Air Fryer Tonkatsu (Japanese Pork Cutlet)

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This air fryer tonkatsu recipe gives you all the flavor of homemade tonkatsu without any deep frying! My tonkatsu recipe makes the crispiest crust while keeping the pork inside super juicy. With the air fryer, homemade tonkatsu is just that much easier!

Air Fryer Tonkatsu (Japanese Pork Cutlet) - Mochi Mommy (1)

What is Tonkatsu?

Tonkatsu is a very popular Japanese dish. It’s a pork cutlet breaded with panko and deep fried. In fact, any Japanese food that gets breaded in panko and then fried falls under the category of “katsu.” When you’re talking about specifically pork, then you call it tonkatsu. Many other cuisines from around the world have similar fried cutlet dishes – from schnitzel to chicken parm. Speaking of which, I totally did not know what a schnitzel was until after college. When I found out, the first thing I said was, “Oh, it’s just a German katsu!” So I guess you can tell what my point of reference for European foods is.

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Tonkatsu vs. Tonkotsu

Now that you know what tonkatsu is, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, stop going to ramen restaurants and ordering “tonkatsu broth.” I know they are very similar in spelling, hence the confusion. But there is no such thing as tonkatsu broth. When talking about ramen, you’re talking about tonKOTSU, not tonKATSU. Tonkotsu refers to pork bone broth. The “o” in tonkotsu is pronounced like a long “o,” just like in “udon.”

Have you just now realized you’ve been pronouncing udon wrong too? Boy, this post is full of educational material, innit?

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What Cut of Meat to Use for Tonkatsu

Typically, tonkatsu in Japan uses pork tenderloin (hirekatsu) or pork loin with a strip of fat (rosu katsu). At my local Japanese market, I typically see hirekatsu, which is sold already sliced perfectly sized for making tonkatsu.

With breaded and fried (or air fried) pork, it’s hard to go wrong. Just know that you’ll probably want to adjust your cook time by plus or minus a few minutes depending on how thick of a cut you get.

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The Trick for Crispy Katsu Crust

I’ve written about this in my other katsu recipe posts, but the trick to getting the best crust is to mix your eggs and flour PRIOR to dredging.

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Other Japanese cooks use tricks like double dredging your meat or double frying. But I think simply creating a thicker batter prior to pressing on the panko works equally well and is WAY less work. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Air Frying Tonkatsu

The good thing about this air fryer tonkatsu recipe is that the ingredients are exactly the same as a deep fried one. So if you decide to go the traditional deep fry route, you don’t need to change anything! For air frying, I use 360 degrees F and adjust the time between 15-20 minutes depending on how thick your pork cutlet is.

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One thing to keep in mind is that panko will not get a deep golden brown color in the air fryer. If having pale panko bothers you, simply pretoast the panko in a skillet over the stovetop prior to breading your pork. However, this step is completely optional and doesn’t affect the taste.

You can serve tonkatsu over rice with katsu sauce and cabbage salad. OR tonkatsu also goes really well with Japanese curry. It’s hard to think of a scenario in which tonkatsu does NOT taste good, so really, eat it as you wish!