• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Devour.Asia

Devour.Asia

Better Asian recipes for home cooks

  • Recipes
    • Cuisine
      • Chinese
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
      • Taiwanese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Malaysian
      • South Asian
      • Fusion
      • Street Food
    • Ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Rice & Grains
      • Noodles
      • Vegetables
      • Tofu
      • Mushrooms
      • Bread
      • Eggs
      • Fruits
    • Course
      • Breakfast
      • Snacks
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
      • Drinks
  • Kitchen
  • Stories
  • Cuisine
    • Chinese
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Thai
    • Taiwanese
    • Filipino
    • Indonesian
    • Malaysian
    • South Asian
    • Fusion
  • Main Ingredient
    • Poultry
    • Seafood
    • Meat
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
      • Noodle Soups
      • Noodles Stir Fry
      • Instant Noodles (Ramen)
    • Vegetables
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Bread
    • Eggs
    • Fruits
  • Course
    • Breakfast
    • Snacks
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Main Courses
    • Side Dishes
    • Sweets
    • Drinks
  • Street Food
  • Kitchen Tales
  • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
You are here: Home / All Recipes / Tonkatsu (Japanese Deep-fried Breaded Pork Cutlet)

Tonkatsu (Japanese Deep-fried Breaded Pork Cutlet)

Tonkatsu was my introduction to Japanese cuisine. Before I acquired the taste for raw fish, tonkatsu was the only thing I ordered at Japanese restaurants. 

Tonkatsu, rice and shredded cabbage on blue plate

Tonkatsu is deep-fried breaded pork cutlets. Seasoned pork is dredged in flour, dipped in beaten egg and coated in panko before going into a pan of hot oil. If the frying temperature is correct, the meat gets cooked through without drying at exactly the same time that the breading turns golden and crisp.

Cut and thickness of the pork

The cutlet can be fillet or loin but certainly not the Western pork chop cut with bone. I used to be partial to fillet cut from the shoulder because a little marbled fat makes tonkatsu more moist inside. These days, however, I prefer pork steaks.

Pork sprinkled with salt and pepper

The marbling is so much better and we get them pre-sliced to exactly half an inch thick. If you can’t get something similar, you can have the cutlets prepared by the butcher or you can get a slab of pork and cut it at home.

Once you have your pork cutlets, simply sprinkle both sides of each one with salt and pepper. Then, you have to give the meat enough time to soak up the flavors. Not long. If the cutlets are half an inch thick, thirty minutes should do it. If they are three-quarters of an inch thick, add another 15 minutes.

Breading the seasoned pork

You need three ingredients to create the crust for the pork. Flour, egg and panko. It’s really a bad idea to substitute ordinary bread crumbs for the panko. Bread crumbs are too fine and you won’t get the ideal texture for the crust. So, use panko.

Pork dredged in flour, dipped in egg and coated with panko

Dredge the pork in flour and make sure to shake off the excess. The floured pork is then dipped in egg then coated with panko. If you’re wondering why you need flour, egg and panko, here’s the thing. Without the flour, the egg will just drip off the meat. Without the egg, the panko will not stick to the meat. So, yes, you need flour, egg and panko.

Frying the panko-coated pork

Deep fry the pork. Frying the pork in just two inches of oil and flipping them was a mistake I used to make in the past. Don’t copy my mistake. Flipping loosens some of the panko which float on the oil and get burnt.

Deep frying tonkatsu

Deep frying means you don’t need to flip the pork over. If you feel that the crusts are not browning evenly, use a ladle to scoop hot oil and pour hot oil over the pork repeatedly. That way, if the tops are peeping above the surface of the oil, they will still brown correctly with no need to touch the pork.

Tonkatsu (Japanese Deep-fried Breaded Pork Cutlet)

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
Crispy outside and moist inside, and smothered with a thick sweet-salty sauce, tonkatsu is a good dish to introduce anyone to Japanese cuisine.
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Marinating time 30 mins
Total Time 50 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 4 people
Tonkatsu drizzled with sauce served with rice and shredded cabbage on the side
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

For the pork

  • 4 pork cutlets or use pork steaks like we do
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper

For the tonkatsu sauce

  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sake
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoons mirin
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon grated garlic
  • â…› teaspoon grated ginger

To fry the pork

  • ½ cup flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup panko you may need more
  • oil for deep frying

To serve

  • rice
  • shredded cabbage

Instructions
 

Season the pork

  • Lay the pork cutlets flat on the work surface. If the thickness is uneven, cover them with cling wrap and use a mallet to pound them until the thickness is uniform. You want them anywhere from half-inch to three-quarter-inch thick.
  • Sprinkle both sides of each cutlet with salt and pepper.
  • Cover and set aside for 30 minutes while you prep the rest of the components of the dish. This is the best time to cook your rice, shred your cabbage and mix your sauce.

Make the sauce

  • Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce.
  • Taste, adjust to suit your taste and set aside.

Fry the pork

  • Prepare three shallow bowls. Dump the flour in one, crack the egg into the second and pour the panko into the third.
  • Lightly beat the egg.
  • Start heating enough cooking oil in a frying pan to reach a depth of three inches (see notes after the recipe).
  • While you wait for the oil heat up, prepare the cutlets.
  • Dredge each pork cutlet in flour; shake off the excess.
  • Dip the floured cutlets in the beaten egg.
  • Roll the wet cutlets in panko.
  • Fry the pork cutlets, in batches if your frying pan cannot hold all four together, until golden brown and crisp on the outside.

Serve your tonkatsu

  • Cut the tonkatsu into strips and arrange on plates. Drizzle sauce over the meat or serve the sauce on the side.
  • Serve with rice and shredded cabbage on the side.

Notes

The oil shouldn’t be too hot to avoid burning the panko coating while leaving the innermost portion of the cutlet undercooked. The ideal temperature is around 160C (320F). You can use a thermometer or eyeball it.
Updated from a recipe originally published in my other blog on May 9, 2016
Keyword Pork
More Japanese cooking
Katsuobushi-topped okonomiyaki

Are Katsuobushi and Bonito Flakes the Same Thing?

Chicken Tonkatsu Onigirazu (Crispy Chicken and Rice Sandwich)

Chicken Katsu Onigirazu (Crispy Chicken and Rice Sandwich)

Crispy Fried Chicken with Furikake Recipe

Crispy Fried Chicken with Furikake

Published: July 23, 2021 • Last modified: February 28, 2022 ♥ All Recipes, Japanese, Main Courses, Meat
Further Reading
Chinese-style fried rice in white ramekin

How To Cook Chinese-style Fried Rice

Fried and skewered quail eggs. Tamsui Old Street, Taiwan

Quail Eggs in Asian Cuisines

Mandarin oranges

Symbolic Food for the Lunar New Year

Sidebar

Experience Asia

Thai cucumber salad garnished with peanuts and cilantro

Thai Cucumber Salad with Sweet and Tangy Chili Dressing

Japanese sakura rice bowls

Two Reasons to Go Back to Japan

Sam Veneracion making pottery. Bat Trang Village, Vietnam.

The Authentic Bat Trang Ceramic Village Tour and Pottery Class

Thai meatballs in curry sauce

Thai-style Meatballs in Coconut Curry Sauce

San Francisco-style garlic noodles in dark blue Japanese shallow bowl

Garlic Noodles

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Archive

Inspiration

“A full belly conquers all.”

From the film Saving Face
Popular Posts
  • A Guide To Ramen Broth: Shio, Shoyu, Miso and Tonkotsu
  • 3 Soy Sauce Braised Pork Belly
  • Steamed Pompano With Ginger Sauce
  • Tofu in Oyster Sauce
  • Slow Cooker Chinese-style Beef Tendon
Not So Fine Print

Devour Asia does NOT work with “brands”.

Devour Asia does NOT accept guest posts.

Devour Asia does NOT outsource recipe development, writing, photography and videography.

Except for the occasional stock photo and blockquote, everything © Devour Asia. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.