This chicken tatsuta is crispy, juicy and packed full of flavors. It is made with chicken breast marinated in the soy sauce mix, dusted with cornstarch and shallow fried in a pan. The tangy sweet onion sauce paired together brings the dish to the next level. 

Chicken tatsuta is a popular Japanese dish that can be easily made at home. Although it is made with lean chicken breast, the marinade makes the meat super flavorful and moist. 

While most recipes are made with smaller pieces of meat, this version flattens and uses the entire chicken breast like a big steak! By shallow frying in the pan with less oil, it is healthier, and creates less mess than deep frying. 

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• Tatsuta vs Karaage
• Ingredients for this recipe
• How to make chicken tatsuta
• Storing and reheating direction
• More chicken recipes...
• Recipe

Tatsuta vs Karaage

One way to differentiate these two is by the ingredients used for dusting. Tatsuta is usually referred to anything dusted with potato or cornstarch, whereas karaage is done with regular flour. 

Nowadays, karaage is more of a generic term that refers to flour coated fried food. So in that sense, ‘tatsuta’ can be one kind of karaage as well.

Ingredients for this recipe

For the chicken

• Large chicken breast
• Sake - or dry white wine
• Tamari soy sauce
• Salt 
• Garlic clove - grated
• Cornstarch
• Avocado oil - for shallow frying

For the sauce

• Red onion - finely chopped
• Scallion - finely chopped
• Tamari soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• Rice vinegar
• Honey
• Salt & pepper to taste

How to make chicken tatsuta

1. Butterfly the chicken breast. Carefully cut horizontally through the meat. Open up, then flatten the surface using your fist or a rolling pin. Halve the butterflied breast (separate out in the middle).

2. Marinate. Place the chicken in a bowl. Add in the sake, tamari, grated garlic and rub into the meat. Let sit for 5 -10 minutes.

3. Make the sauce. While marinating, combine all 7 sauce ingredients together.

4. Coat with cornstarch. Make sure the chicken is completely covered on both sides.

5. Shallow fry. Heat up the avocado oil in a pan. Gently slide in the chicken, cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Let rest for at least 3 minutes, then slice.

6. Serve with rice and drizzle the sauce over the chicken.

*See below recipe card for detailed instructions.

Storing and reheating direction

Chicken tatsuta is the best when consumed fresh. If there is any leftover, cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

To get back the crispiness on the outside, using a toaster oven is the best bet. You can also heat up on the stove top in a pan without any oil. I personally do recommend microwaving as the starch layer becomes very soggy. 

Recipe