Air Fryer Chicken Katsu

Air fryer Chicken Katsu with chicken thighs or breasts comes out fantastic in a Ninja Foodi or Cosori! Juicy and tender meat that comes out as crispy as fried, but healthier coated with Panko breadcrumbs.

How to Make Chicken Katsu

Fried chicken cutlets cooked with hot air isn’t nearly as complicated as you might think. Once you have the breading, 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.

Ninja Foodi Option

There isn’t much difference with Ninja fryer recipes (with the drawer). We made this in our Cosori first but the next go around we made it as one of our many Ninja Foodi recipes. Only difference is that you use the lid that is attached and the air crisp button on the front to cook.

What is chicken katsu made of?

Defrosted or fresh pieces of chicken cutlets are the stars of the show. These are thin slices of breasts you can find already prepared at the store. If not you can slice into thirds and pound flat between 2 pieces of parchment paper. You could use thinly sliced pork cube steak this same way too if you wanted.

The thin slices of meat are coated with Panko bread crumbs in this case which is different than the Italian style. This is crisped pieces of white bread without the crumbs essentially which means they are lighter, fluffier and not as dense.

Olive oil spray for the basket is needed so it doesn’t stick. There is another use for it too though, to further brown the coating when sprayed right on the food in the last minute.

A room temperature beaten egg will allow the coating to stick well. If you need to know how to bread chicken without eggs we have tips for you here as well if need be.

Hoisin sauce or tonkatsu sauce is the “magic” on this dish. If you have never tasted this I would say it is kinda’ like a thick, sweeter version of soy sauce. It is great on so many other dishes like our hoisin chicken.

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.

Tips

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.

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 do recommend that you do not overlap foods, especially with Thin Chicken Breast in Air Fryer. 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.

I find that with more delicate foods, Japanese style Panko works a lot better. It isn’t quite as heavy feeling and gets a crisp texture when chicken is cooked vs. 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.