Crispy and juicy Japanese pork cutlet, Tonkatsu, is definitely one of the most popular Japanese foods! This Tonkatsu recipe is so simple and easy and you can actually make the best Tonkatsu at home. I am sure everyone will love this food.

We love Tonkatsu!

There are also Tonkatsu fast food restaurants in Japan and it is absolutely delicious.

With this recipe, you can make it at home without having to go to the restaurant!

What is Tonkatsu? (meaning)

Ton means pork and katsu means Cutlets in English. Tonkatsu is pork coated with panko crumbs and deep-fried, and it is so crispy outside and juicy inside. In this article, I will introduce just easy basic Tonkatsu recipe, but there are other dishes that use Tonkatsu such as Katsu curry, Katsu don, and Katsu sand(sandwich).

There are so many Tonkatsu chain restaurants in Japan. If you have happen to go to one of the Tonkatsu restaurants in Japan, you will probably think “That was really delicious. I wish I had this restaurant in my country”, but you can actually make it with easy steps at home!!

Because of the amount of oil used when deep-frying, you might worry about your health. I don’t recommend eating Tonkatsu very often but when you eat please enjoy how delicious it is. I also recommend you eat Tonkatsu with a lot of vegetables! Because Tonkatsu is so tasty, you might want to eat more vegetables than you usually eat.

Important ingredients for Tonkatsu

There are two important ingredients when you eat Tonkatsu.

Tonkatsu sauce
Shredded Cabbage

I can say there are so many times you are served Tonkastu with Tonkatsu sauce and Shredded cabbage. This style is so classic and when you cook, you should have those two!

You can buy Tonkatsu sauce at Asian grocery stores or on Amazon.

3 Tips to make the best Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is so easy and you can make it with simple steps. I will share 3 tips that you can use to make the best Tonkatsu that is the same as what you can eat at Tonkatsu restaurants in Japan.

Tip 1 : Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil

You want to put 1 tbsp vegetable oil into the bowl that has beaten eggs. By adding a little oil, it creates a film on the surface around the pork which ensures the delicious taste.

Tip 2 : Dip in flour – egg – flour – egg

This step is so important! Usually when deep frying you dip flour first, then egg, then panko. But to make the best Tonkatsu, you should dip flour – egg – flour – egg – Panko to make it the best!

If you do this, your Tonkatsu will become so crispy and juicier than usual.

Tip3 : Low temp oil to high temp oil(Double fry)

Double frying is also super important! Because Tonkatsu meat (pork) is usually thick, if you add it into really hot oil, it will brown the outside but stay raw inside. However, if you deep fry it in low heat then fry again in high heat, the outside of the Tonkatsu will be nicely browned and the inside will be cooked perfectly.

I will explain this later in the recipe but you want to fry with low heat (160-170 degree celsius (320-338 F)) and then high heat (180 or 190 degree celsius (356-374 F)). This is the key!

What to do with the used oil after deep-frying

To make Tonkatsu, we have to deal with cleaning up cooking oil. You never should pour it down the sink. It is not good for environment and it will be solid and possibly cause plumbing problems.

There are three ways to deal with oil.

Waste oil hardener
Oil Container (If you wanna keep it)
Use Ziploc to throw away

If you don’t mind, you can use the oil 2-3 more times. So it is actually really good to have an oil container. When you have to throw oil away, you can either use waste oil hardener or a Ziploc bag to seal and throw away the oil!