Tonkatsu Sauce From Scratch (Actually)
a part of the Tonkatsu series
hwoo.lee•
April 20, 2026
Have you ever thought about making ketchup?
This is that same level of crazy and masochistic. "It's way too much work to make, but it tastes objectively better than the bottle. but also, the bottled cheap version tastes better because it's more familiar to everyone".
Bulldog Katsu Sauce is readily available everywhere. It tastes great. There are recipes of people making Bulldog Katsu Sauce out of Ketchup, Soy Sauce, Oyster Sauce, and Worcestershire Sauce. But do you want a recipe to make katsu sauce from scratch? Without the use of another bottled condiment?
Knock yourself out kiddo.
Despite how much work this is to make, I love it enough to keep making this instead of buying Bulldog.
Things I Changed in the Recipe
In the recipe, I wrote tomato puree. I actually went with 80g tomato paste. I cooked out the raw flavor in the pan, then diluted with 80g of water. In addition, I actually used chicken stock instead of warm water, because I wanted to add more body and meat flavor. I think you could skip this.
I found this sauce to be a little thin, which isn't bad, but if you really want to thicken it I would use kuzu or cornstarch slurry while heating it up.
Ingredients (22)
Ingredients (22)
Spices
Vegetable + Fruit Base
Liquid Seasonings
Instructions
Spices
In a pan over medium heat, toast all the spices whole except for the Cayenne pepper (½ g) and Celery Seed (1 g).
Once the spices are cooled, grind in a spice grinder, then combine the cayenne pepper and celery seed.
Tonkatsu Sauce
In a small saucepan, combine onion (120 g), carrot (40 g), apple (120 g), garlic (6 g), ginger (6 g), and tomato purée (160 g) with 1–2 tbsp of the water.
Cook over medium-low heat for 6 min, stirring often, until soft (but do not brown!).
Add remaining water (240 g), soy sauce (60 g), vinegar (80 g), mirin (60 g), white sugar (40 g), kokuto (45 g), salt (8 g), umami seasonings (40 g).
Add all of the toasted spices into the saucepan, and keep on a gentle simmer for 20 - 30minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent burning
The volume should reduce by about 20-30%, and it should coat the back of a spoon well
Strain the finished sauce into a chinois or fine mesh strainer. Adjust seasoning, and then whisk in ground white sesame seeds (20 g) into the sauce.
At first, the spices are all incredibly overwhelming. Allowing this sauce to mellow out in the fridge overnight will help bring the sauce together and taste more reminiscent of the famous Bulldog Katsu Sauce.
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