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This is Chicken Katsu on crack! Our favorite Hawaiian style crispy fried chicken is coated in the most insane red hot Korean Spicy sauce!!
Please believe me when I tell you this chicken Katsu dish is OUT OF THIS FRIGGIN WORLD. It is the fan favorite Honey Garlic Chicken Katsu but amped up by a hundred and did I mention it’s RED? Just the color of this sauce will make you salivate.
Traditionally chicken Katsu is a Japanese dish of fried chicken(in panko crumbs)served with Tonkatsu- a thick sauce that is salty and sweet. This is the way I was introduced to Katsu- served plate lunch style in Hawaii with a couple scoops of white rice(Hawaiians LOVE their carbs!).
Obviously, being a recipe developer I had to make another spin on this chicken so we wouldn’t be eating the same thing every week- we really really realllyyyy love fried chicken! I think I may have 12 packs of chicken in my freezer as we speak. anyway.
The only way to go in my mind really, was the spicy way. And spicy things are beautiful and red and sound like KOREAN. Enter the infamous Korean hot sauce you may or may not have heard of- Gochujang. In all complete honesty, I have never tried store bought gochujang, as I have made a habit of whipping up a batch of my own every month. I let it ferment in the fridge- the miso and spicy flavours mellow out quite a bit after the first week and we eat it with wings, fries, and our fav…katsu.
Despite the deliciousness of this food, it is actually so simple to make. I will share my homemade gochujang recipe here on the blog in the coming weeks, but for now you can simply pick up a jar at your local asian market(the best place in the world), or online.
The process:
Make the sauce. In the saucepan. No-one likes extra dishes right? Combine the toxicating medley of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, honey, and gochujang with freshly minced garlic and ginger. If you want extra spice you can throw in a teaspoon of chili flakes or crumble in a whole small hot dried pepper.
Bring the sauce to a boil and let it roll for a minute. Thats it. You don’t want to thicken it up too much because it will be harder to dip the chicken cutlets in, but we do want to dissolve the sugar and cook the aromatics.
Make the Katsu. The easiest way to do this is to lay out three plates. (you I love this!)
- Flour seasoned with garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Salting at every step ensures the tastiest finish.
- Egg. Whip it up. Das it.
- Golden Breadcrumbs or panko crumbs if you want to use those. I use breadcrumbs. No need to flavor these!
The chicken you will want to butterfly, which is simply a technique for cutting chicken breasts so they are nice and uniform and cook evenly. You can find a useful post on how to do that HERE.
In short you will cut the chicken breast in half horizontally and then lay out each piece and pound it, or roll it with a rolling pin so it is the same size all around( I have a meat pounding mallet for this. IDK where it came from but I have one.) Simple eh?
Fry & Dip. Lightly fry up the chicken after dipping in flour-egg-panko. Thank dip it in the sauce, slice it up and serve!!!
Okay so now you know what to do. You can watch for fun and entertainment my full video on making this dish on Instagram HERE.
We know you’re going to looooove this Spicy Korean Chicken Katsu! Please leave a review below and share your delicious photos with us on Instagram! Happy Cooking my friends!
Estee
Crispy breaded chicken katsu dipped in the most incredible hot red korean sauce. THE BEST!
5 from 10 votes
Print RecipePin Recipe
Cook Time 5 mins
Course chicken, Main Dish
Cuisine Asian
Equipment
2 frying pans
Ingredients
Spicy Red Korean Sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 TBS rice vinegar substitute with white vinegar-but try to use rice vinegar!
- 1/8 cup plus 1 TBS sugar
- 1/8 cup honey
- 1/8 cup gochujang(korean hot sacue )
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced subsitute with dried ginger
Chicken Katsu
- 2 chicken breasts, sliced in half horizontally(so 4-5 thinner pieces) if you want to use a full package of chicken double the sauce recipe.
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper(a pinch)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup golden breadcrumbs or japanese panko
- 1/4- 1/2 cup oil, for frying
Instructions
Spicy Red Korean Sauce
To a medium frying pan, add all sauce ingredients. Make sure the garlic and ginger are very finely minced.
Place over medium high heat and bring to a boil(this should take a minute). Lower the heat a bit and let the sauce cook on a low boil for one minute- it will thicken slightly.
Remove from the heat and set aside.
Chicken Katsu
Slice the chicken breasts horizontally in half to about 1/2 inch in thickness. You don't want them too thin(thus I don't use already sliced chicken) but if they are extra thick they won't fry properly. Optional- place a piece of wax paper over the sliced chicken and pound them to uniform thickness with a mallet.
Lay out three plates.
1.In one place the flour and season it with garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Mix to combine.
2.In the second crack the eggs and give them a whisk.
3.In the third pour the panko/breadcrumbs.
Dip each piece of chicken into the flour, making sure it is coated completely. Then dip it into the egg and lastly into the breadcrumbs. Place all the coated chicken on a seperate plate.
Heat up the oil in a frying pan- 1/4 to 1/2 cup oil, depending on the size of your pan. You're going for a light fry here, not a deep fry. Once the oil is hot, fry the chicken until golden, flip, and fry the second side.
Lay the chicken on a paper towel to catch some of the oil. When ready to serve, set your serving plate up with rice. Heat up the sauce and dip each piece of chicken, turning it to make sure the whole cutlet is coated red and saucy. MMM!
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board(set this up right next to the pan so the sauce doesn't drip everywhere. Slice the cutlet on the diagonal into thin strips. Keeping the shape of the cutlet, slide your knife under the slices and transfer it all at once on top of the rice.
Garnish with black or white sesame seeds, and sliced green onion if desired. Enjoy!
