My Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce recipe uses only four simple ingredients and is so quick to make! With savory, sweet, and tangy notes, it tastes just as amazing as Japan’s famous Bull-Dog Tonkatsu sauce. Serve it with tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlets), chicken katsu, or my favorite korokke (potato and beef croquettes).
Open my refrigerator and you’ll find a stash of Japanese condiments and sauces—a mix of store-bought and homemade goodies. Among them is tonkatsu sauce. This condiment is mandatory when it comes to serving Tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet), Chicken Katsu, and more.
In today’s recipe, I’m sharing a simplified version of Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce using only four ingredients. You’re most likely already have them in the pantry so you can whip it up anytime you need. The great thing about making your own is that you can also adjust the sweetness to your liking.
Table of Contents
What is Tonkatsu Sauce?
Tonkatsu sauce (とんかつソース) is served with Tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet) and is often used for other deep-fried dishes like Korokke or to make Hambagu sauce.
Tonkatsu sauce mainly consists of vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes, prunes, dates, apples, lemon juice, carrots, onions, and celery. It also includes more than 10 kinds of spices along with soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. It’s a lot of work to make it from scratch, so most Japanese people would use the store-bought one.
However, if you don’t live near the Japanese/Asian grocery stores or prefer to make your own, you can always count on my easy homemade recipe.
The Most Popular Tonkatsu Sauce Brand
The most popular tonkatsu sauce is the Bull-Dog Vegetable & Fruit Sauce (Tonkatsu Sauce). It’s easy to recognize the signature bulldog logo on the bottle. You can purchase it on Amazon and Japanese or Asian grocery stores.
How to Make Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce
The Ingredients You’ll Need
- Worcestershire sauce – I use Lea & Perrins brand. If you’re vegan, use vegan Worcestershire sauce.
- Sugar
- Ketchup – The sweetness of the ketchup varies, so adjust the amount of sugar based on the ketchup taste.
- Oyster sauce – Use Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Stir-Fry Sauce if you’re vegetarian or allergic to shellfish.
Yes, that’s it! The main flavor of tonkatsu sauce comes from Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. Every brand of ketchup has different sweetness, so you may need to adjust the flavor with sugar.
The Cooking Steps
- Mix all the condiments together. I usually combine the Worcestershire sauce and sugar first. Whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved before adding the rest of the condiments.
Okonomi Sauce and Yakisoba Sauce
We have different sauces for okonomiyaki and yakisoba although these three sauces are quite similar.
- Homemade Okonomiyaki Sauce (Okonomi Sauce)
- Homemade Yakisoba Sauce
Ways to Use Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce
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Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce
Ingredients
- 4½ Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (use vegan Worcestershire sauce for vegan)
- 2 Tbsp sugar (plus more to taste)
- 5 Tbsp ketchup
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce (use Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Stir-Fry Sauce for vegetarian or if you‘re allergic to shellfish)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. I included a bottle of Bull-Dog Tonkatsu Sauce in the image, but it‘s not needed for this recipe.
- In a jar or small bowl, combine 4½ Tbsp Worcestershire sauce and 2 Tbsp sugar. Whisk well until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Then, add 5 Tbsp ketchup and 2 Tbsp oyster sauce and whisk until combined. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. Some ketchup is sweeter than others, so please adjust the amount of sugar to taste. Your Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce is ready to use.
To Serve
- Enjoy this Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce as a condiment for breaded and/or deep-fried Japanese foods like Tonkatsu, Chicken Katsu, and Korokke (Potato and Meat Croquette) or their baked versions Baked Tonkatsu, Baked Chicken Katsu, and Baked Croquette. Tonkatsu sauce is also an ingredient in recipes like Japanese Hamburger Steak (Hambagu), Keema Curry, and Meat Doria (Rice Gratin).
To Store
- Store in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 weeks or freezer for 3–4 months.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on January 27, 2014, and was updated with new content and images in February 2023. It’s been republished on July 9, 2023.
Thank you for the recipe, it came out amazingly!👍👍👍❤❤❤
Hi Kęstutis! We are glad to hear you enjoyed this homemade Tonkatsu Sauce!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.😊
So convenient! I don’t make tonkatsu often so it’s hard to justify taking up fridge space with store-bought tonkatsu sauce. This is really good and easy to throw together with ingredients I have on hand already. Thank you!
Hi Mina! We are so happy to hear Homemade Tonkatsu worked out very well for you!
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.🙂
Your recipes are delicious and I’m very thankful to have found your site, I share with many!
As a super quick tonkatsu facsimile, I use Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce mixed with soy sauce to your desired thickness and taste-I think it mimics the purchased tonkatsu sauce well!
My husband just uses ketchup, soy sauce and Worcestershire 😉
Hi Kris! Aww…We are so happy to hear you enjoyed many recipes from our website. Thank you very much for your kind feedback and for sharing recipes with many friends! Thank you for sharing your tips too!
i have a question about the bulldog sauce. There are two kinds: vegetable & fruit sauce (semi-sweet) and one that is labeled vegetable & fruit sauce (tonkatsu sauce). I can’t seem to figure out what the difference is. Can you help me? Thank you!
Hi Mayumi, The Semi-Sweet one is like between the Tonkatsu sauce and Worcestershire sauce and has a spiciness to Umami. It’s more liquid than Tonkatsu sauce, and you can use it as a secret ingredient in dishes like a stew or curry. We hope this helps!
Amazing sauce. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Nany!
We are so happy to hear you love this sauce!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Len,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
Great idea, so grateful to find this recipe. 👍😊
Thanks Nami 😘
Simple, easy to find ingredients, and of course,perfect match for Tonkatsu.
Hi Sherry!
Thank you so much for your kind feedback. 😊
I made your Baked Korokke tonight with Piedmontese lean beef and your Tonkatsu sauce recipe (used organic unfiltered honey instead of sugar) .
It was a phenomenal hit, everyoned loved it, with our 11-year old showering praise nearly every other bite & asking to make it regularly.
Had to make extra tonkatsu sauce half way through the meal.
I got 14 croquettes.
No leftovers 😊
Hi CO! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed both recipes! Thank you so much for taking the time to write your kind feedback! It made me so happy!
This was really disappointing. Maybe I have bad ingredients but this tasted *exactly* like ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and nothing at all like what I want from tonkatsu sauce. I’ve eaten a LOT of tonkatsu in the last 20 years, and am only here because it seems covid screwed up the Bulldog sauce supply chain and I can’t get it right now. I will keep trusting you for other Japanese cooking but this recipe was a total miss for me.
Hi Will! Thanks for trying this recipe. As you read the reviews from others, you can see mostly positive and few negatives. After initial recipe testing, I was very confident. But after receiving a few negative comments, I did check my recipe again to make sure I didn’t miscalcurate or mismeasured. And I thought it’s pretty close to the Bulldog Tonkatsu sauce, just like the time I posted this recipe.
After that, I also asked several friends (Japanese moms who came from Japan, all 40’s like me) to make this recipe and give me feedback after comparing it with Bulldog tonkatsu sauce side by side.
To make the story short, they thought the recipe is pretty good considering it’s a mixture of 4 condiments. One person suggested I could add a tiny bit of acidiy, like lemon juice or rice vinegar, when/if using Japanese Worcestershire sauce (it’s sweeter than western one). But other than that, overall feedback was great.
So my confidence level is back, with their approval, and I really think everyone can’t make the same sauce if they don’t use exactly same condiments. And ketchup alone has so many variations in flavors and sweetness. Worcestershire sauce also varies in acidity and flavors… just too many variables to adjust.
Since I can’t control everyone’s condiment choices and brands, everyone just has to make and adjust the sauce accordingly. I can only give the baseline with what condiments I used. Hope this make sense. 🙂
Hi. This was fantastic. Tastes just like tonkatsu sauce. If I was out of oyster sauce could I use dashi granules?
Hi Leigh! I’m so glad you liked the sauce! Hmm just skip it? If it lacks the bold saltiness, you may want to add a bit of salt. Rely on the oyster sauce for that strong salty flavor.
I love that you have add a suggestion for a shell fish allergy.
Hi Theresa! Thank you! 😀
Perfect!
Hi Robert! Thanks so much for your kind feedback!
I have used this with a few recipes. So far this has made an excellent sauce on top of my stir fry and fried rice. I am sure I have many more meals to test this sauce with. Thanks for this.
Hi Nicole! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
Thanks Nami, this work from home thing has recently made me try several of your recipes and they are great. I never really like tonkatsu sauce when eating at restaurants because they either taste too sour or has strong vinegar smell or something? But this is actually much better. I made this for your Chicken katsu don recipe and my wife liked it too. She even ate it with steamed potato and it goes very well.
I adjusted it by adding more Worcestershire sauce as it was a bit sweet, probably because of my ketchup.
Hi Benny! Thanks so much for your kind feedback. I’m glad this recipe worked out for you. I agree, based on a ketchup brand, the sweetness level is quite different. I’m glad you could adjust. Thank you again! I’m so happy to hear you and your wife enjoyed this recipe! xo
Hi Ms. Nami. I would like to ask how long is the fridge life for this sauce? Actually, I made some last September 2019 and there is still some left until now. When I tasted the sauce, it still tastes the same. Do you think it is still good?
Thank you,
Julia
Hi Julia! I’m sorry for my late response. Hmmm that’s about 8 months? I’d probably cook it to make sure there is no bacteria. Ideally, it should be used in 2-3 weeks or so. To save for a long time, the food should contain lots of sugar (like jam), vinegar, or salt, and I am not sure if this sauce is safe enough for a long storage. 🙂
Thank you for your response Ms. Nami. 🙂