15 Ways to Love Croquettes – No Matter What You’re Into
Croquettes: The Leftover Recipe Whose Fame Precedes It
Croquettes are one of those traditional leftover recipes whose reputation precedes them. They’ve gone from being a humble way to use up yesterday’s scraps to taking center stage in the heights of Spanish cuisine.
The truth is, there are as many types of croquettes as your imagination allows. Their base is incredibly versatile and adaptable to all tastes. There are even establishments entirely dedicated to these little bites of happiness, with menus that include even sweet croquettes.
The secret to great croquettes lies in the creaminess of the béchamel. They should have the perfect consistency: creamy—not a paste, and not a liquid.
Another key point is getting the béchamel to taste the way you want. The worst thing that can happen to a croquette is that it tastes like flour—or worse, like nothing at all. How do we avoid that? By thoroughly toasting the flour, preventing lumps, and adding broth (from stew, fish, ham…) as part of the liquid mix.
We also need to pay attention to the breading, which should turn out golden and crispy, but not overdone. To achieve this, use high-quality coarse breadcrumbs. It’s also recommended to bread them twice: egg, breadcrumbs, then egg and breadcrumbs again.
The frying stage is crucial. The oil must be clean and hot enough to avoid disaster—but not so hot that the outside burns while the inside stays raw. Be especially careful with frozen croquettes.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, here are some recipe ideas—some more traditional, others more creative.
Stew Croquettes: A Timeless Classic
These are probably the most classic, along with ham croquettes, and they’re among the best additions to any home recipe book, as they let you reuse leftovers without wasting anything.
For Andalusian-style stew croquettes, you can use leftover meats like chicken and beef. You can also add a bit of pork fat (carefully, to control the grease) and some finely chopped mint. If you have leftover broth, it’s a great idea to use it to replace part of the milk in the béchamel.
This category also includes classic cocido croquettes, made using leftover meats and cured sausages like morcilla and chorizo. These will give your croquettes a reddish hue and rich flavor. You can even go further and use leftover meat and vegetables from a lentil stew to make lentil croquettes. These are similar to the previous ones but have that distinctive flavor of your mom’s homemade lentils—you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Chicken, a Trusted Ally
Chicken croquettes tend to have a more subtle flavor that appeals to everyone. You can make endless variations. One idea is roast chicken croquettes, perfect for using up leftovers from this classic Sunday dish. If you have leftover sauce, you can incorporate it into the liquid mix, or even make broth using the chicken bones.
Another wonderful combo is curried chicken croquettes—aromatic, exotic, and colorful.
You could also try ají de gallina croquettes. This traditional Peruvian dish, now often made with chicken, is perfect for croquettes because of its deep, slightly spicy flavor, which pairs wonderfully with béchamel.
From the Sea: Seafood and Fish Croquettes
Here you’ll find some of the most special (and also priciest) croquettes on the list—like scarlet prawn croquettes. Use the heads to make a rich broth for the béchamel. The result is intense in flavor, with a dramatic and beautiful red color.
A very original croquette–tapa fusion idea is garlic prawn croquettes, which give you a fun bite full of the familiar taste of that popular Spanish tapa.
We can’t forget the famous salt cod croquettes, so popular during Lent, or the baby squid in ink croquettes, with their distinctive black color—one of the highlights in our Special Croquette Workshop.
And if you’re looking to include more vegetables, spinach croquettes with pine nuts and raisins or artichoke croquettes will be your best vegetarian allies.
USE THE EGG! Not Just for Breading
A very humble and classic recipe that’s fallen out of favor in recent times—but remains delicious—is the hard-boiled egg croquette. It’s extremely simple: just the egg and the béchamel covering it. But sometimes, less is more.
From simplicity, we jump to the whimsical with fried egg and ham croquettes, recently popularized by chef Sabrina Banzo on TikTok. From here, the sky’s the limit: fried egg croquettes with chorizo, foie gras, artichokes… whatever you can dream up.
Of course, we can’t end this article without mentioning the wonderful Gorgonzola and walnut croquettes—creamy, rich, and utterly irresistible.
