Katsu Curry Recipe: Japanese Chicken Katsu Curry (From Scratch and with Roux)

Katsu curry is one of Japan's most beloved dishes — a crispy panko-breaded cutlet (most often chicken or pork) served alongside Japanese curry sauce and rice. In Japan, it is as common as pizza in Italy: a quick, comforting, widely loved institution that everyone has an opinion about.

The curry is not Indian curry. Japanese curry developed its own character after the Meiji-era introduction of British-style curry to Japan — it is mild, sweet, thick, and based on a roux. The sauce coats rice and protein without the heat of South Asian curry or the funk of Thai curry. It is designed to be eaten quickly, to satisfy completely, and to reheat perfectly the next day.

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The Two Approaches

Quick version (30 minutes): S&B Golden Curry blocks
Japanese curry roux blocks are sold at every Asian grocery store and many supermarkets. S&B Golden Curry is the standard. The blocks contain everything — spices, fat, starch — and dissolve into water or broth. Quick, reliable, deeply delicious. This is how most Japanese households make curry at home.

From-scratch version (45 minutes): Curry roux made in the pan
If you want to understand the technique and control the spicing, making the roux from scratch takes about 15 extra minutes.

Both are covered below.

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Chicken Katsu (for both versions)

See the complete Chicken Katsu Recipe for the full technique. For curry, the katsu is made identically — the only difference is that the sauce goes next to the cutlet rather than underneath it.

Quick version: 4 boneless chicken thighs, panko-breaded and shallow-fried. Done in 15 minutes.

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Version 1: Japanese Curry from S&B Roux Blocks

Serves: 4
Time: 30 minutes (including the katsu)

Ingredients

For the curry:

• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
• 500ml water or chicken stock
• ½ box S&B Golden Curry roux (medium heat or mild)
• 1 tablespoon oil

For serving:

• Japanese short-grain rice (cooked)
• Chicken katsu (see above)
• Fukujinzuke (Japanese pickled relish) — optional but traditional

Method

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent and beginning to turn golden, 8–10 minutes.

2. Add carrot and potato. Stir to coat. Add water or stock. Bring to a simmer.

3. Cook 15 minutes until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork.

4. Break the roux blocks into individual pieces. Add to the simmering liquid. Stir until completely dissolved — the curry will thicken quickly. Simmer 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Taste. Add salt if needed. The curry should taste rounded, slightly sweet, gently spiced.

To plate: Mound rice on one half of a plate. Ladle curry over the rice. Slice katsu and place it on top or beside the curry. Add fukujinzuke on the side.

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Version 2: Katsu Curry from Scratch

Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes

The Curry Roux

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons curry powder (Japanese-style or standard mild curry powder)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional — for mild heat)

The curry base:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (the Japanese curry secret — adds umami depth)
• 1 tablespoon apple or honey (adds the characteristic Japanese curry sweetness)
• 2 carrots, cut into 2cm pieces
• 2 medium potatoes, cut into 2cm pieces
• 600ml chicken stock or water

Method

1. Make the curry roux:
Melt butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add flour. Stir constantly for 3–4 minutes until the mixture turns a light caramel color (it should smell nutty, not raw). Add all the spices at once. Stir for 1 more minute. Remove from heat. Set aside.

2. Build the curry:
In a separate pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8–10 minutes until deeply golden.

Add garlic and ginger. Cook 2 minutes until fragrant.

Add soy sauce and apple or honey. Stir for 30 seconds.

Add carrot and potato. Add stock or water. Bring to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes until vegetables are tender.

3. Thicken with the roux:
Add the curry roux to the simmering curry in tablespoon increments, stirring after each addition. The curry will thicken as the roux dissolves. Add as much roux as needed for your preferred thickness.

Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust salt.

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What Makes Japanese Curry Different

Japanese curry sits in a unique position in the global curry landscape:

Heat: Mild by default. Japanese curry has significantly less chili heat than most South or Southeast Asian curries. The heat is there — gentle warmth — but never dominant.

Sweetness: Noticeably sweet from caramelized onions, and often from added fruit (grated apple, honey, or ketchup in older recipes). This sweetness is one of the defining characteristics that separates Japanese curry from its neighbors.

Roux base: Japanese curry sauce is thickened with a roux (butter + flour), not coconut milk or yogurt. This gives it the thick, slightly starchy, coating consistency that Japanese curry is known for.

Umami depth: Japanese curry often contains soy sauce, Worcestershire, and occasionally pickled relish (fukujinzuke) — all fermented umami ingredients that add invisible depth.

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The Italian-Japanese Fusion Angle

Japanese katsu curry sits at a cooking-technique intersection with Italian cotoletta con sugo — breaded cutlet with sauce — in a way that's hard to ignore. Both are: breaded fried cutlet, a sauce on the side or over, starch (rice or pasta) as the vehicle.

The technique swap: make the katsu (Japanese-style panko breaded cutlet), but serve it with a Japanese curry sauce that includes a tablespoon of soy sauce for depth and a drizzle of Italian extra-virgin olive oil added to the curry at the end — just enough olive oil to add its aromatic note to the sauce. This is not traditional; it is a logical result of thinking about what both traditions do with richness and sauce.

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For the complete chicken katsu technique — including why panko creates a different crunch than regular breadcrumbs — see Chicken Katsu Recipe.

For the full Japanese curry experience: pair with Japanese short-grain rice (technique: How to Cook Japanese Rice) and serve with fukujinzuke pickled relish for the full texture contrast.