Chicken Katsu (Japanese Chicken Cutlet) is a crispy, golden brown chicken cutlet that makes a great lunch or a weeknight dinner. It is a standard Japanese dish that is commonly served with rice, vegetables, and tonkatsu sauce for dinner. Make it ahead of time for meal prep and enjoy for a Japanese restaurant experience at home!
Tenderize the meat - Trim the fat off of the meat. Then, arrange a couple of chicken thighs in a flat layer inside of a gallon zip-top bag and remove as much air as possible. Use a meat tenderizer to gently pound until it is an even half-inch thickness. Remove the flattened chicken and set aside. Repeat until all of the chicken thighs are tenderized. Tenderizing the meat allows the pieces to cook evenly.
Season the meat - Place the chicken in a large bowl and season the meat with ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper.
Season the flour mixture - Place the flour in a shallow dish. Gently whisk in ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder, and togarashi.
Make the egg mixture - In a mixing bowl, add eggs and milk. Beat the eggs and milk mixture until homogeneous. You can also omit the milk and just use eggs.
Place the panko in a shallow dish.
Dredge the meat - Coat each piece of chicken with flour mixture and shake off excess flour. Then dip each piece in the egg mixture. Finally, coat both sides of each chicken piece in panko by pressing the chicken into the panko crumbs.
Fry chicken in oil - Heat 1 inch of oil in a large heavy skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place 2 or 3 pieces of chicken in the hot oil and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until the chicken is golden brown. Carefully remove crumbs from the oil with a mesh skimmer or spoon so they do not burn the oil after each batch is fried.
Cool chicken - Transfer the fried chicken to a wire cooling rack or a paper towel-lined plate.
Serve and enjoy - Serve the chicken immediately with tonkatsu sauce and lemon wedges (optional).
Notes
Top Tips
Be sure to tenderize the meat so the pieces to cook evenly.
Don't overcrowd the skillet so you have enough room to flip the chicken over.
Use a fish spatula to make it easier to pick up the chicken.
Storage
Store leftover chicken katsu in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also freeze chicken katsu in an airtight zip-top bag or container for up to 1 month.