What Is a Croquette — And Why Are They So Delicious?

If you’ve eaten at a Spanish tapas restaurant, nibbled on bar snacks at happy hour, or bounced between street food carts in Europe, you’ve encountered a croquette. In fact, the popularity of this bite-sized delight even has it appearing alongside the focal point of an entrée plate in fine dining nowadays. 

This delightful little bite is more than just a crispy shell with a creamy inside. It’s everything you could want from comfort food and often a delicious way to use up little scraps.

What Is a Croquette?

In general, a croquette is a deep-fried ball or roll made with meat, wheat, and vegetables. Rich ingredients like bechamel or mashed potatoes act as binders, and the crisp coating is often made with breadcrumbs. The mixture is allowed to cool before being rolled into balls, stout logs, or formed into little rounded patties. Then it gets battered and deep fried, creating its signature golden outer shell. 

Nibbled on between meals or used as an appetizer, croquettes are typically served warm accompanied by a dipping sauce or type of mustard. You might see them plated alongside soup or another dish to create a balanced meal, but croquettes can be a meal on their own, perhaps plated in a pile and smothered in sauce or, if shaped into a patty, placed between bread to make a sandwich. 

Origins

The word croquette might come from the French verb croquer, meaning to crunch. France itself has a lot of ideas as to the history of the croquette in its country; Louis XIV’s cook seems to have written about making them or something like them in 1691 and another French chef named Antonin Carême may have made them for a royal banquet in 1817.

What we do know for sure is that croquettes weren’t mentioned in the States until the late 19th century. Croquettes are beloved around the world, made with all kinds of ingredients specific to that region’s preferences and specialties.

What Are Croquettes Made With?

Croquettes can be comprised of a variety of things, chopped up and blended according to taste. Some varieties focus on a single ingredient, and others use a mixture. 

Popular meat fillings include chopped beef, pork, chicken, or other sausage. The most popular vegetables are mashed or chopped potatoes, peas, or cabbage. Fish is also a popular choice, and some croquettes are simply cheese. It might have spices, eggs, or even black pudding. Some places may serve you a croquette using binders or fillers, like other breading or inexpensive finely diced vegetables to bulk up the filling, but true croquettes do not use such things. 

Spanish-style croquettes favor cod or chicken, or croquettes de Jamón with ham. They also use cheese, octopus, or mushrooms.

Japan has a version of croquettes called korokke, which are usually mashed potato-based and served with a tonkatsu sauce.

In Belgium, the bechamel mixes with shrimp. In the UK, croquettes are a potato dish, unlikely to see meat. South America utilizes minced fish or chicken, Europeans focus on beef or sausage-filled ditties, and Asian iterations favor vegetables.

Croquettes vs. Fritters

When it comes to distinguishing between the two, the internet stands divided. But generally, fritters are more freeform, whereas croquettes are typically shaped into patties, balls, or log-like rolls. 

Fritters are made from a batter and then fried, leaving a light and airy texture; croquettes have an intentional coating of flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, creating a crust that reveals a dense yet creamy filling once bitten into. 

Related:

• 3 Tips for Perfect, No-Fail Fritters 
• Authentic Spanish Tapas Recipes Fit for a Fiesta 
• What Are Tapas?