This Korokke (Potato & Meat Croquette) Bento Box is a fun and delicious way to change things up. Made from scratch, these korokke mashed potato and beef balls coated with panko and fried.
Cook with Me
Hi guys! This post is going to be a little different than my usual recipes. This Korokke (Potato & Meat Croquette) Bento Box is part of a series I’m starting on YouTube where I just share what I’m cooking at the moment. It could be meal prep, it could be comfort food, it could be anything. We’re going with the flow.
While all recipes shared on the blog here are tested multiple times with exact measurements, these cook with me videos will be less rigorous. They’re essentially recipes where I “add a little bit of this, a little bit of that” so the measurements may be approximates. There probably won’t be any process images as well and if you’d like to see how it’s made, I suggest you watch the video. So just a little disclaimer before we get started with the post and recipe. Enjoy :)
What Are Korokke?
Korokke is the Japanese name for potato croquettes. In 1887, the French croquette was introduced to Japan and was adapted to what it is today. Korokke is made by mixing cooked chopped meat, seafood, or vegetables with mashed potato then dredged in flour, egg, and panko crumbs before frying in oil so the outside is crispy and the inside is soft.
Today we’ll be making korokke/croquette with ground beef to go into our bento box. While H thinks there needs to be more beef in it, I’m a mashed potato girl 100% so I thought the ratio was perfect lol. Take this as you will.
PS This is a great recipe if you’ve got leftover mashed potatoes to use up. The butter in your mashed potatoes will just make it tastier ;) Enjoy this fun twist on a leftover mashed potato recipe!
What You’ll Need
- russet potatoes
- onion
- garlic
- ground beef
- eggs
- flour
- panko
- oil for frying
How To Make Korokke
- Peel and roughly cut your russet potatoes to similar sizes and add it to a pot of water. Bring it to a boil and let cook until the potatoes are done. You should be able to pierce through it with a chopstick.
- Meanwhile, saute your diced onion in a pan with some oil until it has softed. (In my video, I used the bacon grease that was left over from searing my bacon. Also, some people like to add in grated carrots as well but I skipped it today.)
- Add in garlic and saute for a minute before adding in your ground beef.
- Saute until cooked through. As I used bacon fat, I didn’t season with salt but if you’re using regular oil, I suggest you do.
- Once the potatoes are done, slightly mash them. You don’t want it to become mashed potatoes and you want it to have a bit of texture to them. Season with a pinch of salt if desired.
- Transfer the beef mixture to the potatoes.
- Add an egg and mix until everything is combined. Set aside to cool until you can comfortable hold the mixture in your hands.
- While the potato and beef is cooling, prep your dredging station. In one bowl, add in approximately 1 cup of flour, in another, 1 cup of panko, and in the third, 2-3 beaten eggs. Add more eggs as needed throughout.
- Once the mixture has cooled, begin to shape your korokkes. This mixture usually yields me 18-20 balls. I like to shape them like hockey pucks.
- Dredge your korokke balls/pucks through the flour, then egg, and then panko. Set aside until ready to fry.
- In a Dutch oven or wok if you prefer, heat up your frying oil (350F/180C). You can deep fry them with enough oil to cover the pucks or you can shallow fry them and flip them around. As the insides are already cooked, you really only need to focus on getting them that beautiful golden colour.
- Add in 2-3 korokkes at a time and fry until golden. Place them on a wire rack on top of a lined sheet pan when done to let excessive oil drip off.
To Make the Bento Box/Serve
To serve, I packed my beef and potato korokkes with some bacon wrapped enoki mushrooms, an egg, rice, and peas. I topped it off with some sesame seeds (both white and black seeds) and some tonkatsu sauce.
Storage Tips
- Meal Prep: I store the korokkes in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Freezer: Any extra korokkes not eaten are frozen. I place them in airtight bags in the freezer. When ready to eat, I heat it up in the oven or airfryer straight from frozen, until the middle is warm. You can also freeze them before you deep fry them as well. I would wrap them individually in plastic wrap before placing them in a freezer bag to freeze.
Korokke (Potato & Meat Croquette) Bento Box
Ingredients
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 eggs eggs, 1 for the mixture, 2-3 for the dredging
- 1 cup flour, or more
- 1 cup panko, or more
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Peel and roughly cut your russet potatoes to similar sizes and add it to a pot of water. Bring it to a boil and let cook until the potatoes are done. You should be able to pierce through it with a chopstick.
- Meanwhile, saute your diced onion in a pan with some oil until it has softed. (In my video, I used the bacon grease that was left over from searing my bacon. Also, some people like to add in grated carrots as well but I skipped it today.)
- Add in garlic and saute for a minute before adding in your ground beef.
- Saute until cooked through. As I used bacon fat, I didn’t season with salt but if you’re using regular oil, I suggest you do.
- Once the potatoes are done, slightly mash them. You don’t want it to become mashed potatoes and you want it to have a bit of texture to them. Season with a pinch of salt if desired.
- Transfer the beef mixture to the potatoes.
- Add an egg and mix until everything is combined. Set aside to cool until you can comfortable hold the mixture in your hands.
- While the potato and beef is cooling, prep your dredging station. In one bowl, add in approximately 1 cup of flour, in another, 1 cup of panko, and in the third, 2-3 beaten eggs. Add more eggs as needed throughout.
- Once the mixture has cooled, begin to shape your korokkes. This mixture usually yields me 18-20 balls. I like to shape them like hockey pucks.
- Dredge your korokke balls/pucks through the flour, then egg, and then panko. Set aside until ready to fry.
- In a Dutch oven or wok if you prefer, heat up your frying oil (350F/180C). You can deep fry them with enough oil to cover the pucks or you can shallow fry them and flip them around. As the insides are already cooked, you really only need to focus on getting them that beautiful golden colour.
- Add in 2-3 korokkes at a time and fry until golden. Place them on a wire rack on top of a lined sheet pan when done to let excessive oil drip off.
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