With a savory curry filling, a chewy, springy texture, and a light coating of crispy panko, Japanese Curry Bread – or Kare Pan – is the star of pastries at Japanese bakery shops. If you are a huge fan of Japanese curry, you have to make this insanely delicious bread bun at home.
Kare Pan (カレーパン), or Japanese Curry Bread, is one of the most popular savory pastries at Japanese bakeries, along with Yakisoba Pan. There’s nothing more satisfactory than biting into a warm, crispy, and chewy bread that reveals mildly spiced Japanese curry inside, like a passageway to pure happiness. I know you’ll be obsessed with this homemade curry bread once you make it.
What is Curry Bread (Kare Pan)?
Curry bread (kare pan) is Japanese curry encased in bread dough, lightly covered in panko bread crumbs, and then deep-fried till golden brown. Justifiably qualified as comfort food, you can find these curry bread at bakeries and convenience stores throughout Japan. They are enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or snack, or any time of the day in my case.
Mr. JOC won’t leave a bakery shop in Japan without purchasing curry bread, and he’s always searching for the best one. I asked what is considered the best curry bread, and he said:
- The outside crust should be crispy when you bite into it.
- The bread should be chewy but not too thick.
- It shouldn’t be oily even though it’s been deep-fried.
- A good amount of curry should be filled throughout the bread.
As you can see, I have a tough customer at home. Since I welcomed a good challenge, I took it up as an encouragement to develop a good recipe!
There’s nothing fancy about the homemade curry bread. They are just downright tasty. Although it can be time-consuming, it’s totally worth the effort and time because you’d be rewarded with the tastiest bread. The triumph feeling is worth celebrating. I’d make this bread at least every quarter of the year!
The Japanese Curry Filling
The best part about making your own curry bread at home is that you can stuff the bread with your favorite, delicious curry! Plus it’s the perfect way to use up one big batch of Japanese curry. You will only need about 1 1/2 cup worth of leftover curry. It has to be chilled, so leftover curry from the previous night makes the most sense for this recipe.
You can make Japanese curry with any ingredients you like. I used my Japanese Chicken Curry recipe for my curry bread. You can use other types of meats as well.
The curry next day should be in a thick paste form as you will be bundling up the curry filling in bread dough. Soupy curry is a no-no. Once you refrigerate your curry, it will solidify and easier to handle. Just take out the curry when you start making the bread, so it reaches room temperature by the time you fold it up in the dough.
3 Important Cooking Tips
1. Thin out the dough only at the edge
I learned from my experience that I enjoy curry bread more when the dough has a chewy texture. Initially, I thought I prefer thinner bread because it has a nice crispy texture. But when I tasted the chewy and springy bread, I knew the whole curry bread experience got elevated.
To achieve this, it’s important not to roll out the dough too thin. The best way is to thin out only the edges of the round dough with fingers, keeping the center thicker. So when you fold and pinch the edges, the seam won’t be too thick and doughy, and the bread has even thickness throughout.
2. Do not overfill the curry paste
I’ve made this mistake and learned the hard way. When you place the curry filling on a round sheet of dough, make sure you have PLENTY of space around it so you can pinch the dough easily and tightly. You don’t want to overfill because if the curry touches the edge of the dough even a little bit, the pinched dough may pop open and the curry filling will fall out easily during the proofing and deep-frying stages.
If you accidentally made the mistake, here’s what you can do.
a) If the pinched dough is opened up before deep-frying, you can toast the panko first until golden brown, then bake the bread at 375 ºF (190 ºC). This is the same technique as my Baked Tonkatsu/Chicken Katsu recipes.
b) If the dough opened up during deep-frying, you want to immediately stop deep frying, instead gently remove the bread dough from the oil, pop them straight into the oven at 375 ºF (190 ºC) and bake until golden brown.
3. Flip the bread as soon as you place it in the oil
During the second proofing stage, the sealed side is on the bottom, and the dough is rising up. Now when you deep fry, you will again place the sealed side down first. As deep-frying starts, the dough continues to rise from the bottom (seam side), and it tends to rise way too much, creating a cave inside the bread.
My high school friend Takafumi who used to work at a bakery in Japan shared a pro tip with me when I was struggling with this. He told me that you will need to flip the bread a couple of seconds after you place the dough in the oil, stopping the dough to rise in the same direction. This actually works magically! No more big cave in the bread!
Now that I’ve perfected my Kare Pan recipe, Mr. JOC no longer has to go out his way to hunt down the best curry bread because the best is always the homemade type. Are you ready for your Japanese curry bread mastery? Let’s get started!
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Curry Bread
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups bread flour (weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
- 50 g cake flour (⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp)
- 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 15 g sugar (1 Tbsp + ½ tsp)
- 125 ml whole milk (½ cup + 1 tsp; I highly recommend using whole milk instead of non-fat or reduced-fat milk)
- 1 tsp instant yeast (see Notes to use active dry yeast)
- 10 g unsalted butter (a bit less than 1 Tbsp, which weighs 14 g; at room temperature)
- 1½ cups Japanese curry of your choice (at room temperature, made previous night and kept in the fridge overnight; here are recipes for Beef Curry, Chicken Curry, and Instant Pot Curry)
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (for coating the bread; I forgot to put in the ingredient picture below)
- 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- 4 cups neutral oil
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Leave the unsalted butter and Japanese curry at room temperature. I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
To make the dough:
- In a large bowl, whisk together 1¼ cups bread flour, 50 g cake flour, 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and 15 g sugar.
- Microwave 125 ml whole milk until warm to the touch, about 95ºF/35ºC. Then, add in 1 tsp instant yeast to the warm milk.
- Using the silicone spatula, combine the wet and dry ingredients together until it becomes a rough dough, about 1–2 minutes.
- Once the dough becomes a ball, add 10 g unsalted butter in the center of the dough and combine well until the butter is incorporated into the dough, about 2–3 minutes. At first, the dough will be sticky, wet, and oily and you might want to add more flour, but wait and try kneading a little longer.
- Once you don’t see any big chunks of butter, transfer the dough from the bowl to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and pliable, about 5 minutes. Read the tip on kneading below.
- Tip on kneading: Using the lower part of your palm, push out the dough. Then roll back up as if you’re drawing the number “8” with your hand. Rotate the dough 90 degrees every time you finish drawing “8”.
- After drawing “8” a few times, bang the dough onto the work surface and fold it over away from you. This helps develop gluten (elasticity). Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat drawing “8” again. Continue this process until the dough is smooth, supple, and silky.
- When the dough is moist, smooth, and pliable, form a ball. Place the seam side down on the working surface and twist the ball a few times to close the seam.
- Place the dough back into the bowl, seam side down, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at 100ºF (38ºC) for 60 minutes, or until doubled in size (I used proof setting in my oven).
- Dust your finger with flour and poke the center of the dough. If the dough doesn’t close up, it’s ready.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and gently punch/press it down.
- Fold the dough into thirds widthwise.
- Fold the dough into thirds lengthwise.
- Turn upside down so the seam is facing down. Twist the dough to form a nice ball shape.
- Measure the weight of the dough on a kitchen scale and divide the number by 8. Roughly cut the dough into 8 pieces.
- Weigh each piece of dough and cut off the extra dough if it weighs more than you calculated.
- Add the extra dough to the smaller dough piece(s). Hide the extra dough in the center of the small dough by pulling the dough from the side.
- Twist the dough to seal the seam on your hand. Place the 8 dough balls on the baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat (or parchment paper). Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.
To form the curry bread:
- Place the dough seam side up and flatten out each piece with your hand. Fold in thirds widthwise.
- Fold in thirds lengthwise, and then turn it upside down so the seam side is on the bottom.
- Flatten again, and flip so the seam side is up.
- Roll out into a 3.5-inch (9-cm) circle using a rolling pin.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. One by one, thin out the edges of the dough with your fingers, with the center thicker than the edges. The circle should be 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter.
- Place the dough seam side up. From the 1½ cups Japanese curry of your choice, add 1 to 1½ Tbsp curry sauce to the center of the circle. Gather the opposing edges of the circle and fold the dough in half. Remember, KEEP THE CURRY OUT from the edges! It’s the most crucial part. If you didn’t read my post, read my tip #2 now in the post!
- Tightly pinch the edges to seal well. If the edges are not pinched and pressed tightly, the seam might open up during proofing/deep frying.
- Next, to double secure, fold the edges over to one side at least once, like folding a brown lunch bag. Press the edges again to secure.
- Keeping the seam side on the bottom, put the bread back onto the silicone mat and cover with a damp towel while working on the rest of the dough.
- Once all the dough has curry filling, crack 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) into a bowl and whisk well. Place 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) in a shallow bowl/tray. Using a pastry brush, coat the formed dough with egg and then panko.
- Cover the bread with plastic wrap and let rise at 100ºF (38ºC) for 45–60 minutes or until 1½ times its size (I used proof setting in my oven). If you touch the dough with your finger, the indentation will stay on the dough.
To deep fry the bread:
- In a deep frying pot (I like using my 2.75QT Staub), heat 4 cups neutral oil to 320ºF (160ºC). Place 2–3 pieces of the curry bread into the oil, seam side down. After a few seconds, flip it around so the seam side is now up. You may need to hold it with a pair of tongs. Keep turning them while they deep fry, until they cook to a golden brown, about 2–3 minutes. Drain the oil well and transfer to the wire rack or some paper towels to drain while it cools. Serve hot or at room temperature.
To Store
- Keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for 3–4 weeks. To reheat, bake at 350ºF (177ºC) until warm inside.
Notes
- Prepare 1 cup all-purpose flour in the bowl.
- Remove 2 Tbsp from the bowl.
- Add 2 Tbsp corn starch back to the bowl.
- Now you have 1 cup of cake flour.
- Be sure to sift the flour to distribute the cornstarch well before using it in your cake batter.
I didn’t see you had to proof them again after they were finished. Is it really that bad? I just deep fried them.
Hi Michelle! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We recommend proofing twice to get the fine best texture and flavor of the bread.
We hope this helps!
I generally hate working with dough but I followed the directions exactly and it came out perfectly! Thank you for the recipe!
For the future, is there any way to make this ahead of time? Could I just leave it breaded and fry the next day?
Hi Diana! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We are glad to hear Nami’s recipe worked perfectly for you.☺️
Nami usually makes Curry ahead of time, but she had never left the dough overnight before. We think the dough will be over-proofed if you leave it too long.
The technique doesn’t seem to work. I’ve never made curry thick enough to stand on its own, and that’s the ONLY way this could work. Wasted my ingredients.
Hi Ryan! We are sorry to hear your curry is not thick enough to make Curry Bread.
They are a few ways to make the curry thicker.
You can mash potatoes inside your curry, or add grated potato and cook a bit.
Or add a small amount of mix of water and flour (1:1 ratio) into a curry and cook. You can also use starch instead of flour.
We hope this is helpful and you don’t waste your ingredients!
My qualms with this recipe is that it calls for 1.5 cups of curry, which divided, is 3 tablespoons per ball, while the recipe suggests 1-1.5 tbs curry per pan. Why all the extra curry when 1/2-3/4 cup is all that’s called for to stuff the pan?
Hi Min, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
There is extra curry in the recipe because sometimes the leftover curry includes big chunks of potatoes or carrots, and you may not use the big chunks. So it’s always safer to keep the extra otherwise, it is disappointing if you didn’t save enough leftover for the filling.
We hope this helps!
Living in Denmark, me and my family haven’t been to Japan since 2018. I had some leftover kare raisu in the freezer. We were craving kare pan, so made these today. They were really delicious!
Hi Chiho! We are glad to hear you enjoyed Kare Pan! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Hi there,
If i do the bake method, how long do I need to bake it for?
Crystal
Hi Crystal!
You probably need to bake the bread at 375 ºF (190 ºC) for about 15 minutes.
We suggest using pre-toasted panko that Nami uses for the Baked Tonkatsu recipe. https://www.justonecookbook.com/baked-tonkatsu/ (This is the same technique as Nami’s Baked Tonkatsu/Chicken Katsu recipes.)
We hope this helps!
I just made your chicken curry recipe last night so today I used the leftover curry for this recipe. I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour and the all-purpose flour/cornstarch instead of cake flour. I fried half and baked half (used your pre-toasted panko trick). Both versions came out more half-moon shaped but were delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Tammy! Excellent! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your baking experience with us!
We are glad to hear you enjoyed the Curry bread!🤗
I made this recipe with my family’s recipe Indian curry, and it was so delicious! Highly recommend!
Hi Rashmi! Awesome! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe with Indian curry and sharing your feedback.
We are glad to hear you enjoyed it! Happy Cooking!
Hi Nami, my leftover curry is on the watery side…are there any tips to make it more paste-like to fill the curry bread?
Hi Vivian, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Have you tried storing the curry in the refrigerator overnight? It usually comes out more thick the next day. If it’s not, you can add potato and cook the curry or add just a bit more curry roux.
We hope this helps!
Hi! I’ve never tried making these but I’ve made both Japanese curry and nikuman before (both your recipes!) So I don’t think it’ll be too hard. I want to make these for Thanksgiving, but there’s a lot of other food to prepare too and I was wondering if you think I’d be able to make the dough and shape the buns the day before, then keep them in the fridge or freezer until the next day so I could just fry and serve. What do you think?
-Cana
Hi Cana, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We have never deep-fried it the next day and are not sure how the outcome will be. If you are planning to serve the next day, you can fry it and freeze it as well. Please see Nami’s note “To store” at the end of the recipe card for more detail.
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami!
I’m Indian and grew up in America, so when I was a teenager, I made these with aloo masala dosa filling after watching Black Butler because I didn’t know to use Japanese curry! They tasted great, but I’m 23 now and thought I would give it a try with the proper filling. I think both ways tasted nice!
Hi Shehla! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
We hope you enjoy the Japanese curry version too. Let us know how it goes!😊
Hi Nami!
Like all your recipes I’ve tried so far this was lovely! I was really intimidated at first and was worried I didn’t deal the breads well enough but all seems to have gone ok after frying! My dad even commented how nice and soft the bread was inside and crispy on the outside Thanks for all that you do, you’ve really helped me expand on my knowledge of Japanese cuisine and I look forward to exploring more!
Hi Cassidy! Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed Kare Pan!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.🥰
this tastes amazing! really brings me back to japan!
although i have a bit of a hiccup every time i make this. it seems that i can never get my dough soft and “pliable” like yours in the picture. its tough, hard, and not at all smooth! it also never passes the windowpane test so my filling always would spill due to my bread opening up midway proofing. is there any way why this is happening? i copy the exact same measurements in your recipe but it always make my dough hard, despite a whole hour of kneading (never reaching the well kneaded space too).
Hi Stella! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
It depends on the day of the weather, bread making can be a little tricky. If you are in a very warm room, the bread dough might need to be moister.
When you are at step 4, the dough should be sticky, wet, and oily, and you might want to add more flour, but please wait and try kneading a little longer. This takes about 2-3 minutes for the dough to come together. If you use/add too much flour during this time, it will end with too much flour in the dough, and it will become a hard dough. Then at step 5, kneading shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.
Another note is to make sure to use bread flour that gluten-forming protein contains 12-14%.😉
We hope this is helpful!
I was thinking of trying to make this with my gluten free flour here in Japan.
Do you think it will still work?
Hi Tania! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
Because gluten is key to the structure of yeast bread, and without it, this recipe will be different texture bread.
Hello
Would it be possble to shallow fry these, instead of deep frying them? I am not confident with deep frying and I also don’t have a deep frying pot, so I am looking at alternative ways of doing them.
Also, is it possible to put a sweet filling (like pureed fruit) in them instead? And toss them in cinnamon sugar after cooking.
Hi Lauren! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Yes, it’s possible to shallow fry. You can use a medium, heavy-bottomed pan, heat about 2-3 inches of oil to fry the bread.
As for the sweet filling, Sure, you can add pureed fruit. Ensure that the bread is covering the pureed completely so that the oil would not splash on you. We hope this helps!