an even thickness. It cooks evenly in the time the crust takes to go golden, and stays juicy.
- Flour, egg, then press the panko on firmly and let it sit 5 minutes. The crumbs stick and do not fall off in the pan.
- Rest the katsu on a rack, not on paper. Steam escapes underneath, so the bottom stays crunchy.
- Take the pot off the heat before the roux goes in. The blocks melt smoothly with no lumps; then simmer a few minutes to thicken and turn glossy.
- Sauce beside the katsu, not all over it. That is how Japanese curry houses keep the crust crisp to the last bite.
- Golden Curry medium hot is the classic supermarket roux in Japan. Use mild for kids, or extra hot if you like heat.
Swaps and variations
- Pork katsu curry (tonkatsu): use 4 pork loin steaks about 1.5 cm thick. Snip the fat edge in a few places so they stay flat, then crumb and fry the same way, 1 to 2 minutes longer.
- Milder for kids: use Golden Curry mild, or half mild and half medium hot. A little grated apple stirred into the sauce makes it rounder and sweeter.
- Air fryer: spray the crumbed chicken well with oil and cook at 200°C for 12 to 14 minutes, turning once. The crust is lighter and a little less crunchy.
- Make ahead: the curry sauce keeps for 3 days in the fridge and tastes even better the next day. Fry the katsu just before serving.
Nutrition per serve
| Per serve (1/4 of recipe) | About |
|---|---|
| Energy | 3649 kJ (872 kcal) |
| Protein | 45.5 g |
| Fat, total | 33.4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 104.7 g |
| sugars | 9.5 g |
| Sodium | 1699 mg |
Calculated by Umall from the ingredient weights, using the Australian Food Composition Database (FSANZ) and the S&B Golden Curry label. Rice (75 g uncooked per serve) is part of the dish and is counted; without it a serve is about 617 kcal (2,583 kJ). Frying oil is counted as 40 g absorbed. Values are estimates and vary with the brands you use. Energy bands are a guide to portion size, not a health claim.
Questions about Chicken Katsu Curry
Where can I buy Japanese curry roux and panko in Sydney?
Some supermarkets carry one curry roux, but Golden Curry in mild, medium hot and extra hot, Japanese panko and short-grain rice are easiest to find together at an Asian grocer. Umall, the online Asian grocer behind the AGO (Asian Grocer Online) app, stocks all 7 ingredients for this recipe and delivers same-day or next-day across Sydney Metro, and on set days to Wollongong and Canberra.
- brown onion sold out right now, try Purple Onions 1kg
- carrot
- potato sold out right now, try Red Potatoes 1kg
- Japanese curry roux
- chicken thigh fillets
- panko breadcrumbs
- cabbage
Or tap Buy all to add everything in one go, in quantities matched to pack sizes.
Can I make chicken katsu in an air fryer?
Yes. Spray the crumbed chicken well with oil and air-fry at 200 °C for 12 to 14 minutes, turning halfway, until golden and 74 °C inside. The crust is a little less crunchy than shallow-fried, and it saves about 80 kcal per serve.
Can I use chicken breast instead of thigh?
Yes. Butterfly the breast and pound it to an even 1.5 cm so it cooks through before the crumb browns. Breast is leaner but dries out faster, so take it off the heat as soon as it reaches 74 °C.
Is Japanese curry spicy?
Not very. Golden Curry medium hot is gentle compared with Indian or Thai curries. Use the mild box for children, or extra hot if you like heat.
How many calories are in chicken katsu curry?
This recipe has about 870 kcal (3,650 kJ) per serve including the rice, and serves 4. The katsu and curry sauce alone are about 615 kcal.
Sources and credit
Method adapted by the Umall recipe team from Namiko Chen's chicken katsu (Just One Cookbook) and S&B Foods' Golden Curry method, cross-checked against Delish Kitchen's chicken katsu curry, Masako Kawano's NHK chicken katsu and other Japanese home-cooking sources (listed below). Quantities are our own, scaled for Australian kitchens and Umall products.
