What you need to make the cheese croquettes
The first thing is to assemble all the needed ingredients. Making sure they are all at room temperature.
- unsalted butter
- all purpose flour
- milk – I like to use whole milk here
- cheese – for the cheese my favorite is to use an aged grated cheese that still melts. You can use other cheeses as well, like parmesan cheese or another melty cheese. Parmesan does not melt very well, but you can mix it with another cheese. The Spanish would probably use manchego cheese for this.
- heavy cream
- egg yolks
- nutmeg, salt and black pepper
- breadcrumbs – you can use regular bread crumbs or go for panko breadcrumbs for an even crunchier result
- vegetable oil – for deep frying
Now once you’ve assembled all your ingredients you start by making a ragout. You can find how to make this in the recipe card.
Once everything is mixed well and firm, place it in a baking tray or baking dish and cover with cling film. Now place this mixture into the fridge for at least 4 hours.
You can leave it in the fridge longer. I like to keep mine in overnight. Whatever works for you.
Finishing the croquettes
Once the ragout is cooled enough you can cut it with a knife. Cut it into 24 equal slices. It helps to rub your hands with a little olive oil so the ragout becomes easier to handle.
Roll the ragout in your hands and form into croquette shape. Prepare two bowls or a deep plate with the eggs and another one with the breadcrumbs.
Heat the oil in the frying pan to 180˚C/350˚F while you prepare the coating for the croquettes.
Roll each croquette through the breadcrumbs, the beaten egg, breadcrumbs again, egg again and finish with the breadcrumbs. So you will have three layers of breadcrumbs.
Repeat this for every single piece. Now deep fry the croquettes in a single layer in the fryer until golden brown. Take them out of the hot oil with a slotted spoon and place them on paper towel to crisp up.
Dipping sauce
Now the last thing to do is to make a dipping sauce. You can keep this very simple as I did and just use sweet chili sauce. That’s ready in no time.
Just serve the cheese croquettes in a large bowl and add the chili sauce. But you can also make any other kind of dip that goes well with cheese. Mixing mayonaise with some sweet chili sauce is really tasty as well.
Variations
You can easily make small variations to your cheese croquettes recipe. You can add a bit of garlic powder or onion powder next time for instance or add some crispy bacon.
You can also mix some fresh herbs through the ragout for additional flavor.
Storing
Store the prepared -but not fried- cheese croquettes in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days prior to baking. Or freeze them uncooked for up to 3 months.
You can even fry them straight out of the freezer, although keep in mind that the total preparation time in the deep frying will be slightly longer.
