Crispy Korokke - Japanese Potato Croquettes

A korokke is held in baking paper with a hand.

Crispy Korokke - Japanese Potato Croquettes

Korokke just got SO much easier. Crispy air fried perfection on the outside, with a soft and fluffy meat and potato filling. It’s the Japanese style potato croquettes you know and love, without deep frying!

Course Dinner, Lunch, Snack

Cuisine French, Japanese

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings Korokke

Calories 244kcal

Author Wandercooks

Cost $8

Ingredients

For the potatoes

4 potatoes 500 g / 1.1 lb, chopped, sub sweet potato
1 tbsp milk
½ tbsp butter
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

For the meat

½ onion
150 g beef mince sub pork or tofu
1 ½ tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp dashi powder sub beef or vegetable stock powder
½ tbsp vegetable oil

For the coating

2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
¾ cup panko crumbs 60 g / 2.11 oz
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Serve with

Instructions

For the potatoes

Place your potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a a boil and cook until soft, around 10 minutes. Test with fork and if it goes in easy, they're ready. Drain and make sure you remove as much water as possible!
4 potatoes
Add milk and butter and mash the cooked potatoes until soft. Tip: Using a fork will get it extra soft. Stir through the salt and pepper last.
1 tbsp milk, ½ tbsp butter, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper

For the meat

In a small saucepan, add a little vegetable oil and fry onion until translucent then add beef mince. Fry until meat is just browned. Soak up extra oil at this point with a paper towel.
½ onion, 150 g beef mince, ½ tbsp vegetable oil
Pour in the soy sauce, sugar and dashi powder. Mix through and keep cooking until all liquid has been evaporated and the meat starts to sizzle louder in the pan.
1 ½ tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, ½ tsp dashi powder

To make the croquettes

Mix the meat and onions through the mashed potato and allow to cool in the fridge for a minimum of around 20 minutes. Tip: You can prep this the day before if you like! Cooling the potato makes it stiffen up and is easier to mold into the korokke.
Divide into 6 portions and form into oval patties around 2 cm / 1 inch thick with your hands.
Get out three plates. Place the all purpose flour / plain flour and cornstarch on the first plate and mix. Crack the eggs onto the second plate and lightly beat. Pour the panko breadcrumbs, 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil and optional salt and pepper onto the third plate, and roughly mix together.
2 tbsp all purpose flour, 1 tbsp cornstarch, 2 eggs, ¾ cup panko crumbs, Salt and pepper, 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Dip each korokke into the flour mix, then eggs and finally in the panko crumbs. Coating well each time.
Pre-heat your air fryer to 200℃ / 400℉ for 3 minutes. Then place in 3 korokke at a time, leaving space between each. Drizzle the last 1 tbsp of vegetable oil over the tops of each korokke before cooking for 7 minutes. Tip: Don't overcrowd the air fryer, it's better to cook them in batches for the best and crispiest results.
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Serve hot with sides such as shredded lettuce, fresh tomato and miso soup!
tomato, shredded lettuce, miso soup

Video

Notes

Storage - Can be kept in an air-tight container in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for a month or two. Best re-heated in an oven or in the air-fryer on low for 10 minutes or so. You can also use a microwave, but you'll lose the crispyness in the panko crumbs.
Cool the Mixture - Give plenty of time for the mixture to cool down. This makes it safer to handle but also easier to form into shape as the mashed potato mix will hard as it cools.
Mash with a Fork - We love using a fork to mash our potatoes, for the ultimate smooth potato mash!
Extra Veg - Feel free to add carrots, onion, celery, zucchini or mushrooms in with the beef mix, or even instead of the meat to make it vegetarian.
Extra Crunch and Flavour - Add gomashio sesame seeds into the crumb mix.
Add Cheese - You can either add a handful of shredded cheese to the potato mix once cooled, or a cube of cheese into the centre of each korokke just like we did with our Japanese hamburger steaks. Go one step further and swap the beef for ham for epic ham and cheese croquettes.
Loaded Korokke - Serve hot croquettes on a plate topped with kewpie mayo, Japanese BBQ sauce, aonori seaweed flakes and katsuobushi bonito flakes.
Deep Fry - If you don't have an air fryer, you can still deep fry these as normal!

Nutrition