The Key Flavors You Need For Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce

Tonkatsu sauce is a Japanese condiment, reminiscent of barbecue sauce, tailor-made for pork tonkatsu. When we say "reminiscent of barbecue sauce" we mean, it's used similarly but is oh-so-much more rich, complex, and flavorful. The sweet, savory, and slightly tangy sauce is most often paired with crispy, breaded pork tonkatsu, but it's also excellent when experimenting with chilis, pigs in a blanket, mac and cheese, and more.

We like to prepare homemade tonkatsu sauce whenever possible, so we connected to Chef Koj, a private chef and food writer who knows all about the ins and outs of Japanese cuisine. "It's pretty hard replicating [Bull Dog Tonkatsu Sauce] with raw ingredients such as fruit, vegetables, and spices, just as it would be if you were trying to replicate Heinz tomato ketchup — people are very familiar with the taste," he explains. "But if you want to synthesize tonkatsu sauce, you can achieve it with mustard, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and honey, or a syrup to sweeten it." Making homemade tonkatsu sauce is similar to making (dare we compare) McDonald's breakfast sauce at home, you can get pretty close to the flavors but ultimately you need all the additives like high fructose corn syrup and modified rice starch to replicate the exact mouthfeel of the sauce.

Even though you probably can't replicate the more conventional, store-bought tonkatsu sauce to a T, you can still make your own, fresher, just as delicious sauce. We have an insanely easy 5-ingredient tonkatsu sauce recipe that will take you about five minutes to make. All you need is to mix together a teaspoon of microplaned fresh ginger root, ½ cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon mirin. These ingredients are a little different from what Chef Koj recommends, but will still deliver on those key flavors: Spice, acid, umami, and sweetness.

If you're taking the time to make homemade tonkatsu sauce, we recommend venturing out beyond pork tonkatsu for sauce and dish combinations. The easiest way to taste the integrity of your sauce is by adding about 4 tablespoons to veggies after they've finished roasting in the oven. But we recommend getting adventurous and trying your sauce with oven-baked baby-back ribs. For the rib sauce, all you need to do is add ¼ cup of tonkatsu sauce with ¼ cup of ketchup, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey, and some smoked paprika and garlic powder to taste. Or use this same sauce combo to toss your crispy, oven-roasted chicken wings — both meals will be winners.