Crispy juicy pork cutlets sandwiched between soft pillowy Japanese milk bread, this Japanese Katsu Sando is a homey kind of sandwich but downright satisfying! Get over your sandwich ho-hum with this new favorite.
You can always find fresh infusions of imagination in the art of Japanese sandwich-making. Sometimes it can be alarmingly attractive like this Wanpaku Sandwich, and sometimes it can be down-home like a Katsu Sando.
Think of it like a schnitzel sandwich, Katsu Sando is a thing of comfort, with its crispy cutlet-style meat and soft white bread. It’s my husband and son’s favorite lunch choice whenever we are in Japan. They would pick up katsu sando from different shops at the stations and eat on the trains during our long trip. According to them, Katsu Sando is literally the best meal-on-the-go.
Watch How to Make Katsu Sando
Crispy juicy pork cutlets sandwiched between soft pillowy Japanese milk bread, this Japanese Katsu Sando is a homey kind of sandwich but downright satisfying! Get over your sandwich ho-hum with this new favorite.
What is Katsu Sando?
Katsu Sando (カツサンド) is short for Katsu Sandwich (カツサンドイッチ). Sandwiches are called Sando in Japan, like Tamago Sando (egg sandwich). For the bread, we almost always use shokupan, Japanese milk bread, for sandwiches. They are tender white bread with a slightly sweet milk taste.
Katsu refers to Japanese-style pork and chicken “cutlet” coated with panko breadcrumbs and deep fried till golden brown. Pork cutlet is tonkatsu (トンカツ) and chicken cutlet is chicken katsu (チキンカツ). They are a popular menu among Yoshoku, western-influenced Japanese dishes.
The difference from western style cutlet is that Japanese katsu uses panko (パン粉), the Japanese breadcrumbs, to coat the meat. Panko is made from bread without crusts (some brands include crusts). The light, airy, larger flakes tend to stay crispier longer than standard breadcrumbs because they don’t absorb as much grease. They make the cutlet so much better. I know you can’t wait to bite into the crispy deep fried katsu!
But what if you don’t want to deep fry? We’ll cover that next.
Healthy Alternative Katsu Sando with BAKED Katsu!
Typically, tonkatsu and chicken katsu are deep-fried to perfection. Considering the disposal of oil, a smelly and messy kitchen, and the fear of deep frying, I know many of you wish you wouldn’t have to go through that and still enjoy katsu. So I made my Katsu Sando with baked Tonkatsu.
If you are a 100% original Katsu Sando fan, you may continue with deep frying Tonkatsu. I personally don’t mind deep frying just to eat the crispy and juicy tonkatsu myself, but I want to encourage EVERYONE to try this great sandwich without deep frying.
My method involves pre-toasting panko before baking. If you have tried my Baked Tonkatsu, Baked Chicken Katsu, Baked Korokke, Baked Salmon Katsu, etc, you know the drill.
Toast the panko in a frying pan with a tiny bit of oil until golden brown. This will ensure you get the perfectly even-color, crispy, golden panko just like the deep-fried panko would look like. It’s easy, and mess free!
Ingredients You Need for Katsu Sando
Now let’s talk about the ingredients you need to prepare Katsu Sando. They are pretty simple.
- Tonkatsu (or Chicken Katsu)
- Pork loin chops (or chicken breast/thigh/tender)
- Salt and pepper
- Panko – I used Kikkoman® Panko Japanese-style BreadcrumbsBuy on Amazon ()
- Neutral flavored oil (just a little bit)
- Egg
- All-purpose flour
- Shokupan (the Japanese-style Pullman bread or any soft white bread)
- Butter
- Dijon mustard
- Tonkatsu sauce – I used Kikkoman® Katsu Sauce (Buy on Amazon)
- Optional: Thinly shredded cabbage (not all Katsu Sando include it)
3 Useful Tips to Make Perfect Katsu Sando
1. Don’t skip the butter
If you want to prevent the bread from becoming soggy, it’s a must to spread butter on both sides of the bread to act as a waterproof safeguard. It doesn’t have to be a lot but even a thin layer will help!
2. Don’t skimp on Tonkatsu sauce
Tonkatsu sauce is a key flavor in Katsu Sando. I used to just put the sauce on the cutlet alone, but I learned that spreading the Tonkatsu Sauce on the bread and shredded cabbage makes a huge difference.
3. Put weight on the sandwich
Make sure the Tonkatsu is nicely hugged between the shokupan bread. In Japan, putting weight on the sandwich is a pretty standard method prior to cutting in half. You don’t want the ingredients to fall off from the sandwich, so I highly recommend doing this. Since Tonkatsu is situated in the center, I suggest using two plates on top and bottom to keep both shokupan and tonkatsu snugged from both sides.
Hope you enjoy the sandwich! Other sandwich choices you may be interested in…
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Crispy juicy pork cutlets sandwiched between soft pillowy bread, this Japanese Katsu Sando is a homey kind of sandwich but downright satisfying! Get over your sandwich ho-hum with this new favorite.
- 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) (I use Kikkoman® Panko Bread Crumbs)
- 1 ½ Tbsp neutral flavor oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
- 2 pork chops (½ inches, 1.25 cm)
- ½ tsp salt (kosher or sea salt; use half if using table salt)
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1 leaf cabbage
- 4 slices Shokupan (Japanese pullman loaf bread)
- 2 tsp unsalted butter
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 4 Tbsp Tonkatsu sauce (I use Kikkoman® Katsu Sauce)
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a large frying pan, add 1 cup panko and 1 ½ Tbsp of oil and turn the heat to medium to medium-high.
- Lift the pan and shake it once in a while to evenly toast the panko.
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Once the panko is getting darker, keep shaking the pan to get even color. Once the panko is nicely brown, transfer to the tray.
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 400 ºF (200 ºC) degrees.
- Remove the extra fat and make a couple of slits on the connective tissue between the meat and fat. The reason why you do this is that red meat and fat have different elasticity, and when they are cooked they will shrink and expand at different rates. This will allow Tonkatsu to stay nice and flat when deep frying and prevent it from curling up.
- Pound the meat with a meat pounder. If you don’t have one, just use the back of a knife to pound. When using a knife, crisscross by first pounding top to bottom then left to right.
- Mold the extended meat back into original shape with your hands. Season the meat with salt and pepper.
- In a large bowl or plate, add ½ Tbsp. of oil for each egg you use and whisk them up. By adding oil, the meat and breaded coating won’t detach from each other while deep frying.
- Dredge in flour and remove excess flour.
- Dip in egg mixture. Dredge in panko.
- Press panko onto the meat and transfer to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper or even better if you have an oven-safe wire rack (as air goes through on the bottom so panko doesn’t get crushed).
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Bake at 400 ºF (200 ºC) until the pork is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the tonkatsu from the oven.
- Thinly shred the cabbage leaf.
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Spread the butter on both bread slices (butter would act as a waterproof guard so sandwich doesn’t get soggy). Spread Dijon mustard on top of butter on one side.
- Spread the Katsu Sauce on the other side.
- Put the thinly shredded cabbage evenly on the Dijon mustard side. Then drizzle Katsu Sauce over the cabbage.
- Place the tonkatsu on top of the cabbage and top with the other bread. Place the sandwich between two plates for 5 minutes.
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Cut off the crust of the bread and cut in half.
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Serve the Katsu Sando on a plate or box.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
