Air Fryer Chicken Katsu Recipe

Air fryer Chicken Katsu thighs or breasts comes out fantastic in a Ninja Foodi or Cosori! Juicy and tender meat as crispy as our fried chicken cutlets but healthier with Panko breadcrumbs and sauce on top.

How to Make Chicken Katsu

This isn’t nearly as complicated as you might think. Once you have the breading read, some whisked egg and meat you just create an assembly line and get to coating! The machine will do the rest to get the texture you want but still maintain a tender bite on the inside.

The hoisin sauce on the top you can buy bottled to make things even easier. It brings a bit of sweetness to the dish, we use it on other things as well.

Air Fry Katsu Chicken Recipe

I find that with more delicate foods, Panko works a lot better. It isn’t quite as heavy feeling and gets a crisp texture on the outside that you just can’t get with regular breadcrumbs. If you don’t agree you could swap those out. For this one in particular though it wouldn’t resemble what you’d see in a restaurant if you did.

If you have made our air fryer chicken cutlets recipe you are familiar with how tender they turn out. This cut new to you? Not to worry, all it is is a thinned out air fryer chicken breast basically. You can do it yourself or buy it this way at your local grocery store.

Just create an assembly line of sorts to coat each piece. You get a few shallow bowls ready for some dipping and coating and you’ll be on your way. I like to preheat my machine for 5 minutes for the best results.

There are obviously slight variations when it comes to the seasonings in the coating itself but primarily it’s left simple. Just garlic salt, onion powder and pepper were used here. If you love Old Bay then go ahead and add 1 tsp of that too for an added bit of pop.

What is chicken katsu made of?

1. Defrosted or fresh pieces of chicken cutlets
   1. you could use thinly sliced pork cutlets this same way too if you wanted
2. Meat is coated with Panko bread crumbs
3. Olive oil spray for the basket and to brown the coating
4. Beaten egg
5. Hoisin sauce or tonkatsu sauce is the “magic” on this dish.

If you’ve never had this thick sweet goodness it is great on or in so many other dishes like our pressure cooker hoisin chicken. I do recommend that you do not overlap foods. If you just have a bit and want to make it all in one batch go on ahead. You’d just want to rotate and flip them halfway through the total cook time.

How to Cook Chicken Katsu in Air Fryer

• Pat chicken cutlets dry with paper towels. Beat egg in a bowl and in another bowl combine Panko with seasonings.
• Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees F for 5 minutes.
• One at a time dip each piece into egg, allow excess to drip off, then press down both sides in Japanese style Panko breadcrumbs mixture.
• Lay eggs and panko crusted pieces into sprayed basket without overlapping your pieces.
• Air fry for about 12 minutes until thickest part of chicken is cooked to 165 degrees F. If you are using thicker pieces it may take a few more minutes, thinner closer to 10 min. This is usually just right to still be tender and outsides golden brown.
• Serve with a drizzle of katsu sauce over the top and top with some diced green onions.
• When they are done I would let them sit for 5 minutes to maintain the juiciness.
• Serve immediately following that for best results. You could use a small ramekin with additional sauce on the side too.

If you wanted to make this same thing but in bite sizes you’d essentially make homemade chicken nuggets air fryer style with this coating and the timing would be closer to 8 min. total since they are smaller pieces.

Could you make this with frozen chicken?

Need a quicker meal than this? You could essentially follow our air fryer frozen chicken patties timing for a fast dinner and then whisk together this sauce. Drizzle over the sauce and voila!

Ninja Foodi Katsu Chicken

If you wanted to make air fried chicken katsu with homemade katsu sauce you could if you follow this recipe link here. I just buy it bottled online or at the store because I don’t find there to be a huge difference so I skip that step. It’s a mixture of a few different things like soy sauce, molasses and even some peanut butter!

I’m telling you, how to cook chicken in an air fryer is the bomb because of the terrific texture you get! We have made so many different things with this bird I tell you. There is not one part we haven’t cooked breaded or with no breading we haven’t loved.

You can read the detailed directions, ingredients, and print recipe below too. Of course we love “seeing you” so if you don’t have a book to keep these in just come back time and time again!! 😉 If this becomes one of your favorite meals use other cutlets the same way. Timing may vary slightly but beef and pork work fantastic as well.

If you do have leftovers, not to worry. Keep them in an airtight container or bag in the fridge. Reheat them in a preheated Cosori for about 2-3 minutes so it is crisp on the outsides again and tender.