One of my favorite recipes to make ever (entirely inspired by SeriousEats). I’m paraphrasing the step-by-step SeriousEats guide to making it because our friends Joy and Vincent are asking their wedding guests to include a recipe in their guestbook so they can make all their friends favorite recipes! So this is an abridged version for brevity.
Suggested Kitchen tools:
- Dutch oven or deep-enough-to-fry stainless steel skillet
- Instant-read thermometer
Ingredients:
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 4 to 5 ounces (110 to 140g) each
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (about 5 ounces; 140g)
- 3 large eggs, thoroughly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups Japanese-style panko bread crumbs (about 5 ounces; 140g)
- Vegetable, canola, or peanut oil, for frying
Steps:
- Cut your chicken thighs into cutlets 0.5-1 inch thick
- Salt and rest the chicken for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator (this is a ‘dry brine’). This will cause the chicken to retain moisture, helping the skin stick to the chicken while frying. This step is critical!
- After the dry brine, coat your cutlets in flour → egg → panko using three separate shallow bowls.
- Fill a large dutch oven or deep skillet with the vegetable/canola/peanut oil and heat until temperature reaches 350F (measured by an instant-read thermometer)
- Fry cutlets, rotating them every 1 1/2 minutes, continue cooking until frying to golden brown is complete, about 6-8 minutes total.
- Slice katsu into thin strips and serve immediately with shredded cabbage, lemon wedges, white rice, and tonkatsu sauce.
