Japanese Potato Croquettes | Korokke

Japanese Potato Croquettes crunchy patties of mashed potatoes and ground beef coated in panko are one of the favorite Japanese street foods.

Every homemaker hates wasting food and tries to recycle their leftover food. This often leads to trying out intriguing recipes, including mine.

This is why I thought of sharing this recipe for Japanese croquettes that can be made using any leftover mashed potatoes.

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Jump to:

• Watch the video
• What is korokke?
• How croquette became korokke?
• French croquette vs traditional korroke
• Tip to make it crunchy
• Korokke variations
• Ingredients
• Steps by step instructions
• Notes
• Other Asian Recipes:
• Full Recipe

Watch the video

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Of course, you can always make it with fresh potatoes, but I’m just suggesting a way to use leftover mashed potatoes.

Even potato lovers tend to detest eating mashed potatoes the next day.

However, this wonderful Japanese dish, the korokke or Karokke, gives you a solution.

To make things better, the recipe is very basic and easy to make. It’s also very tasty, and pretty versatile.

This is because while the basic recipe uses ground meat, you can add other ingredients like shredded carrots, hard-boiled eggs, or anything else that you like.

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What is korokke?

In basic language, a korokke or karokke (コロッケ, potato, and ground meat croquette) is a Japanese version of the famous French croquette.

It’s a potato and ground meat dish fried to a perfect golden brown.

It has a crunchy outer layer with a slightly sweet inner filling. It’s a very popular home-cooked Japanese dish which tastes delicious on its own.

However, it also goes well with Tonkatsu or Katsu sauce, a slightly sweet Japanese sauce, or sweet Worcestershire sauce.

It is a prime example of Yoshoku cuisine comprising of dishes adopted from other countries.

It was started after the Meiji Restoration, and all of these dishes have a unique Japanese twist.

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How croquette became korokke?

The word croquette means ‘to crunch’ which aptly describes this dish, which is crunchy enough.

The question is how this delicious creamy deep-fried French dish ended up as popular Japanese street food!

The name stems from the French dish croquette. The word croquette is converted to something similar to, and easier for the Japanese to pronounce.

The word is even written in katakana instead of the usual Japanese kanji characters.

Katakana is a set of phonetic characters used by the Japanese for expressing sounds and foreign words.

This is why you find the two words ‘croquette’ and ‘korokke’ sounding so similar.

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French croquette vs traditional korroke

French croquettes are made using a béchamel sauce while the traditional versions are made of potato and some ground meat and onions.

The blend is then flavored by adding some typical Japanese seasonings like Mirin, soy sauce, and sake.

Korokkes also have a coating of panko breadcrumbs. Panko is a light and flaky form of Japanese breadcrumbs is used because they are much coarser than the usual breadcrumbs.

Besides, they do not soak up oil while frying, so you get light, crunchy, and crispy croquettes when it’s deep-fried.

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Tip to make it crunchy

I have a useful secret to share with you, for keeping these croquettes crispy and crunchy for a longer time.

• All you have to do is to leave the fried mini croquettes on a wire rack. This lets air circulate into them which helps to cool down but also prevents hot steam from moistening their crispy crust.

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Korokke variations

As mentioned earlier, korokke was traditionally made by blending mashed potatoes with ground meat or a hamburger, and fried onions.

However, nowadays there are quite a few variations possible where you can use vegetables and seafood like crab instead of meat, and béchamel sauce or pumpkin instead of potato.

It’s not only the ingredients that vary. There are even variations in its shape.

Instead of making this recipe in the traditional flat, oval shape; you can also try making a log, ball, or flat and round shaped versions.

You can probably find some great pre-packaged korokke from the shelves of your local Asian supermarket or large grocery stores.

But it can never beat the taste of piping hot korokke taken straight out of the fryer, and eaten with some Tonkatsu sauce!

Then again, you can always make your own, and make use of any leftover mashed potatoes you have.

People living in Japan don’t even have to go through the hassle of making korokkes. There are so many shops selling these snacks at affordable prices. It was the butchers who originally sold korokke.

They made it from scratch, with some secret seasoning. They then deep fry it with a coating of panko breadcrumbs in front of you to give you sizzling hot, delicious korokke.

If you ask me, they taste best eaten straight from the frying pot, while taking a walk. I’d say that it tastes just like McDonald’s hash brown.

You don’t even need any messy sauce while eating it like this because the patties are simply out-of-this-world!

It’s slightly sweet inside that made me try so many recipes to finally come up with korokke tasting just like the ones you get from Japanese butchers.

This final recipe I’ve come up with comes pretty close to it!

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Ingredients

The Fillings:

• • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 fresh Red Thai chili sliced
  • 5 cloves garlic minced

Beef Seasoning Sauce:

• • 2 tablespoon Hoisin Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Gochujang or Sambal (Korean hot pepper paste fermented) or Sambal - this is *optional but taste better
  • 5 tablespoon chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • a handful of basil leaves (**Optional but makes a difference)

For Potatoes:

• • 5 large potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
  • 2 tablespoon Mayonnaise

For Coating:

• 2 eggs lightly whisked
• 3 cups Japanese Panko crumbs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

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Steps by step instructions

Step 1

Cook the potatoes in (salted) boiling water for 10-12 minutes or until tender. Drain and place the potatoes back into the warm pot. Put the pot with potatoes back over the heat.

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Step 2

Shake it continuously for about a minute – This allows the potatoes to dry out a little. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher or fork. Set aside.

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Step 2

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over high heat. Add 2 tablespoon of oil to the pan and then add the minced garlic and the chili. Quick fry for 30 seconds.

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Step 3

Add the beef and cook, breaking the beef up for 2-3 minutes or until the beef is almost cooked. Stir through the beef seasoning sauce.

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Step 4

Keep stirring and allow the beef to simmer for another 1 minute or until the sauce has mostly evaporated.

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Step 5

This is optional – but really makes the beef smell and tastes so good. You can add a handful of basil leaves.

Stir to mix them in and turn the heat off. Let it cool a bit and take off the basil leaves and Thai chilies or garlic.

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Step 6

Transfer the beef to the mashed potato. Add 2 tablespoon mayonnaise and mix well.

Now, you can place the mixture on a large tray and spread it out into a rough rectangle about 1.5 inches thick.

Use a spatula to divide the rectangle into equal portions and allow it to cool completely.

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Step 7

Place the flour, panko crumbs, and eggs in separate large bowls or trays. Shape the potato portions into ovals or you can use a mold for equal shapes and dip each piece into the flour, then egg, and then the Panko crumbs.

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Step 8

Pour about a ½ inch depth of oil into a large non-stick frying pan. Place the pan over medium-high heat.

Cook the crumbed croquettes for 4 minutes on each side or until golden.

Drain on a wire rack or on kitchen paper. Serve the croquettes with the tonkatsu sauce and cabbage, tomato, or a salad.

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Step 9

Drain on a wire rack or on kitchen paper. Serve the croquettes with the tonkatsu sauce and cabbage, tomato, or a salad.

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Notes

1. Panko crumbs are a type of large, flaky breadcrumb that becomes super crispy when fried and is available at most major supermarkets or any Asian markets.
2. Tonkatsu sauce is a Japanese-style barbecue sauce and is available in some major supermarkets or any Asian grocer. Alternatively, substitute with your favorite barbecue sauce.

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Other Asian Recipes:

• Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
• Shrimp Toast

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Full Recipe