Menchi katsu is traditional Japanese food and it is also a Yoshoku (western style Japanese food). It’s a patty of ground beef 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 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 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.
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.
- The order for covering is flour-egg-panko
- Toss the each patties from one hand to the other 8-10 times
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!
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Menchi Katsu
Ingredients
- 300 g ground beef and pork mixture
- 70 g large onion
- 1 egg 1/2 for mixture, and 1/2 for covering
- 3 Tablespoon panko for mixture
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 Tablespoon cake flour
- 1/2 cup panko for covering
- 2 cup neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc) to fry
Topping (option)
- tonkatsu sauce HERE to buy
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Mince the onion into 0.2 inch chunks. Doesn't need to be minced too small.
- Use a small microwave safe bowl and add the minced onion. Wrap it and microwave for 3 minutes.
- In a small-medium bowl, beat an egg.
- In another medium bowl, add ground beef and pork, microwaved onion, panko, salt, black pepper, and half a beaten egg. Then knead well.
- Divide the mixture into 4.
- Toss it from one hand to the other 8-10 times in order to get rid of the air inside the meat. It is soft so do not toss too hard.
- Shape the patties 0.8 inch (2cm) thick and make a dent in the middle of the patties.
- Dip the patties into flour first and dust with extra flour.
- Then dip in the egg mixture bowl and brush off any excess.
- Then, cover them in panko.
- Heat the oil to 340 F° (171 c°). When the oil hits this point, gently put one in. Cook one at a time otherwise the oil's heat drops dramatically. Fry for 7 minutes.
- Let's serve! It is super juicy and crispy. I recommend you eat when it's still warm!
What should I do the leftover oil? Let me know.
Thank you so much for commenting about that! Here is the way for leftover oil.
In Japan, there are a lot of chances to use oil in our meals, so we keep cooking oil in a container with a strainer. Using this, you can reuse oil for deep frying 2-3 times! If you search ‘Oil Container with Strainer’ on Amazon, it will show up!
If you toss the oil, there are 3 ways that I can introduce (recommend).
1. Prepare a bag (Ziplock or plastic bag) and drain the oil into the bag. Close tightly so that it won’t leak.
2. Use a paper towel or news paper to absorb the oil.
3. Add katakuriko to solidified oil.
Do one of them above. Then,
Throw away with other garbage 🙂
Please drain oil to the sink. It will be the reason to clog and bad for environment. I hope this answer helps you!
I was worried how sticky and soft before deep-frying. But It went so well! Juicy juicy
I understand how much you got worried when making the patties haha But I am glad you made it successfully!
We enjoyed. Always surprise us how amazing Japanese foods are. Next Korokke!
Thank you! Japanese food is amazing 🙂 Let me know how it goes with korokke as well!
Love your recipe! I have been using your recipes for a couple of months so far. My husband found your gyudon recipe and that was amazing. We tried this recipe recently. I didn’t know this meal but oh my god it was good!
Thank you for the sweet comment! I am so happy you enjoy what I love. I will keep sharing my recipes, so please give me feed back when you try other recipes:)
I made this after making Karaage in this blog. Amazing recipes.
Thank you! I am so glad you are happy using my recipes 🙂