Chicken Katsu Curry

Golden panko-crumbed chicken breast sliced over rice and smothered in a smooth, lightly sweet katsu curry sauce. It tastes like the high-street favourite but is easy to make at home.

Katsu curry has become one of the UK’s favourite takeaways, and the homemade version is genuinely better — crispier chicken, a sauce you can tweak to your taste, and a fraction of the cost. The sauce is very forgiving and freezes brilliantly, so it’s worth making a double batch while you’re at it.

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 50g plain flour
• 2 eggs — beaten
• 100g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 onion — finely chopped
• 1 carrot — finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic — crushed
• 1½ tbsp mild curry powder
• 1 tbsp plain flour — for the sauce
• 500ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• oil, for frying, and rice to serve

Method

1. First make the sauce: soften the onion and carrot in a little oil for 8–10 minutes, add the garlic and curry powder and cook 1 minute, then stir in the flour.
2. Gradually add the stock, then the honey and soy. Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened, then blend until smooth for the classic silky katsu sauce.
3. Meanwhile, flatten the chicken breasts slightly. Coat each in flour, then beaten egg, then panko, pressing to stick.
4. Shallow-fry in oil over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes each side until deep golden and cooked through (75°C, no pink), then rest on kitchen paper. Or bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes.
5. Slice the crispy chicken and serve over rice with the hot katsu sauce poured alongside.

Serve it with

• Steamed white or sticky rice
• A crunchy shredded cabbage salad
• Pickled ginger or pickled onions
• Steamed tenderstem broccoli

Why this works

Blending the sauce is the secret to that smooth, glossy katsu texture, while panko breadcrumbs — lighter and coarser than ordinary crumbs — give a much crispier coating that stays crunchy under the sauce.

Common swaps

• Use chicken thighs, or firm tofu slices for a vegetarian katsu.
• Add a little garam masala or a squirt of ketchup to the sauce for depth.
• Air-fry the crumbed chicken at 190°C for about 12–15 minutes for less oil.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Skipping the blend — an unblended sauce is fine but lacks that signature smoothness.
• Frying too hot, so the crumb burns before the chicken is cooked.
• Not pressing the panko on firmly, so the coating falls off.

Storage, freezing & reheating

Storage: Store the sauce and chicken separately in the fridge for up to 2 days; the crumb softens once sauced.

Freezing: The sauce freezes well for up to 3 months. Crumbed chicken is best cooked fresh.

Reheating: Reheat the sauce in a pan until piping hot; crisp the chicken in a hot oven or air fryer rather than the microwave.

Allergen notes: contains gluten, egg, soya. Always check individual product labels.

Estimated nutrition

Per serving, estimated from typical ingredient values — not a substitute for precise dietary calculation.