Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Tonkatsu
A thick pork cutlet in a shatteringly crisp panko crust, sliced and served with shredded cabbage and tangy sauce.
Japanese · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 15 min
~367 cal · 14g protein · 66g carbs · 5g fat · 9g fiber · 11g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Tonkatsu, a breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet, is one of Japan's best-loved fried dishes, a yoshoku dish that adapted a European cutlet into something entirely Japanese in the early 20th century. It anchors countless lunch sets across the country.
The magic is in the coating: airy panko breadcrumbs that fry into an exceptionally light, crunchy crust around juicy pork. It is always sliced into strips for easy eating with chopsticks and served with a mountain of finely shredded raw cabbage and a pool of thick, fruity-sour tonkatsu sauce, with rice and soup alongside.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
4 pork loin cutlets
1/2 cup flour, for dredging
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
4 cups cabbage, finely shredded
to serve tonkatsu sauce
for frying oil, for frying
Instructions
1
Snip the fat edge of each cutlet so it stays flat, and season with salt and pepper.
✎ Chef’s note
Cut a few nicks through the band of fat around the edge. It keeps the cutlet from curling up as it fries.
2
Dredge each in flour, then egg, then press firmly into panko for a thick coat.
3
Deep-fry at a steady medium-high heat until deep golden and cooked through, about 6 minutes.
4
Rest, then slice into strips and serve on a bed of shredded cabbage with tonkatsu sauce and rice.
Japanese yoshoku tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tokyo (Kanto). Oyakodon, the parent and child bowl of chicken and egg over rice, is credited to Toku, wife of the fifth-generation owner of Tamahide in Nihonbashi, in 1891. The name is a joke about the ingredients that everyone in Japan gets immediately and almost nobody outside it does.
🗺️
Japan. Japanese cuisine (washoku) is a UNESCO-recognized art of seasonality, precision, and restraint, from sushi and ramen to simmered one-pots and delicate kaiseki. Dashi stock, soy, miso, and rice form its backbone, and presentation is considered part of the flavor.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Japan
Osaka-Style OkonomiyakiA crisp-edged cabbage pancake griddled with pork belly, painted with sweet-savory sauce and mayo.
Goya ChampuruOkinawa’s signature stir-fry of bitter melon, firm tofu, pork, and egg, humble food from the island of long life.
Sapporo Miso RamenSnow-country ramen: a rich miso broth with wok-seared vegetables, springy noodles, and butter melting on top.
Browse all Japan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Deep pot for frying.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Japan meal
AmazakeDrink
DorayakiDessert
OyakodonDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Tonkatsu?
A thick pork cutlet in a shatteringly crisp panko crust, sliced and served with shredded cabbage and tangy sauce.
Where does Tonkatsu come from?
Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish from Tokyo (Kanto), Japan.
Can Tonkatsu be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Tonkatsu recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Tonkatsu safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Tonkatsu take to make?
About 35 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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