Is Tonkatsu Sauce Vegan?

What is Tonkatsu sauce?

It’s a thick sauce that generally accompanies a Japanese dish of the same name, Tonkatsu. It has a sticky base of tomatoes, prunes and dates that is sharpened with malt vinegar, apples, lemon juice, carrots and sometimes onions and celery too along with various spices and soy sauce.

Photo credits: Pickled Plum (recipe below)

You might even say its flavours are reminiscent of Worcestershire sauce and brown sauce, but in a high-brow way that includes traditional Japanese flavours. 

Is Tonkatsu sauce vegan?

Whilst the Tonkatsu dish is generally pork-based, the sauce itself is usually vegan-friendly. That’s to say that all its ingredients are plant-based, unless any oyster sauce is used, which would make it non-vegan.  

Vegan Tonkatsu sauce recipe

If you’re after a simple vegan-friendly Tonkatsu sauce recipe, then Pickled Plum has you covered. 

You can keep your plant-based questions coming in our direction via the comments section below.