The children are finally back to school after the winter break. One of the first thing that came to my mind was I need to start stocking up my freezer with bento menu items, like these Chicken Katsu.
It would be much easier for me if my son is willing to eat sandwiches everyday, but he’s used to my cooking and prefers Japanese food for his lunch (although I occasionally take a break and make sandwiches).
Sure it takes a little bit more time to make Japanese style bento in the morning, but most of food packed in the lunch box I make were already cooked in advance. All I need to do in the morning is to reheat and pack other ingredients (Why do I reheat? Read here.). It’s pretty simple, so let’s get started!
Previous Dinner was Chicken Katsu:
For the small bento box my son has, I cut chicken into small pieces so that I can make mini Chicken Katsu. After I deep fry and let it cool down completely, I pack these mini ones into small individual airtight containers like these (You can purchase at your local Daiso store).
Or wrap individual portion with plastic wrap and put them in a Ziploc bag. You can keep these Chicken Katsu in the freezer for 3 weeks at most. When you want to pack Chicken Katsu for bento during those 3 weeks, you take out the individual portion from the freezer and reheat in the morning.
If you know that you will be using Chicken Katsu for bento the following day, you can keep it in the refrigerator. The direction to make Chicken Katsu Bento is below.
Lunch Next Day:
- Chicken Katsu Bento
- Water bottle
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Chicken Katsu Bento
Ingredients
- cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- chicken katsu
- tonkatsu sauce (for my homemade recipe, click here)
- strawberries
- blackberries
- tomatoes
- broccoli (pre-blanched)
- Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette) (pre-cooked)
Instructions
- Fill up half of bento box with Japanese rice. Let it cool so that hot/warm rice will not warm up other cool food.
- Take leftover chicken katsu out of fridge or freezer and bake at 400ºF (200ºC) for a few minutes in a toaster oven (or oven) until it's warm.
- Place chicken katsu on top of rice and drizzle tonkatsu sauce on top (or put it in a different sauce container).
- Wash strawberries, blackberries, and tomatoes, and pat dry. Cut if necessary. Place nicely in the bento box along with broccoli and tamagoyaki.
- Cool down completely before closing the bento box.
since the chicken katsu is fried would it get soggy in the bento, if it does is there a way to prevent that?
Hi, Laura! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
Fried items in bento become soggy if there is moisture from other dishes like rice. So, before packing the bento, let the entire dish cool and arrange the Katsu with a piece of parchment paper or foil. You can also keep Katsu in a different container.
We hope this helps preserve the crispy texture.
Hi Nami – I LOVE your blog and am hoping to use more of your bento recipes/instructions. I have one question – how long does it take for the food to cool completely after you’ve heated it up?
Hi Pam! Thank you so much for reading my blog! You mean after re-heating, right? I lay out all the food on a plate or cutting board (some food in silicone cups). Probably 40-45 mins? I first make bento in the morning when I get up, before breakfast. Bento food is being cooled when I’m making breakfast and when kids are eating breakfast… and then I quickly close the lid and ready to drop off the kids. All the rest of bento stuff (snacks, fruits, water, etc) are all ready to go before closing the lid. Hope this helps?
Hi Nami, this recipes looks delicious! I have a question about packing rice in the lunch box though. I know that rice can grow bacteria quickly but would it be okay to eat it; if I cook it the night before, place it in the fridge once it’s cool, place it in a container with an ice pack in the morning, and then eat it for lunch around 12? Thanks!
Hi Anna! That’s what I do for my children’s lunch box when I don’t have time to prepare in the morning (I microwave frozen rice – https://www.justonecookbook.com/how_to/how-to-freeze-rice/). The bacteria grow when it’s warm environment. As long as it’s kept cool, it’s okay. In Japan, we usually put Umeboshi (pickled plum) in the middle of rice – it’s edible but works as anti-bacterial. Hope this helps…. 🙂
Thank you so much! This definitely helps!