Air fryer chicken katsu
Crunchy golden panko cutlets with a tangy katsu sauce, sticky rice and a pile of crisp cabbage, like your favorite Japanese lunch spot.
- 45 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $2.92 a serving
- 820 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup sushi rice, rinsed
- ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¾ lb chicken breasts
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups coleslaw mix
- ½ lemon, cut into wedges (optional)
From your pantry
- 1¼ cups water
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
Each serving has about 820 calories, 52 g protein, 115 g carbs and 15 g fat, and costs about $2.92 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No coleslaw mix? Green cabbage or red cabbage works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice and water in a small and bring it over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
once, cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
the air fryer to 380°F. Toast the panko with the oil in a over medium heat for 3 minutes, , until light , then tip it onto a plate.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Dolly’s tip: Air fryers barely brown panko on their own. Toasting it first gives you that real katsu color.the chicken through the middle, parallel to the board, into thin cutlets, with the salt and pepper, and wash your hands and board.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Put the flour on one plate and beat the egg in a shallow bowl. Coat each cutlet in flour, then egg, then press it firmly into the toasted panko.
Air fry the cutlets in one layer for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping halfway, until the thickest part reads 165°F.
Timer: 11 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
the ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce and sugar together for the katsu sauce.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
the katsu into strips and serve with the rice, a big pile of cabbage, the sauce over and lemon wedges.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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