Korokke (Japanese Croquette) is by far my favorite food that my mom makes. Every time I go back to my home in Japan, or when my mom visits us, I always request her to cook Korokke for me. My dad loves potato and he definitely passed on the gene to me. The two of us can eat a ton of Korokke easily. My record for one dinner is six pieces. Shhhh… I shouldn’t be too proud of my big appetite.
My mom makes her Korokke without recipes so this is my original recipe that I have developed over the past years, learning from both my mom’s method and adjusting the taste and texture to my preference. My mom’s Korokke (got her recipe in March 2012!) and regular Korokke you buy from stores or eat at restaurants do not include carrots and shiitake mushrooms. I like to add them to give some colors and extra nutrition for the kids.
I know Korokke takes a long time to make, but if you like Korokke, this homemade Korokke won’t disappoint you at all. Homemade Korokke beats restaurant Korokke anytime! I usually make this portion and then keep the extra in the freezer so I can eat it whenever I want! I also used organic beef and my husband who is usually not a Korokke fan loved it as well.
You can also use a frying pan to deep fry Korokke. Inside is already cooked, so all you need to do is to brown the breaded outer layer. You just need less than 1/2 inch (<1cm) oil in the pan! It’s easy to clean too! Even though you may not like deep frying, I hope you will give it a try with this method! 🙂
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- 2 lb russet potatoes (2 lb = about 4 potatoes) (peeled and halved)
- 1 onion (finely diced)
- ½ carrots (finely diced, optional)
- 2 Shiitake mushrooms (optional)
- 2 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (use half for table salt)
- ¼ tsp white pepper powder
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 large eggs (for the breading)
- 2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (for deep frying)
- Tonkatsu Sauce (See Notes for homemade recipe)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- In a large pot, put water and potatoes and bring it to a boil. Cook potatoes until a skewer goes through the potato easily.
- Remove the potato from the heat and drain the water completely. When you do so, use a lid to partially cover so the potatoes don’t fall off from the pot.
- Move the pot back to the stove. On low heat shift the pot so that remaining moisture will completely evaporate (but don’t burn them).
- Turn off the heat and mash the potatoes. Unlike mashed potato, you don’t have to mash completely. You can want to leave some small chunks for texture. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, chop onion, carrot, and mushrooms finely.
- In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high heat. Sauté onion until soft.
- Add carrot and Shiitake mushrooms and cook until they are soft.
- Add the meat and break it up with a wooden spoon. When the meat is cooked through, add salt, white pepper, and black pepper. Set aside.
- When both mashed potato and meat mixture are ready, add the meat mixture into mashed potato in the large pot. Make sure you leave the liquid behind. We only want dry ingredients into the pot. Discard any liquid left in the pan.
- Add an egg and mix all together until everything is well combined.
- Set aside till cool down a bit (so you can actually hold the mixture with your hands).
- While the mixture is still warm, but not hot, start making Korokke balls.
- Dredge each ball in flour, egg, and Panko.
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- In a wok (or frying pan), heat oil over medium high heat. Deep fry Korokke until they are golden brown (How To Deep Fry Food). Inside is already cooked, so all you need to do is to make it nice brown color.
- Transfer Korokke to paper towels and let the oil absorbed in the paper. Serve immediately with Tonkatsu Sauce.
- You can store the leftover in an airtight container and freeze up to a month. To reheat, put frozen or half defrosted korokke on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper and bake at 350F (180C) for 15 minutes or until inside is warm.
Tonkatsu Sauce: Homemade recipe, click here.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
