Holiday Ham Korroke

I love korroke, but they can be pretty time consuming to make. So I find that the best time to make korokke is when you already have potatoes boiled, especially easy with leftover mashed potatoes. After all, the most time consuming and tedious part of the whole process is peeling and boiling the potatoes, mashing them, and letting them cool. Now leftover mashed potatoes often have butter or cream in them, but I found that just adds an extra creaminess to these quick croquettes.

Since some of you will be soon making a holiday dinner for Easter that often includes ham, I want you to consider setting some leftover ham aside to make these!

This recipe is adapted from Julia's Korroke, with her secret ingredient of Lipton's onion soup mix!


Holiday Ham Korokke

5 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 cup leftover ham, diced
1 packet of Lipton's onion soup mix*
1 cups flour
3 eggs beaten

1 package panko (approximately 4 cups)
Okonomi sauce to serve, or get creative with leftover sauces!
Canola oil (or other mild oil for frying)


*Depending on how salty your ham and mashed potatoes are, you might want to halve the Liptons, or omit it altogether and replace with half a yellow onion, diced and cooked until translucent.

To save time, I recommend whirling the ham through a food processor rather than dicing by hand. That way you can get it really small.

Next, mix the ham, mashed potatoes, and onion soup mix together.

Set up your dredging station by putting the flour, beaten eggs, and panko crumbs in separate bowls, and I recommend a baking sheet lined with parchment paper as a convenient set up for your croquettes.

There's no need to measure out the flour or panko, just pour a bunch in a bowl. If you run out while dredging, just grab some more.

for size reference*

After you're doing setting up, use your hands to shape the croquettes roughly the size and shape of a large egg (just a little larger than a jumbo chicken egg).

The traditional shape for korroke is a patty shape, but this little football shape is just as delicious and the shape makes it easier to avoid them falling apart. *the picture is actually of these croquettes, that's why the meat is a little darker

The dredging station!

Once you're done shaping, dredge each croquette in the following order: flour, eggs, then panko. Make sure that each croquette is completely covered in panko. Set on the parchment paper and continue dredging until all of them are coated, refilling your flour, eggs, or panko as needed.

Next, heat your oil to 350°F. I like to check the temperature of the oil as I'm really good at overfrying the first sacrificial croquette if I don't. The nice thing about croquettes is that you don't have to worry about them cooking all the way through because they are already cooked inside!

all ready to fry!

I normally deep fry these with deep enough oil that they can be completely submerged so you get a uniform golden brown crust.

Just fry until golden brown and drain on a paper towel lined plate.

Serve piping hot with the okonomi sauce!

Some other dip ideas: cranberry sauce, leftover glaze from your ham, honey mustard, or whatever tickles your fancy!

See Also:
Turkey Mole Stacked Enchiladas
Julia's Korroke
Taberu Rayu Cucumbers