48 minutes•Medium•Serves 2
Homemade Kushikatsu: Osaka-Style Deep-Fried Skewers
By @chef1
Recreate the flavors of Osaka's famous kushikatsu at home with this recipe for crispy deep-fried skewers. Customize with your favorite fillings and enjoy with a sweet and savory dipping sauce.
Recipe Rating
Not yet rated by chefs
Ingredients
- ●200g, cut into 1-inch cubes Pork tenderloin
- ●6, cut into 2-inch pieces Asparagus spears
- ●130g Sweet potato, raw peeled flesh
- ●1/2 cup All-purpose flour
- ●1 large Egg
- ●1/2 cup Water
- ●1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- ●880g Vegetable oil for deep frying
- ●2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- ●1 tablespoon Soy sauce
- ●1 tablespoon Ketchup
- ●1 teaspoon Sugar
Instructions
- 1Divide the pork, asparagus and sweet potato across eight skewers, four per serving.
- 2Make the batter: In a bowl, whisk together flour, egg, and water until smooth.
- 3Place panko breadcrumbs in a separate shallow dish.
- 4Heat vegetable oil in a deep pot or fryer to 350°F (175°C).
- 5Dip each skewer in the batter, then dredge in panko breadcrumbs, ensuring it's fully coated.
- 6Deep-fry in two equal batches of four skewers, 2-3 minutes per batch or until the pork is cooked through.
- 7Remove the kushikatsu with a slotted spoon and place on a wire rack to drain excess oil.
- 8Make the tare sauce: In a small saucepan, combine Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, and sugar. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
- 9Serve four skewers per person with all the measured tare sauce; no sauce is discarded in the estimate.
Recipe details
- Cuisine
- Japanese
- Category
- Appetizer
- Preparation
- 32 minutes
- Cooking
- 16 minutes
Estimated total: 48 minutes. Planning estimate: stated duration ranges use their midpoint; standard preparation, heating and handling allowances are included. Overlapping tasks are counted once. Resting/chilling is included in total time.
How these estimates were calculated
- Prepare measured ingredients: 10 min planning allowance (vegetable_prep)
- assemble: 5 min planning allowance (assemble)
- mix: 3 min planning allowance (mix)
- transfer: 2 min planning allowance (transfer)
- pan preheat: 3 min planning allowance (pan_preheat)
- assemble: 5 min planning allowance (assemble)
- transfer: 2 min planning allowance (transfer)
- mix: 3 min planning allowance (mix)
- sauce heat: 3 min planning allowance (sauce_heat)
- transfer: 2 min planning allowance (transfer)
- Chosen 10-minute initial preparation allowance includes implicit chopping and measuring; written preparation is not counted here again.
- Explicit reviewed multiplication: 2 sides/batch actions; source quantities and pan capacity reviewed.
- Matched to raw pork tenderloin, separable lean and fat.
- Asparagus spears: USDA spear, medium (5-1/4" to 7" long) portion weight
- Matched to raw asparagus, using medium spear size for unspecified count.
- Chosen weighed edible amount; not an inferred yield from the original count, package or vague amount.
- All-purpose flour: USDA cup portion weight
- USDA enriched white all-purpose wheat flour; chosen conventional flour style.
- Egg: USDA large portion weight
- Matched to raw, fresh, whole large egg.
- Water: USDA liter portion weight
- USDA plain tap drinking water; unknown amount includes only documented zeros and omits nonzero sodium.
- Panko breadcrumbs: Kikkoman manufacturer label, accessed 2026-10-21; fiber reported as less than 1 g is omitted rather than invented (https://kikkomanusa.com/products/panko/)
- Panko breadcrumbs: USDA cup portion weight
- Kikkoman panko label used as a disclosed brand reference; ordinary breadcrumb density is not used.
- Initial measured 4-cup-style bath; chosen 880g source amount, not an absorption measurement.
- Worcestershire sauce: USDA tbsp portion weight
- Matched to Worcestershire sauce.
- Soy sauce: USDA tbsp portion weight
- Matched to soy sauce made from soy and wheat (shoyu) as a generic soy sauce.
- Ketchup: USDA tbsp portion weight
- USDA catsup (ketchup).
- Sugar: USDA tsp portion weight
- Matched to granulated sugar.
- Deep-frying oil: original bath 880 g; estimated oil eaten 35.84 g for the whole recipe. Bath capacity and batch repetitions do not determine oil eaten. These are estimates, not measured absorption.
- breaded pork, asparagus and sweet-potato skewers including prepared coating: Recipe Studio chosen mixed-skewer allowance: 5 g oil per 100 g ready-to-fry ingredients; informed by Bognár tables 7, 27 and 29; 716.79 g × 5/100 = 35.84 g oil. Breaded pork/root/stem-vegetable tables support the selected category rate, but mixed skewers and this batter are not measured by that reference. All listed coating ingredients, including batter water, are assigned to the skewers; sauce is excluded from the uptake denominator and still included in nutrition. (https://www.fao.org/uploads/media/bognar_bfe-r-02-03.pdf)
- Vegetable oil for deep frying: Keep the 880g bath; use the disclosed mixed-skewer allowance per ready-to-fry food weight, including prepared coating and excluding tare sauce from the uptake denominator. Original: {"item":"Vegetable oil for deep frying","amount":"880g"}. Authored: {"item":"Vegetable oil for deep frying","amount":"880g","notes":"Bath for breaded pork and vegetable skewers; drain before serving."}.
- Vegetable oil for deep frying: Keep the 880g bath; use the disclosed mixed-skewer allowance per ready-to-fry food weight, including prepared coating and excluding tare sauce from the uptake denominator. Original: {"item":"Vegetable oil for deep frying","amount":"880g"}. Authored: {"item":"Vegetable oil for deep frying","amount":"880g","notes":"Bath for breaded pork and vegetable skewers; drain before serving."}.
- Pork tenderloin: 200 g · USDA reference 168312
- Asparagus spears: 96 g · USDA reference 168389
- Sweet potato, raw peeled flesh: 130 g · USDA reference 168482
- All-purpose flour: 62.5 g · USDA reference 168894
- Egg: 50 g · USDA reference 171287
- Water: 118.29 g · USDA reference 173647
- Panko breadcrumbs: 60 g · Food reference
- Vegetable oil for deep frying: 880 g oil bath; estimated 35.84 g oil eaten for the whole recipe · USDA reference 172370 · Frying estimate reference: breaded pork, asparagus and sweet-potato skewers including prepared coating
- Worcestershire sauce: 34 g · USDA reference 171610
- Soy sauce: 16 g · USDA reference 174277
- Ketchup: 17 g · USDA reference 168556
- Sugar: 4.2 g · USDA reference 169655
kushikatsu · skewers · deep-fried · panko
Estimated nutrition per serving
637 calories · 33.8 g protein · 71 g carbohydrate · 24.3 g fat · 900 mg sodium
Source and basis: USDA FoodData Central and reviewed product references; ingredient-based calculation per serving. Documented USDA or manufacturer portion weights; measured inputs included with disclosed retention or uptake estimates where supported. Nutrients with incomplete inputs omitted. Full ingredient matches and assumptions below.
Featured in: Around the World in 80 Meals
Exploring Osaka's iconic kushikatsu from my kitchen, diving into research and recipe experimentation to recreate the perfect deep-fried skewer.
Read the StoryRecipe Context
This recipe was created with the following context in mind:
Friday
afternoon snack
winter
Requested: 8 min
1 person