Chicken Katsudon - チキンカツ丼

Chicken katsudon served in a deep bowl with soft-set egg and savoury dashi sauce

5 from 1 vote

Chicken Katsudon - チキンカツ丼

Katsudon is on the top of my list when I'm in the game for a hearty, filling rice bowl. Japan's ingenious dish involves all manner of favourites in one bowl. Rice, of course but also crunchy/soggy chicken cutlets and soft, fragrant egg! Died and gone to heaven.

Prep Time10

Cook Time50

Total Time1

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Servings:

Calories: 1213kcal

Author: Lee

Ingredients

2 small chicken breasts (pounded into flat cutlets)
2 tbsp plain flour
1 egg
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
vegetable oil (enough for frying -about 2–3 cm / ¾–1 inch)
1 medium onion (halved and thinly sliced)
2 spring onions (finely sliced)
pickled ginger (for garnish)
Seaweed rice seasoning (for garnish)

Seasoning sauce

1 cup freshly boiled water
2 tsp Hondashi
2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsp sake
3 tsp sugar
2 tbsp mirin
4 eggs
1½ cups Japanese rice

Instructions

Cook your rice either in a pan or rice cooker and keep warm while you prepare everything.
Pound the chicken breasts into thin cutlets. Set up a breading station with flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs, then coat each cutlet in that order.
Whisk 1 cup of freshly boiled water with the hondashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar until dissolved.
Divide the sliced onion between two small frying pans and pour half of the seasoning sauce into each. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook over low heat until the onions are soft, around 10 minutes. Keep warm over a very low heat.
Meanwhile, heat a deep frying pan with around 2–3 cm / ¾–1 inch of oil and fry the chicken cutlets until golden on both sides and cooked through, then drain on paper towels.
Slice each fried cutlet into thick strips, keeping its original shape.
Divide the eggs between two bowls (two eggs per bowl) and beat lightly. Set aside.
Place a cutlet on top of the onions in each pan. Increase the heat to high, pour the beaten eggs over each cutlet, cover and steam for 1–2 minutes until the eggs are softly set.
Slide the chicken and egg over bowls of cooked rice. Garnish with pickled ginger, chopped spring onion and a sprinkle of furikake, then serve immediately.

Notes

Substitutions

Chicken katsudon is very flexible. You can swap the chicken for pork cutlets to make tonkatsudon, or use menchi katsu (minced meat cutlets). The same egg-and-dashi technique also works with thinly sliced beef or pork, or even fried salmon. Keep the sauce and method the same — only the protein changes.

Serving & Storage

Serve katsudon hot, straight from the pan over freshly steamed rice. Garnish simply with sliced spring onions, pickled ginger, seaweed flakes or furikake. Katsudon is best eaten immediately, but leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days and reheated gently. Freezing is not recommended.

Nutrition