Anna Who doesn’t love fried meat on a cold winter’s night? Tonkatsu means pork cutlet. You pound your pork chops into oblivion, bread them in Panko bread crumbs, and fry til golden and crispy! I grew up with this delicious treat when mom was in a rush and needed to make dinner in a hurry. I loved the contrast between crunchy breading and tender pork. We would often top it off with tonkatsu sauce, steak sauce, or even ketchup! The result was always delicious and one of my all-time favorites. Because it cooks so quickly, it doesn’t have time to get tough and dry.
Now that I teach full-time, come home late, and don’t always have time to make fancy home cooked meals, I get extremely excited when I have the ingredients to make this! It’s cheap, delicious, and way less expensive than a run to McDonalds! Childhood favorite for the win! However, there is a secret to my recipe that is different from any other tonkatsu recipe I’ve tried. The secret is…coffee! Why coffee? Go read the recipe and find out! And welcome to my blog!
Crispy Coffee Tonkatsu
Equipment
- 1 Quart or gallon sized ziploc bag
- 3 shallow dishes for dredging
- 1 medium frying pan
- paper towels
- 1 wire rack
Ingredients
- 6 Boneless Pork Chops
- 1/2 tsp salt Or less to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups Panko bread crumbs
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 cup crisco or high temperature frying oil
Instructions
- Using a quart or gallon sized bag, place the pork chops inside and seal. Make sure you remove as much of the air as possible from the bag. Using a meat mallet tenderizer or a rolling pin, pound the pork chops within an inch of their life until they are very flat, about 1/4 inch. Remove from the bag into a shallow dish.
- Combine the salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and espresso powder into a small bowl. Stir to combine. Sprinkle the spice mixture on one side of each pork chop. Flip the pork chops over and thoroughly cover with the spices. Gently rub the spices into both sides of the meat.
- Now, make your dredging station. You will need two shallow dishes. Fill one with Panko bread crumbs and the other with the two eggs. Beat the eggs.
- Dust the flour over the pork chops.
- Make sure your pork chops are thoroughly covered in the flour on both sides.
- In the meantime, preheat your frying pan over medium heat. Add the Crisco and allow it to melt. Let the temperature rise to about 350 degrees. Or, you can test the temperature with a piece of Panko. Drop the Panko into the oil and wait to see if it immediately begins bubbling and floats.
- Using a fork, take one pork chop and coat both sides thoroughly in the egg mixture. Lift up and allow the extra liquid to drip off, dip into the Panko bread crumbs and coat it completely on both sides. Repeat with the remaining pork chops.
- Once the oil is hot enough, gently place one pork chop into the oil. I like to put it down facing away from me. This way you don't get splattered! Cook the tonkatsu for 3-4 minutes on one side until it is a gorgeous golden brown. Flip, and repeat on the second side.
- While the pork is cooking, place some paper towels down and lay a wire rack on top. Once the pork is fried and delicious, lay the tonkatsu on a wire rack and allow it to drain some of the oil. Placing the pork on a wire rack as opposed to paper towel lets the tonkatsu stay extra crispy. Repeat with the remaining pork chops.
- Once all the pork chops are cooked, you are done! Enjoy! Slice into strips and serve over a bed of hot sticky rice. Top with tonkatsu sauce, Japanese barbecue sauce, dynamite mayo, ketchup, or even steak sauce! The sky is the limit!
