Kushi katsu is the popular Japanese street food made from bite size pieces of tasty ingredients fried on a skewer until golden and crispy! It’s easy to make at home and a perfect party platter food to serve your friends and family!
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What is Kushi Katsu?
Kushikatsu, also known as kushiage, is a tasty snack or light meal made from bite size pieces of seafood, meat, vegetables, and other ingredients stuck on a skewer and deep fried in panko breadcrumbs. It’s a very popular and common street food found all over Japan, particularly in Western Japan where it originated.
You’ll find it served hot and fresh at street food stalls and specialty stores in the Osaka/Kansai region among other popular street foods from this area like takoyaki and okonomiyaki. Kushikatsu is a lot of fun to make at home and eating the yummy fried foods off the skewer makes everything more delicious somehow. This is the perfect thing for a party where everyone can try a variety of different skewers!
What do you need to make Kushi Katsu?
Seafood, meats, and vegetables of your choice. I used Prawn, quail eggs, renkon, and zucchini.
other ingredients suggestions are as follows.
Bamboo skewers – 6-8 inch (15-20cm) size is suit for Kushi Katsu. You should be able to get them from your local supermarket, but if you can’t find any, you can buy them from online stores here.
Panko crumb – if you can not access to Japanese panko crumb, you can make it at home following my DIY recipe
Vegetable oil for deep frying
What other ingredients can be made Kushi katsu
Nearly anything could be made into kushi katsu. It simply involves sticking ingredients on a skewer, coating with batter and panko crumbs, then dipping in oil to deep fry until crispy. The most commonly used ingredients are:
Seafood – prawn, crab meat, scallops, octopus, fish fillets, and fish cakes
Meat – beef, pork, chicken, sausages, ham
Vegetables – potato, sweet potato, eggplant, pumpkin, onion, shiitake mushrooms, small green peppers (shishito), lotus root, yam, burdock root (gobo),
Other – cheese, quail eggs, mochi
Kansai style kushi katsu is usually made by putting the same things on one skewer. But feel free to stack a mix of ingredients if you wish. I wanted to use Chikuwa (fish cake) as well but I couldn’t find any. This type of fish cake has a hole in the middle where you can stick cheese in and combine the flavours on the skewer. This is my absolute favourite type of kushi katsu. If you can find the ingredients you should definitely try it!
How to Make Kushi Katsu
- Prepare the ingredients by cutting and slicing to bite size.
- Spear the prepared ingredients with skewers and set aside.
- Make a batter.
- Coat all skewered ingredients with batter, then coat with the panko crumbs.
- Heat frying oil in a deep pan.
- Deep fry each skewer until it’s crispy and golden brown.
- Make dipping sauce.
- Serve Kushikatsu with the dipping sauce.
Dipping Sauce
There are many types of dipping sauces for Kushikatsu. Personally, I like using just soy sauce or a little bit of salt and a squeeze of lemon. Kushikatsu also often comes with a special sauce and I’ve included an Osaka style version of this in the recipe.
There are many different flavours, and I recommend Miso flavour too. If you’re eating at home then you can dip the sauce as much as you like but if you’re eating this in at a restaurant in Japan be aware that you can only dip the skewer once! The sauce provided at the table is shared in the restaurant making it unhygienic and bad manners to double dip. Since double-dipping is not allowed, look out for free cabbage they provide. Use a slice of cabbage to scoop more sauce out for your kushi katsu skewer. Luckily a benefit of making it at home is that you don’t need to worry about any of this!
Tips for Making Kushi Katsu
- Cut bite size pieces – When you prepare the ingredients, I recommend cutting the ingredients into bite-size pieces. This makes it much easier to deep fry and eat. It also helps cut down the cooking time and ensures the inside is fully cooked.
- Bamboo skewers – Use bamboo skewers of about 6-8 inch(15-20cm) long, and thin (about 0.08inch/2mm in diameter). It is easier to spear the ingredients and easier to deep fry too.
- Also use flat containers to apply the batter and crumbs.
Hope you enjoy Kushikatsu at home!
Kushi Katsu 串カツ
Ingredients
- 2 prawns
- 2 slices renkon rotus roots about 5mm thick
- 4 quail eggs
- 2 slices pumpkin
- 2 slices zucchini
- 2 cups panko crumb
- 200 ml oil for deep fry
batter
- 4 tbsp plain flour
- 50 ml cold water
- 1 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise I used Kewpie brand one
Kushi Katsu sauce
- 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp tonkatsu sauce
- 1/2 tsp ketchup
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients by cutting and slicing to bite size.
- Spear the prepared ingredients with skewers and set aside.
- Mix the egg, flour, water and mayonnaise in a small bowl to make a batter.
- Coat all skewered ingredients with batter, then coat with the panko crumbs.
- Heat frying oil in a deep pan that is a deep enough so the skewers can be dipped in, until it reaches around 180 degrees Celsius.
- Deep fry each skewer until it’s crispy and golden brown.
- Place all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Combine and stir until all ingredients dissolve. Turn the heat off just before it boils.
- Serve Kushikatsu with the dipping sauce.
amazing recipe!
thank you!
Hey! Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe! It was a great success! The great taste brings me with so much appreciation! It made my day 🙂 Will try this again for sure!
My wife and I just got an air fryer and we both LOVE Japanese food! We would love to try this recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Hi David, Thank you. That is a kitchen gadget, I would like to have. I will be much healthier than deep frying 😀
Hey Shihoko,
Japan is one of my favorite country for their various delicious and traditional foods. This one also looks yummy and testy. And I’ll surely try it soon.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Ellen 😀