Air Fryer Chicken Katsu Recipe

Air fryer Chicken Katsu comes out fantastic! Juicy and tender meat on the inside with a crunchy crispy breading 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.

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 chicken breast basically. You can do it yourself or buy it this way at your local grocery store.

Then get your shallow bowls ready for some dipping and coating and you’ll be on your way. I like to preheat my machine for 5 minutes but that doesn’t always happen.

What is chicken katsu made of?

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 have another favorite flavor like Old Bay then go ahead and add 1 tsp of that too.

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 hoisin chicken recipe.

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.

Chicken Katsu 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.
  • for bite size homemade chicken nuggets air fryer style timing would be closer to 8 min. total
• 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 air fryer chicken katsu with homemade katsu sauce you could. Follow this recipe if you don’t want to buy it bottled online or at the store. 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, air fried chicken is the bomb! 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.

Need a quicker meal than this? Follow our air fryer frozen chicken patties timing for a fast dinner.