Have you tried hamburger steaks coated with panko breadcrumbs and deep-fried until golden and crispy? Called Menchi Katsu, these juicy Japanese ground meat cutlets will really hit the spot! Four delicious sauce options included.
In comparison to well-known western style Japanese food (yoshoku) such as hamburger steak, omurice, and Japanese curry, Menchi Katsu (メンチカツ) may not be as recognizable outside of Japan. However, if you are at butcher shops and delis in Japan, you will get to buy freshly made, juicy and delicious minced meat cutlets aka Menchi Katsu. They are actually pretty easy to make, so give this recipe a try at home!
What is Menchi Katsu?
Simply speaking, Menchi Katsu (メンチカツ) is ground meat cutlet. In Kansai (Osaka area), it’s called Minchi Katsu (ミンチカツ) as Minchi or Menchi in Japanese means “minced”, and katsu is “cutlet”, anything panko-breaded and deep-fried.
If you have tried hambagu (Japanese-style Salisbury steak), Menchi Katsu is basically a hambagu that’s breaded in panko breadcrumbs like tonkatsu, and then deep-fried. Like a smaller size hamburger, but with an extra layer of crunchiness from the flake-like panko.
Menchi Katsu originated in a western style Japanese restaurant in Tokyo during the Meiji era, which is over 100 years ago. Then early Showa era, it became popular in Kansai region where it’s known as Minch Katsu.
Today, one of the best places to enjoy Menchi Katsu is at the butcher shops as they use the freshest quality meat to make the patties and deep fry at the store.
3 Easy Tips to Remember When Making Menchi Katsu
1. Use a combination of beef and pork
Typically menchi katsu is made with both beef and pork, with beef being slightly more than pork. You can adjust the ratio as you like, but using these two types of meat makes the patties juicy and tender.
2. Knead the meat mixture until sticky and pale in color
It’s important to knead the meat well with your hands or a wooden spatula. The mixture will turn into a pale color and become sticky.
3. Rub the oil on your hands before shaping the meat mixture
To avoid the meat sticking to your hands, make sure to use a small amount of oil to rub on your hands before shaping the meat patties with your hands.
4. Release the air by tossing the patties
When the air pockets appear in the patties, it can be easily broken into pieces. Make sure to toss the patties between your hands and let the air escape from the meat patty.
5. Refrigerate the patties for at least 30 minutes
While you are shaping the meat mixture into patties, some fat gets melted. To achieve juicy patties, you will need to solidify the fat that has melted. Refrigerate the patties for 30 to 60 minutes before moving to the next step will do the trick.
Serve Menchi Katsu with Homemade Tartar Sauce
Menchi Katsu is delicious as it is without any sauce, but sometimes it is served with tonkatsu sauce, Worcestershire sauce (Japanese Usuta-sauce), or a combination of the tonkatsu and Worcestershire sauce.
I like to serve Menchi Katsu with homemade tartar sauce. The creamy egg and mayo along with tangy pickles go really well with Mechi Katsu. In general, deep-fried food goes well with tangy sauce, which is why Tonkatsu or Worcestershire sauce works best.
If you don’t have time to make the homemade tartar sauce, just serve Menchi Katsu straight up or with a simple sauce like Tonkatsu sauce or Worcestershire sauce.
Baked Menchi Katsu?
You can use my pre-toasting panko technique to make Baked Menchi Katsu just like the Baked Chicken Katsu, Baked Tonkatsu, and Baked Croquette recipes.
Enjoy Menchi Katsu with a bowl of steamed rice and a side of miso soup.
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Menchi Katsu
Ingredients
- ½ onion
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef and pork combination (normally 70% beef and 30% pork)
- 2 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups neutral oil
For the Breading
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (plain flour) (for dredging)
- 2 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) (for dredging)
- 1½ cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) (for dredging)
For the Sauce Options
- tonkatsu sauce (you can make my recipe for homemade Tonkatsu Sauce)
- Worcestershire sauce
- tonkatsu or Worcestershire sauce + ketchup
- Homemade Tartar Sauce (try my Japanese-style Tartar Sauce recipe)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Mince ½ onion (called mijingiri in Japanese). Lay the cut onion flat side down on the cutting board. With the knife tip pointing toward the root end, make ⅛-inch vertical slices to within ½ inch of the root end. With the knife edge toward the root end, make ⅛-inch horizontal slices, again keeping the root intact. Finally, make perpendicular cuts down through the vertical slices you made. To chop the onions finer, run your knife through them using a rocking motion while holding down the tip of the knife.
- Heat 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent and golden brown.
- Transfer the onion to a large bowl and set aside to cool.
- To the bowl with the onion, add 1 lb ground beef and pork combination, 2 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), 1 Tbsp milk, 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell), ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- Knead well with your hands until the meat mixture becomes pale and sticky.
- Roughly divide the mixture into 6 balls.
- Toss each ball from one hand to the other about 5 times to release air from inside the ball so the meat patty won’t break when you deep-fry.
- Now, form each ball into an oval-shaped patty and place on a plate. Cover with plastic and rest in the refrigerator for 30–60 minutes to solidify the fat.
To Bread the Patties
- Prepare 3 separate bowls for ½ cup all-purpose flour (plain flour), 2 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) (beaten), and 1½ cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs). Dredge and coat each patty in the flour, beaten egg, and panko.
- When you are coating with the panko, fix the patties into a nice oval shape.
To Deep-Fry
- Heat 3 cups neutral oil to 340ºF (170ºC). Check the oil temperature with an instant-read thermometer. To check with wooden chopsticks, dip them in the oil; when small bubbles form around the tips, the oil is ready. Gently place the patties into the oil; I cooked 2 patties at a time. Deep-fry in batches. Tip: When you deep-fry, do not crowd the pot because the oil temperature will drop quickly. Your ingredients should take up no more than about half of the oil surface area at any one time. For more helpful hints, read my post How to Deep-Fry Food.
- Deep-fry for 3 minutes on each side (6 minutes total). For the first 2 minutes, don’t touch the patties as they are soft and break easily.
- Once golden brown, remove the patties and place on a wire rack to drain the oil for 1–2 minutes. The remaining heat will finish cooking the inside of the patties. Before frying the next batch, scoop up the crumbs in the oil with a fine-mesh skimmer. Otherwise, the crumbs will burn, stick to your new patties, and darken the oil. Continue frying the other patties.
To Serve
- Serve immediately with your choice of tonkatsu sauce, Worcestershire sauce, the combination of tonkatsu or Worcestershire sauce + ketchup, or Homemade Tartar Sauce. It‘s also delicious served in a Menchi Katsu Sandwich.
To Store
- Let the Menchi Katsu cool completely and store in an airtight container. You can freeze for up to a month. When you‘re ready to eat, reheat at 350ºF (180ºC) in the oven. It‘s more difficult to deep-fry raw patties that are frozen, so I recommend deep-frying the patties first before freezing them.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on January 14, 2011. The images, the content, and the recipe were updated in August 2018.
Gonna try this recipe this weekend. I’ve been seeing this on youtube videos but after watching Midnight Diner that’s when i really seem to have a craving for it. Ice cold beer and katsu this weekend
Hi Rico! Awesome! We hope you enjoy Nami’s recipe!
Please let us know how it goes.😊
Just made this recipe with vegan “beef” hamburger patties from a big box store (we’re abstaining from meat for Lent) instead of ground beef and pork. I didn’t have high hopes for this turning out but it was absolutely delicious that my family was asking to make this again. All your recipes that I’ve tried have turned out wonderfully.
Hi Jenny! Nami and all of us at JOC are so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
Thank you very much for trying many recipes and for your kind feedback. It means so much to us.
Happy Cooking!
I love this recipe (saw first on Midnight Diner). I use an air fryer which is seems to work fine. The second time I made this, I forgot to cook the onions before mixing into the pork/beef mixture. I was worried about the outcome, but actually liked it more! The onion was fully cooked after frying but had a more noticeable aroma that I thought improved it. I wonder if there is a specific reason you cook the onions first?
Hi Nathan! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
The reason for cooking the onions first is to increase the onions’ natural sweetness and flavor. It also reduces onion’s moisture and avoids making wet patties that fall apart easily.
We hope this helps!
Hi Nathan, how did you cook these in the air fryer? Would be grateful for instructions!
I just did it in the Airfryer today.
Prepare Panko according to the “Baked Tonkatsu” recipe on here. Then airfry at 190C/375F for 12 minutes. Flip once after about half the time. This is enough to cook it thoroughly while still staying very juicy inside.
Hi! Good evening. Make this tonight, turn out super good. The whole family love your menchi katsu. From today on this will be one of our regular menu. Thanks you.
Hi Fiona! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you and our family enjoyed the Menchi Katsu!❤️
Making this tonight for my husband to pair with beef gogo curry that we ordered from an online Japanese food shop. 😀
Hi Nim! Wow! Nice! 🤩
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe! We hope you and your husband enjoy the dinner!🥂
Question about left over oil. I do not fry…. what do you do with all of the used oil???? Also, I was not able to save this recipe like the others (ad free mbrshp)….. didn’t know if there was a glitch.
Hi Marge, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post! 🙂
Here is the post link where Nami explains about leftover oil. Please scroll down to “After Deep Frying” https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-deep-fry-food/. We hope this helps!
As for the Members-only feature – “SAVE,” JOC PLUS support will contact you directly. Thank you.
Would you be able to use an air fryer to make these?
Hi Noah, Thank you for checking Nami’s recipe!
We haven’t tried this recipe in an air fryer before, but some readers tried it, and it worked well.
We hope you will give it a try!
Hi Nami-san! Been a follower of your blog for a while now. My go-to for Japanese recipes.
I made these tonight, but noticed that the cooking oil goes brown really quick. I usually deep fry every month, but usually chicken or prawn. When I out the party in to fry it, there are big oil bubbles that would come up. Not sure if it’s because of the beef or pork fat… I did 50/50 pork and beef. Any suggestions?
The flavour was great though! We love katsu.
Hi Clarissa, Thank you very much for your support and for following Nami’s blog for a long time!❤️
The oil bubbles that you saw could be from the Panko crumbs. After each batch, the remaining crumbs in the pot will burn in the oil and darken the oil and stick to the fresh patties or sink. We recommend following Nami’s instruction at Step 14 and pick up the remaining crumbs from the pot each time to avoid that happening. We hope this helps!
I’m not sure if I accidentily missed it but I was curious about the baking time for this recipe since I dont have a deep fryer. And is there anything different that I would need to do to prep this recipe for baking?
Hi Beth,
We have never tried baking this recipe. But you can prepare the Panko like other Baked Katsu recipes, and you may try Bake at 400 ºF (200 ºC) until the meat is no longer pink inside about 25 ~ 30 minutes.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/crispy-baked-chicken/
We hope this is helpful, and you can enjoy the baked version. Let us know how it goes!😉
If we can eat pork… Can just use only beef or we can change with another ingredient? Please answer
Ratna
Thanks
Hi Ratna,
Sure! The texture may be different, but any ground meat will work.
Enjoy!
This recipe is a winner, I made triple the recipes and the boys love it… and kept eating them days in a row..
I found putting in the freezer is not the best before frying.. so I would fry all of them and store in fridge and freezer. When we are ready to eat again, then reheat in air fryer.
When I do this, the outside is crispy and the inside is still juicy.
The only thing I did different is make the patty a bit flatter . I find frying with the thicker patty makes the inside still raw and the outside burnt faster..
Thanks for sharing this… this satisfies my craving from midnight diner…
Hi Shirly,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback and tips!
We are so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed this Menchi Katsu very much. ☺️
Hi Nami,
I use your recipes almost daily and am so appreciative for your comprehensive selection of recipes. I especially like the fact that none of them are too hard and are authentic. I grew up in Japan and my family eats mostly Japanese food so your recipes are a lifesaver for me especially right now during COVID as we are at home cooking so much.
One quick question on this recipe – have you ever tried making it in an air fryer? Just curious and if so, please let me know what the temp and times are. Thanks!
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you very much for trying many of Nami’s recipes and for your kind feedback. We are so happy to hear you enjoyed them. ☺️
As for the air fryer, we have not tested it, but other readers used an air fryer for “Tonkatsu” and commented that it worked very well. So it may work for this recipe as well.
Please let us know how it goes!
Hi Nami! Is it possible to bake these instead?
Hi Crystal! I have never tried that before. Someone left a comment right before you did telling me:
I baked at 200°C for about 30 mins, checking the meat halfway. The liquid in the meat burst out but during the bake, but it was ok with me and my family.
So you can give it a try! Just be careful and make sure the meat inside is cooked through. 🙂
If anyone’s wondering, I tried baking the recipe based off the other baked recipes. So I baked at 200°C for about 30 mins, checking the meat halfway. The liquid in the meat burst out during the bake, but it was ok with me and my family. Thank you Nami! <3
Hi Hana! Thank you so much for sharing your experience in cooking these in the oven! So happy to hear your family enjoyed it! 🙂
What is the shredded vegetable served with this? Shredded white cabbage?
Hi Margo! In Japan, fried foods such as Tonkatsu, Chicken Katsu, Korokke (Croquette), Ebi Fry (Fried Shrimp), Menchi Katsu are all served with shredded cabbage. I shred mine with this cabbage slicer (this slicer creates very thinly sliced cabbage). We usually serve as it is, and some people drizzle the cabbage with a salad dressing or tonkatsu sauce to enjoy. 🙂