How to Make Croquettes, from a Spanish Culinary Journalist

Interested in trying your hand at cooking croquettes after a trip abroad? Follow along with Helena, a food expert in Madrid, as she shares her top recipe for making this delicious dish. 

Croquettes are a recipe for leftovers. It can be from a roast chicken, the little bit of ham that remains stuck to the bone when we finish the leg, the cooked meat from a cocido, or simply some hard-boiled eggs and a bit of ham, tuna, cheese, mushrooms, prawns, cod... anything, really.

The trick to a good croquette is that it is very soft on the inside and very crispy on the outside. It sounds easy, but you can spend a lifetime perfecting them. That's perhaps why, in Spain, it's the mothers and grandmothers who usually make the best croquettes. 

This recipe comes from a very traditional Spanish recipe book written by Simone Ortega, and I've added some comments that I have found useful in my experience. 

Croquettes:

• Two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 40g butter
• 3-4 tablespoons of flour
• 750 ml whole milk
• 2 eggs
• Enough oil for frying (around a litre)
• Fine breadcrumbs
• Salt
• 150g. Iberian ham finely chopped or any other filling you wish

Melt the oil and butter in a frying pan. When everything is hot, add the flour and stir a couple of times with a wooden spoon or a whisk.

Then add the milk little by little, as the béchamel sauce boils softly, until it thickens. Don´t stop stirring! Then add the ham and the salt, if needed. Mix well, spread it out on a tray and put it in the fridge until it cools. It is advisable to keep the béchamel sauce with cling film on the surface, so that it does not harden too much. It should chill for at least two hours, or overnight.

Form the croquettes either with two spoons or by hand, forming quenelles between 5 and 7 cm long.

In a bowl, place the 2 beaten eggs as you would for an omelette. Dip each croquette, first lightly in breadcrumbs, then in the egg, and then in the breadcrumbs again. You can use panko for an even crispier finish.

Prepare a large frying pan with 1 litre of oil, and when it is hot, add the croquettes in batches of 4-6 at a time. When they are golden, remove them to a colander or a plate until they are all fried.

Relax and eat your delicious croquettes!

About Helena: Helena's passion for food has determined her career. After finishing her Audiovisual Communication studies at the age of 23, she changed course and started a successful catering business that was in operation for 5 years. Then, whilst pursuing a postgraduate course on gastronomic journalism, she began working as a freelance restaurant consultant and cooking instructor. Helena has written about food for several media outlets, including the Guía Repsol, covering a wide range of national events related to haute cuisine, food trips, conventions, and different presentations and specialized courses. She has worked on communication and PR for a brand of jamón Ibérico de bellota, and since 2020 she is responsible for communications in a winery based in Rioja.