Wagamama’s chicken katsu curry

Wagamama shared the secrets of their famous chicken katsu curry so here’s the recipe ready to make from scratch at home. And the best news is it’s easy enough for kids to do.

Wagamama’s chicken katsu curry is an iconic dish and luckily for us, they’ve shared the secrets on how to recreate it from scratch at home.

I love trying to make ‘fake away’ and famous restaurant dishes at home, especially as it’s not always easy to get out to restaurants when you have young children.

How can kids help to make Wagamama’s chicken katsu curry from scratch?

There are a few different ways kids can get involved in making both the chicken and the katsu curry sauce.

Children who are old enough to handle raw chicken can help to bash it then coat in the flour, egg and panko breadcrumbs. If your children are too young to coat the chicken they can at least help to get the coating ready.

Your kids can also help to prepare the ingredients for the sauce and stir it while it’s cooking. The ingredient list might look quite long but it’s actually a very simple dish that children can get a lot of satisfaction out of making.

What is katsu curry sauce made of?

Wagamama’s recipe uses turmeric and curry powder as well as coconut milk and stock in its sauce. The turmeric is, in part what gives it its distinctive colour.

Is chicken katsu curry spicy?

No, and that’s what I like about it. The sauce is full of flavour but it’s not hot or spicy which makes it a great family dinner.

Other ‘copycat recipes

If you liked this Wagamama Katsu curry, you might like our other ‘copycat’ recipes:

Gregg’s steak bakes
Pizza Express dough balls

Useful equipment

You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this chicken katsu curry

Dishes
Meat tenderizer
Frying pans
Measuring spoons
Measuring jug
Digital scales

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Ingredients

For the katsu curry sauce
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
thumb sized piece of ginger
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp mild curry powder
1 tbsp plain flour
300ml chicken stock
100ml coconut milk
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

For the chicken
2 chicken breasts
50g plain flour
2 eggs
100g panko breadcrumbs

How to make Wagamama’s chicken katsu curry

Cook the onion, garlic and ginger

Start by getting your kids to help peel the garlic and onion, then dice the onion into small pieces and crush the garlic.

If you’re using fresh ginger, using the back of a teaspoon, get your kids to remove the peel from the ginger. Then grate the ginger with the small side of a grater or a nutmeg grater.

We use frozen ginger as it means I always have some to hand and it comes ready prepared so can skip this step.

Heat a little oil in a pan then fry the onions over a medium heat for a few minutes until they have softened. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

If your children are old enough, they might be able to help by stirring the onion, garlic and ginger so that it doesn’t catch and burn in the pan.

Add the spices and flour

Get your kids to measure the turmeric, curry powder and flour and add them to your frying pan. Give them a stir and cook them for a few minutes so they can start to release their flavours.

Add the remaining katsu curry sauce ingredients

Measure out the stock and coconut milk. If you have digital scales, using the ml setting is the easiest way of your kids doing it accurately.

Add them to your frying pan, then measure in the soy sauce and sugar.

Bring the curry sauce to the boil, then turn it down, cover and simmer it for 20 minutes or so until it has thickened. You can let older children stir it every so often. If it reduces too much add a splash more coconut milk or stock to loosen it.

To finish the sauce, if you like it nice and smooth like they make it at Wagamamas, you can pass it through a sieve. We don’t tend to bother though as I don’t mind the lumps of onion.

While the sauce is cooking you can start preparing the chicken.

Prepare the chicken

Start by laying the chicken on a chopping board, covering it in cling film then bashing it with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin to flatten it slightly. This is one of my kids favourite jobs but you need to keep an eye on them so they do it evenly and bash it to a pulp.

Set the chicken aside while you prepare the coating.

Prepare the coating

In three separate dishes get your kids to add the flour, the eggs, and the panko breadcrumbs. Whisk the eggs a little and lay the dishes out in that order.

Coat the chicken in breadcrumbs

Heat a little oil in another frying pan

Take one of the flattened chicken breasts and put it in the flour. Turn it over so that it is well coated on each side.

Now, dip it in the egg, again making sure it is covered all over. Hold it up, above your dish and let any excess egg drip back down.

Finally, dip the chicken breast in the panko breadcrumbs, making sure it is coated all over.

Your frying pan should be hot enough if you put it on before you coated the chicken, so pop your chicken breast straight in it.

Repeat these steps with the second chicken breast.

Cook each chicken breast, over a medium heat, for 5 minutes on each side. They’re ready when they’re cooked through and not at all pink in the middle. I sometimes check by cutting into the chicken breast and taking a look.

To serve, cut the chicken into strips and lay them on top of some rice. Spoon the katsu curry sauce on top.