Menchi Katsu (メンチカツ – Ground Meat Cutlet）

Menchi katsu is traditional Japanese food and it is also a Yoshoku (western style Japanese food). It’s a patty of ground beef and pork covered with panko and deep-fried, so the inside is juicy and the outside is crispy. We eat this by itself or with soy sauce or katsu sauce, and since it is fried dish, we also eat it with a lot of vegetables.

I sometimes forget some of my favorite foods because I have so many of them! Recently, I had Menchi Katsu, some call ground beef katsu, and I remembered how much I love this food. You probably have heard of Tonkatsu before (I introduced my Tonkatsu recipe in this blog too), and Menchi Katsu uses the same cooking process. The difference is Menchi Katsu has ground beef and ground pork and onion inside of the golden crispy skin.

My mom makes homemade Menchi Katsu whenever she has time, but we also order it at a local Menchi Katsu store which we’ve gone to for decades. So today I introduce my Menchi Katsu recipe from my mom and inspired by the store.

 What is Menchi Katsu?

Menchi Katsu is made from ground beef and ground pork with diced onions covered with panko then deep fried. The outside is golden brown and crispy, and the inside is juicy and warm. This is categorized as a Yoshoku, western-style Japanese food, which is a famous style of food in Japan. I am one of the many people who love western style food.

Menchi Katsu is also said covering version of Hambagu. So the process is similar to the Hambagu and then cover with panko and fry.

But why no needed egg when making Menchi Katsu?

Classic Hambagu recipe uses eggs when making patties. If Menchi katsu is just covering and frying version of Hambagu, then why there are so many Menchi Katsu recipes don’t use egg for patties?

Hamburg inevitably lose its juices when grilled. But if you use egg, it ties Hambagu patties so juices doesn’t go away. Menchi Katsu is covered with flour and panko, It hold juiciness so it doesn’t go away. So if you add egg to Menchi Katsu patties, It could hold Juiciness, but more likely the patties get hard and lose juiciness instead.

So it depends on recipes, but In my opinion, no adding egg for Menchi Katsu is good.

How do you eat Menchi Katsu?

You can eat Menchi Katsu by itself. It fills you up and is great as a snack. But this is a deep fried food, so I recommend you don’t eat too much and when you do, you should add some vegetables on the side.

Also, if you want to add some extra flavor you can add katsu sauce, mayonnaise, or soy sauce. This totally depends on what people prefer. I personally love to eat it with katsu sauce.

Super tasty so you have hard time stop eating!

The tips to make the best Menchi Katsu

I will share my Menchi Katsu recipe below but I want to share 2 tips to make the best Menchi Katsu.

1. Use fresh onion
2. Freeze patties before covering
3. The order for covering is flour-egg-panko

My tips are simple, but to make the best Menchi katsu, these points are so important!

Some similar dish as Menchi Katsu

I also recommend the dish that are so similar to Menchi katsu!

• Mille-feuille Katsu
• Chicken Katsu
• Tonkatsu
• Cheesy Pumpkin Croquette
• Korokke

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Menchi Katsu

Yuka

Menchi katsu is traditional Japanese food and it is also a Yoshoku (western style Japanese food). It's a patty of ground beef and ground pork covered with panko and deep-fried, so the inside is juicy and the outside is crispy. We eat this by itself or with soy sauce or katsu sauce, and since it is fried dish, we also eat it with a lot of vegetables.

5 from 4 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4 menchi katsu

Calories 467.95 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 120 g ground pork
• ▢ 180 g ground beef
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 100 g large onion Please prepare fresh onion!
• ▢ 1 large egg(s)
• ▢ 2 Tablespoon water
• ▢ 2 Tablespoon panko Any panko is fine.
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢ 1/2 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon bouillon
• ▢ 2 cup neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc) to deep-fry

For covering

• ▢ 1 large egg(s)
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour or add as much as you need
• ▢ 1/2 cup Japanese panko I recommend using rough and large panko than nomal. Here is the panko I used for covering Menchi Katsu. Add as much as you need

Topping (option)

• ▢ tonkatsu sauce HERE to buy
• ▢ soy sauce HERE to buy

Instructions

 

• Mince the onion into 0.2 inch chunks.*1
• Use a small microwave safe bowl and add the minced onion. Wrap it and microwave for 90 seconds. Then, open the wrap and cool it down completely.
• After the onion is cooled down, In a medium bowl, add ground pork, ground beef and salt. Then, kneel until you get a little stickiness.
• In the bowl, add microwaved onion, large egg(s), water, panko, black pepper, nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce, and bouillon. Then mix well but do not kneed too much.
• After mixed, grab some of the mixture and toss a couple times to remove some air.
• Divide the mixture into 4. *2
• This mixture is loose but make a circle shape and while making circle, toss in order to release air inside the ball.
• Dip the patties into flour first and dust with extra flour.
• Prepare a medium bowl, and add egg(s). Mix well. Then dip in the egg mixture bowl and brush off any excess.
• Then, cover them in Japanese panko.
• Heat the oil to 320-340°F (160-170°c). When the oil hits this point, gently put two in. Cook two at a time otherwise the oil's heat drops dramatically. Fry for 4 minutes each side.
• Move to a wire rack to drain excess oil. (Or paper towel)

Let's eat!

• Let's serve! It is super juicy and crispy. I recommend you eat when it's still warm!

Notes

*1 If you like small onions, then you can cut into smaller pieces, but menchi katsu usually taste onion when you bite, so it can be a bigger sized.

*2 if the mixture is too loose, put the mixture to your fridge for 20 minutes. This ingredients and recipe should be fine not to put fridge, but sometimes the onion include too much water or something, the mixture can be softer and loosen.

Nutrition

Calories: 467.95kcal | Carbohydrates: 13.05g | Protein: 15.97g | Fat: 39.56g | Sodium: 416.66mg | Fiber: 0.87g | Sugar: 3.18g

Author Yuka

Keyword beef, deep-fry

Course Main Course

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