Katsudon
Crisp pork cutlet and egg simmered over rice.
Ingredients
- 300 g Pork loin
- 100 g Panko
- 4 Egg
- 1 Onion
- 400 g Japanese short-grain rice
- 3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)
- 2 tbsp Mirin
- 200 ml Neutral oil
- 1 Kombu (dried kelp) (optional)
Method
- Rinse the rice and cook it in twice its volume of water, covered, until tender and the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
- While the rice cooks, pound the pork thin, then coat it in beaten egg and panko.
- Simmer the kombu in water briefly to make a dashi, then stir in the soy and mirin.
- Slice the onion.
- Deep-fry the crumbed cutlet in hot oil until golden, then drain and slice.
- Simmer the onion in the broth until soft, lay the sliced cutlet on top, and pour in beaten egg to set softly.
- Slide over the hot rice and serve.
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About Katsudon
Katsudon is a Japanese donburi — a rice bowl — in which a fried pork cutlet is simmered briefly with onion in a sweet-savoury broth and set with beaten egg, then slid over hot short-grain rice. The broth is the heart of it: a light kombu dashi seasoned with soy and mirin, sweet and deeply umami, in which the sliced tonkatsu soaks just long enough to drink up flavour without losing all its crunch. Egg poured in at the end is cooked only until softly set, so it stays glossy and just-runny, blanketing the cutlet and onion in a tender layer.
Eating katsudon is a study in textures: the still-crisp edges of the pork, the silky half-set egg, the sweet soft onion and the broth-soaked rice at the bottom of the bowl all in one spoonful. It's a classic quick meal in Japan — filling, homey, and a well-known good-luck dish eaten before exams because katsu puns on the word for winning. This version does the smart thing of frying the cutlet first and only briefly simmering it in the dashi, which is the key to keeping some crunch alive under the egg rather than letting the whole cutlet go soggy.
Katsudon: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Katsudon?
A serving has about 1015 calories — 59.2g protein, 102.9g carbs, 38.2g fat, 4.2g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 59.2g of protein, roughly 23% of its calories.
Is Katsudon gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Panko, Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu). You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for those ingredients to make it gluten-free.
Do I need every ingredient to make Katsudon?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out kombu (dried kelp) — it's optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Katsudon make?
This recipe makes 2 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.