Frying is awesome. Deep frying, double frying, re-frying, frying light, etc, it’s all good! Aiming to be low-carb/keto, we technically can enjoy fried foods. Although your typical processed oil isn’t ‘healthy’, it is 0 carbs. The carbs actually comes from the crust, which usually is made from bread or grain flour.
So one night, our extended family wanted to make tonkatsu, which is fried pork covered in a breading. Although we love tonkatsu, it does contain quite a bit of carbs. So as we often do, we looked for a workaround.
After a couple of tries making this dish, I presented the ‘low-carb/keto‘ version to my extended family (they didn’t know). Their reaction was ‘how did you make the crust, it’s so good’! Hopefully after you try this recipe out, you will have a similar reaction!
This dish, as pictured, has a total of 6.5g carb, including the sauce. So I would say if you want to get under that arbitrary 5g low-carb/keto limit, use less sauce. The crust has a better crunch and texture than the traditional breadcrumb version.
Also, the homemade tonkatsu sauce definitely does give more depth opposed to your store brought. With these subtle changes, it really does add to this traditional dish.
For this one, you will need quite a few ingredients but most everything can be purchased on Amazon if needed.
Now, let’s get started!
Prepping Time 15M
Cook Time 5M
Total Time 20M
Net Carb/Serv ~6.5g
Servings 2-3
Ingredients
Pork Crust
- 8 Thin Slices of Boneless Pork Top Loin (we got these from Costco and we prefer the thins ones as they are easier to fry and handle)
- Sprinkle of Salt
- Sprinkle of Pepper
- 1/8 of a Cabbage
- Wedge of Lemon
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 3oz of Unflavored Pork Rinds
Sauce
- 2 tbsp Sugar Free Ketchup
- 5 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 tsp Swerve/Monkfruit
Directions
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) Pat pork dry with paper towel. Once dried, sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
3) Shred cabbage with a shredder. Transfer to serving plate.
4) Cut lemon wedge and transfer to serving plate.
5) In a small mixing bowl, combine Sugar Free Ketchup, worcestershire sauce, Oyster Sauce and Swerve/Monkfruit. Mix well and set aside.
6) Open bag of Pork Rinds but don’t pour out. Using your hands, crush all the rinds to mimic the texture of bread crumbs (it will take a while to ensure all rinds are crushed). You can also use a food processor which will get you finer pieces, perfect for deep frying.
7) Fill 1 mixing bowl with Almond Flour, 1 mixing bowl with eggs, 1 mixing bowl with crushed Pork Rinds.
8) Mix eggs.
9) In this order, dip and coat each pork cut: Almond Flour > eggs > crushed Pork Rinds. Once coated, place on holding a plate.
10) Add enough oil to cover about 1/2 inch (we use a cast iron with good results). Heat oil up to 375F (if you don’t have a thermometer, just wait until the oil starts to lightly smoke).
11) Once the oil is ready, place heat to medium and carefully place 4 pork pieces at a time. Cook time will depend on the thickness, but for the thin ones, it takes about 1 – 1.5 minutes.
12) Flip and fry other side for 1-1.5 minute (if you have a meat thermometer, serving temp of pork is 145F).
13) Transfer to a drying rack. If you do not have a drying rack, use a plate with a paper towel to soak up oil.
14) Slice the cutlet into 1/2 inch slices and plate.
15) Drizzle half the sauce per serving on top of tonkatsu and shredded cabbage.
Enjoy your ketofied tonkatsu!!
If you are looking for other low-carb/keto ideas, be sure to check out our growing Recipe Index full of Asian Inspired low-carb/keto recipes!
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Tonkatsu - Fried Pork Cutlet
Ingredients
- 8 Pieces Thin Slices of Boneless Pork Top Loin
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tsp Pepper
- 1/8 Whole Cabbage
- 1 Wedge Lemon
- 1 Cup Almond Flour
- 2 Eggs Eggs
- 3 oz Unflavored Pork Rinds
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Pat pork dry with paper towel. Once dried, sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
- Shred cabbage with a shredder. Transfer to serving plate.
- Cut lemon wedge and transfer to serving plate.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine sugar free ketchup, worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce and Swerve. Mix well and set aside.
- Open bag of pork rinds but don't pour out. Using your hands, crush all the rinds to mimic the texture of bread crumbs (it will take a while to ensure all rinds are crushed). You can also use a food processor which will get you finer pieces, perfect for deep frying.
- Fill 1 mixing bowl with almond flour, 1 mixing bowl with eggs, 1 mixing bowl with crushed pork rinds.
- Mix eggs.
- In this order, dip and coat each pork cut: almond flour > eggs > crushed pork rinds. Once coated, place on holding a plate.
- Add enough oil to cover about 1/2 inch (we use a cast iron with good results). Heat oil up to 375F (if you don't have a thermometer, just wait until the oil starts to lightly smoke).
- Once the oil is ready, place heat to medium and carefully place 4 pork pieces at a time. Cook time will depend on the thickness, but for the thin ones, it takes about 1 - 1.5 minutes.
- Flip and fry other side for 1-1.5 minute (if you have a meat thermometer, serving temp of pork is 145F).
- Transfer to a drying rack. If you do not have a drying rack, use a plate with a paper towel to soak up oil.
- Slice the cutlet into 1/2 inch slices and plate.
- Drizzle half the sauce per serving on top of tonkatsu and shredded cabbage.
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Great ketofied recipe. It even works with bone in pork chops. I think it is even better than the normal breadcrumb recipe. Thanks!
Hey Judy! You are very welcome and we think this version is better than the classic one as well! Check back soon as we do have a great chicken katsu version in the works as well!