Deku’s Favorite Food: Katsudon from My Hero Academia

Golden pork cutlet, tender egg, sweet onions, and a bowl of steaming rice: here’s how to bring Deku’s favorite food from My Hero Academia to your own kitchen.

This Deku-inspired katsudon brings golden breaded pork, savory broth, and tender egg together in one generous rice bowl. The cutlet starts crisp, then its underside soaks up a savory dashi sauce while the top keeps some crunch.

From anime craving to dinner

Katsudon is a Japanese rice bowl topped with breaded pork cutlet, onion, and egg simmered together in a sweet-savory broth. The appeal is in the layers: fluffy rice underneath, juicy pork in the middle, and golden egg wrapped around the edges.

Jump to ingredients and method ↓ · Step-by-step instructions ↓

Jump to ingredients and method ↓ · Step-by-step instructions ↓

Serves: 2 generous bowls
Prep: about 20 minutes, plus 1 hour of salting in the refrigerator
Cook: about 20 minutes, with rice cooking alongside

Ingredients

For the pork cutlets

• 2 boneless pork chops, about 150–180 g each, pounded to ½ inch (1.3 cm) thick
• ¼ teaspoon fine salt, or lightly to taste
• ¼ cup cornstarch, for coating
• 1 large egg, beaten, for breading
• About 1 cup Japanese panko breadcrumbs, plus more if needed
• Neutral frying oil, enough for a ½-inch layer in a deep, heavy skillet

For the sauce and egg topping

• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• ½ cup prepared dashi stock, made with water, kombu, and katsuobushi, or prepared according to package directions
• ⅓ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• ¼ cup sake
• ¼ cup mirin
• 3–4 large eggs, lightly beaten, separate from the breading egg

To serve

• 1 cup uncooked Japanese short-grain rice, cooked according to package directions
• Thinly sliced green onion, or a small handful of cooked peas, for garnish

Sauce note: Use reduced-sodium soy sauce and simmer gently rather than reducing the sauce by half, which can make it overly salty. Add a splash of water or unsalted dashi if it tastes too strong.

Instructions

1. Salt the pork. Lightly season the pounded chops and refrigerate for about 1 hour. Pat thoroughly dry with paper towels before breading. Keep raw pork separate from ready-to-eat ingredients.
2. Cook the rice. Rinse and cook the rice according to its package instructions. Have it hot and ready before finishing the egg topping.
3. Bread the cutlets. Set up three shallow dishes with cornstarch, the breading egg, and panko. Coat each chop in cornstarch, shake off the excess, dip in egg, then press firmly into panko. Rest the breaded chops in the refrigerator for 10–15 minutes. Discard breading ingredients that touched raw pork.
4. Fry until golden and safely cooked. Heat the frying oil to about 340°F (170°C). Carefully fry the chops without crowding the pan, starting with about 2–3 minutes per side. Adjust the heat so the crumbs brown without burning. Timing varies: check the thickest part from the side with a food thermometer and cook the pork to at least 145°F (63°C). Transfer to a rack and rest for at least 3 minutes before slicing into strips. Pour off the frying oil safely, leaving about 1 teaspoon in the pan.
5. Simmer the onions. Add the sliced onion to the pan and sauté for 1–2 minutes. Pour in the dashi, soy sauce, sake, and mirin. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the onion is tender, about 4–6 minutes. Keep enough liquid to moisten the egg and rice; avoid a hard reduction.
6. Add the cutlets and egg. For tidy individual bowls, use half the sauce, onion, pork, and egg at a time in a small skillet. Lay the sliced cutlet over the onion, keeping the slices together. Pour the lightly beaten topping eggs around and between the slices. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until the eggs are set with no liquid egg remaining and the egg mixture reaches 160°F (71°C). Repeat for the second bowl. You can also finish everything in one large pan and divide it between bowls.
7. Slide onto rice. Divide the hot rice between two bowls. Carefully slide or lift the cutlet, onion, and egg onto the rice, spooning over a little sauce. Finish with sliced green onion or cooked peas and serve straight away.

Small details that make a better bowl

• Dry pork, better breading. Surface moisture makes the coating slip; pat the chops dry before the cornstarch.
• Keep the slices together. Cut the fried pork into strips before adding it to the sauce, then move the whole cutlet with a wide spatula.
• Let the egg surround the pork. Pouring most of the egg around the edges leaves more golden crumb visible on top.
• Serve immediately. Katsudon is meant to have a sauce-softened underside. For the best contrast, assemble it just before eating.

Leftovers and allergens

Refrigerate leftovers promptly in shallow containers within 2 hours of cooking, or within 1 hour if the temperature is above 90°F (32°C). Keep at 40°F (4°C) or colder, use within 3–4 days, and reheat to 165°F (74°C). Refrigerate cooked rice just as promptly. The breading will soften during storage.

Contains: pork, eggs, wheat in standard panko and many soy sauces, soy, and fish from katsuobushi dashi. Sake and mirin contain alcohol; a short simmer does not guarantee that all alcohol has cooked away.

Temperature and storage guidance: FoodSafety.gov cooking temperatures and safe food handling.

Images are AI-generated illustrations, including original anime-inspired fan art, rather than screenshots from the series.

Comment your top 3 shonen anime—and tell us which anime food we should make next!