Crispy & Hearty Chicken Tonkatsu
Out of all the dishes that I set out to make in this series, this one scared me the most. It’s a bit more technical than the rest of the dishes in this series, but it’s completely worth it. You can expect crispy and moist breaded chicken paired with a sauce that has a subtle kick to it.
Background
Chicken katsu originated in Japan, and was brought to Hawaii in the 1880s when the first plantation workers came to the islands. It’s enjoyed in both Japan and Hawaii, with the pork version being equally popular.
Compared to traditional chicken katsu, this recipe uses mayonnaise instead of eggs to bind the panko (breadcrumbs) to the chicken. This is done to give the dish a more full-bodied flavor that eggs alone can’t provide. Also, this dish is cooked in an oven instead of being fried in oil to make it taste cleaner and less greasy.
Ingredients
Equipment:
Oven with a broil setting
Oven pan
Aluminum foil
Gloves (optional but recommended)
Chicken:
1 bag of frozen chicken tenders
Mayonaise
Salt
Pepper
Medium-sided bag of panko
Sauce:
1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1/2 tsp water
~3tsp Worcestershire (3x the amount of mustard and water combined)
Lots of ketchup
*Apologies for not providing solid numbers for most of the ingredients. Things like the mayonnaise and ketchup need to be eyeballed, but this results in a recipe that scales very well.
Preparation
Put the bag of chicken in the fridge to defrost it one day beforehand. It makes life much easier. I also recommend wearing gloves when making the chicken. Makes touching raw chicken and mayonnaise a little less gross.
Making the Sauce
Since cooking the chicken is going to require lots of attention, I recommend preparing the sauce before the chicken. Mix the powdered mustard and water into a paste, trying your best to smooth out the clumps. Add about three times that amount in Worcestershire, then add ketchup until the sauce thickens up. It should be almost as thick as ketchup when done.
Be sure to taste it afterwards, it should have a nice kick to it.
Cooking the Chicken
First, cover the oven pan in crumpled aluminum foil. It’s crumpled to help provide better airflow to cook the bottom of the chicken at a more even rate.
Open the bag of chicken and strain out all the chicken juices. Feel free to take them out by hand or get creative. I used a rice washer — it seemed to work out pretty well.
Lie the chicken out on a cutting board and pat them dry with a paper towel. This helps the mayonnaise stick better. Set up two bowls — one for the chicken and mayonnaise and another filled with panko.
Put the chicken tenders into a bowl. Add just enough mayonnaise to cover the chicken in a thin coat, stirring with your hands to distribute evenly. Add a little bit of salt and pepper now too. Once finished, coat the pieces of chicken one-by-one in the panko bowl. Lay them out on the oven pan when finished.
Position the oven rack second from the top — we want it pretty close to the heating element. Stick the pan of chicken on the rack, set to broil and get a pair of tongs. Crack the oven door open to monitor the brown-ness. At this point, it’s very easy to burn the chicken so pay close attention and watch for smoke. Flip over when browned. Don’t worry about having to flip multiple times either.
If you want to be fancy, cut the finished product into strips. It pairs well with onigiri and a salad. They’re also great when served whole and stabbed with a fork.
That’s it! I’m going be making Poke (seasoned diced raw fish, like sushi) next week, so be sure to stop by if that sounds good. Thanks for reading!
