Japan's most comforting rice bowl — a breaded pork cutlet (tonkatsu) simmered in a sweet dashi and soy broth with sliced onion, then bound with a lightly set egg and served over steamed rice; a staple of Japanese home cooking and affordable restaurant menus.
Donburi culture
Katsudon is a donburi — a rice bowl dish in which a protein and sauce are placed over a bowl of steamed white rice. Donburi are central to Japanese home cooking and fast-food culture: oyakodon (chicken and egg), gyudon (beef), tendon (tempura), and katsudon are the most celebrated. They are filling, economical, and satisfy all requirements of a complete meal in one bowl.
The simmering step
Unlike simple tonkatsu (fried cutlet with rice), katsudon has an extra step: the already-fried cutlet is sliced and placed in a shallow pan with sweetened dashi stock and onion, simmered briefly, then a beaten egg is poured over and the lid placed on to steam the egg to a soft, barely-set consistency. This simmering makes the crumb slightly softer and binds the whole assembly with a light egg coating.
Exam good luck
In Japan, katsudon has a cultural association with exams. The word katsu is a homophone for the word meaning “to win” or “to overcome” — eating katsudon before an important exam is considered good luck. Students often eat it the night before university entrance exams.
Quick preparation
Because katsudon uses a pre-cooked tonkatsu cutlet (often leftover from a previous meal), it is one of the fastest hot meals in Japanese cooking — the simmering step takes only 5–7 minutes. This makes it one of the most practical Japanese dinner dishes.
Find more foods by letter
Katsudon starts with K and ends with N. Browse other foods along the same letter.
Foods that contain a letter from "Katsudon":