This chicken katsu curry recipe is totally addictive! Delicious strips of bread crumbed chicken with a slightly sweet katsu curry sauce. It's a great alternative to a takeaway!
I make a lot of curries, it's true. You can find all kinds of Indian curries here on Searching for Spice but this Chicken katsu curry recipe is my only Japanese curry. It also happens to be my favourite Japanese recipe.
To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of Japanese food. However, if all Japanese food was as tasty as this chicken katsu curry recipe, I would definitely change my mind.
What is a katsu curry?
A katsu curry is a traditional Japanese curry. The meat is coated in breadcrumbs and then fried, usually deep fried and then served with rice and the katsu curry sauce.
A Japanese curry recipe is quite different from a typical Indian curry recipe. Flour and spices are used to make a roux which then thickens the sauce as it simmers. You don't need a wide range of spices to make it either, just a good curry powder.
When I first tried a katsu curry it reminded me of the curry sauce I had when I was growing up from our local fish and chip shop!
Is a chicken katsu curry healthy?
I love to make my recipes as healthy as I can and this curry sauce is a healthy sauce. It contains carrots, onions and garlic. The katsu curry sauce tastes quite sweet because of the honey and the carrots. However, I find this recipe a little less sweet than the katsu curries I've eaten in restaurants. If you love sweeter curry sauce it is easy to adapt by adding a little extra honey.
The chicken is not the healthiest as it is fried. I use about 1 cm of oil in the pan so that the breadcrumbs turn really crispy.
Do you have to fry the chicken katsu pieces?
To make the breaded chicken healthier then you can bake the chicken instead. Spray the pieces of breaded chicken with a little oil before baking them in the oven at 200C for 15 minutes.
Alternatively, if you have an air fryer then it's also a great way of making crispy breaded chicken pieces. I use the Tefal Actifry.
Can you adapt this Katsu Curry Recipe?
I wouldn't adapt the sauce but you can vary the meat. How about making a pork katsu curry? You can also use vegetables instead of chicken. I've often used the same katsu curry sauce but served with this vegetable tempura. I've also adapted this recipe and made a tofu katsu curry with a very similar sauce.
Can you batch cook this recipe?
I often cook a large batch of the curry sauce as it freezes well and it's a great recipe to have in the freezer for leftover days! Even if you don't make the bread crumbed chicken or tempura vegetables again, it's great with plain grilled chicken too.
If you have leftover chicken you can keep it in the fridge and then reheat it in the oven. Don't microwave it or it will go soggy! It's generally not quite as nice reheated though as it tends to go a little dry.
As I often prepare dinner for the children at 5 o'clock and then for my husband and I later in the evening I often prepare the breaded chicken pieces in advance. They can be kept in the fridge for up to 24 hours. I cook some of them for the children and then cook the rest later.
The sauce is easy to reheat either in a saucepan or in the microwave.
More curry Recipes
I love curries and this is just one of the curries here on Searching for Spice. I've got a range of lamb, chicken and vegetarian recipes so do check out my easy homemade curries from scratch recipe collection!
You will probably especially like my Chinese chicken curry.
The recipe for this katsu curry is below, adapted from a curry recipe by Gizzi Erskine.
Recipe
Chicken Katsu Curry
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts cut into strips
- 1 egg
- 100 g flour seasoned with a little salt and pepper
- 200 g panko breadcrumbs
Curry Sauce Ingredients
- 1 onion finely diced
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 carrots finely diced
- 1 tablespoon hot curry powder
- 2 tablespoon plain flour
- 600 ml chicken stock
- 2 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
Instructions
- Make the sauce first. Heat a little oil in a saucepan. Add the onion, carrot and crushed garlic. Stir then leave to sweat for about 10 minutes. Stir every so often to prevent it sticking and burning.
- Add the flour and curry powder. Stir and cook for a minute then add the chicken stock, slowly and stirring to avoid getting lumps in it.
- Add the honey, soy sauce and bay leaf. Bring it to the boil then leave to simmer for about 20 minutes. When it has thickened slightly add the garam masala. Pour the sauce through a sieve, push with a spoon to get as much through as possible. Keep warm until ready to serve.
- Heat some oil in a frying pan to cook the chicken. Put the egg, flour and breadcrumbs in three bowls. Dip the chicken in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs and finally put in the frying pan. It should take about 5 minutes on each side.
- Serve with rice and the katsu curry sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin for later!
Monika Dabrowski
Love an easy curry, and the crispy chicken sounds so nice with the sweet and spiced curry sauce. I couldn't pin the recipe using your pin button at the top but the pin button on the pin itself worked. Flipped too!
Corina Blum
Thanks Monika! I keep trying to sort that out and then finding it doesn't work again.
Cat | Curly's Cooking
I love Katsu Curry but have never made it myself. I'm going to Japan next month and I can tell I'll have withdrawal symptoms when I come home so this is definitely going on my to make list!
Corina Blum
Oh I hope you have a fantastic time in Japan. I would love to go there one day!