Japanese Potato Croquettes: Japanese-Style Deep-Fried Panko Mashed Potato Cake Is So Delicious

Korokke is a popular Japanese comfort dish inspired by originally a French dish, the croquette.

It is almost like fried potato cake, and Japanese korokke is commonly made of mashed potatoes, ground meat, or sweet corn, and caramelized onion, then, coat with Panko and deep-fried to a crispy golden brown.

These Japanese deep-fried mashed potato cakes are super yummy on the inside and crispy on the outside! A perfect appetizer or main dish with a savory Japanese-style sauce and with a big salad.

A perfect appetizer or main dish, (especially kids are gonna love this dish, ) with a Japanese Tonkatsu sauce, sweet miso sauce, or Japanese-style easy Aurora sauce.

What’ll You Need to Make Japanese Potato Croquettes

MASHED POTATO

For making Japanese-style potato cakes aka Japanese korokke, we do not need to make creamy mashed potatoes.

Boil the potatoes until they are tender and remove excess water (*as I explain below,) and mash them with a fork/potato masher while leaving some lumps.

Choose starchy potatoes such as Russet, Yukon, and Golden yellow.

Make Kofuki-Imo

Kofuki Imo is known for “Japanese Powdered Potatoes”, in which pieces of potatoes are boiled and then lightly tossed in a pan to remove moisture.

The boiled potatoes after tossing around in the pan get powdered surfaces, so this is called “Kofuki Imo” which literally means powdered potatoes.

This is the dish that we (Japanese elementary students) will learn the first in a cooking class (or could be the second after salted cucumber!), it’s easy and often used as the cooking method to remove the moisture from the boiled potatoes for mashed potato dishes such as potato salad and Japanese korroke.

1. Potatoes are peeled, cut into pieces, and soak them in the water for about 5-10 minutes to remove excess starch.
2. Boil them in cold water added about 1 tsp of salt, uncovered, until tender.
3. Drain the potatoes in a colander, and return them to the same pot.
4. Turn the stove to low heat. Continuously, toss the potatoes in a pot while shaking the pot until they get a light powdery look on the surface of the potatoes. *Shake the pot and toss the potatoes around continuously since they easily stick to the bottom and burn.

For the potatoes, we often use starchy potatoes for their fluffy texture.

Soaking it in water prevents them from discoloring and removing excess starch which is also helping the potatoes less likely to stick to the pan.

The pieces of potatoes go smaller while tossing around in the pot, so cut them into large chunks depending on the dish or how you like it.

PANKO

ONION

To make delicious Japanese potato cakes, caramelized onion is the key.

You’ll need a little patience to caramelize diced onions, but, this will dramatically change the taste.

Oil or butter in a skillet, and saute diced onions over medium heat until they get tender, and continue cooking over low heat. until they turn to light brown, for about 20-30 minutes.

If you want to rescue the cooking time, microwave the onion for 1 minute, and add a pinch of salt while sauteeing them.

Also, you can cover the skillet with a lid for the initial few minutes to reduce the cooking time.

INGREDIENTS Of The Filling

Japanese korokke change their names depending on the filling.

The filling	What’s It Called
Sweet corn & potato	Corn korokke
Ground meat (Beef & pork) & potato	Meat korokke
Vegetable mix & potato	Yasai korokke
Japanese potato stew	Nikujaga korokke
*Kabocha squash	Kabocha korokke
*Corn & Cream	Corn cream korokke
*Crabmeat & Cream	Kani cream korokke

In this recipe, you can choose from ground meat (beef, pork, or the mix), sweet corn, or vegetable mix, and you can stuff cheese inside.

Cooking Tips

Although fried potato cakes have simple recipes, Japanese korokke can be a little more complex with some cooking tips to avoid exploding in oil.

To make Japanese korokke from scratch, I recommend setting 2 days-the preparation day and the cooking day, otherwise, you may have to dedicate your whole day to making these potato cakes!

Let The Filling Cool In The Fridge

It is an almost popular cooking technique, let’s let potato cakes cool in a fridge for 2-3 hours after making the filling or making cakes.

Cooling down the filling combine flavors of the filling and also makes easier later processes.

It does not matter whether to cool the filling after mixing the filling or making them in cakes, but, I like to cool them after making cakes.

If you want a one-day break, this is the time.

Cover the filling and refrigerate overnight. Be sure to make korokke the next day.

Let The Cakes Cool In The Fridge After Coating

After cooling the filling enough, dredge and coat them with Panko.

I use batter mix to reduce the coating step, but, up to you.

To make batter mix, combine 1/2 cup of the flour (wheat/ rice), 1/2 cup of water, and 2 eggs thoughtfully, with a whisk.

After completing the coating process, let the potato cakes cool for the second set in a fridge, for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

This process helps the Panko and the batter will combine well and stick together which means it can be fired beautiful golden brown without exploding or the coating falling, and keep the oil clean.

Sauce For Japanese Potato Croquettes

For the kid’s party, Japanese-style easy Aurora sauce gets attention, which goes perfectly with deep-fried potatoes.

CAN YOU BAKE THESE MASHED POTATO BALLS?

Yes, you can!

Pan-fry Panko without oil until they turn golden brown.

Make sure to continue stirring since they easily burn.

Simply, proceed to the dredging process with fired Panko.

Bake the potato cakes in the oven at around 390F for 10-15 minutes.

Stock NIKUMISO In Your Firdge

When making this popular Japanese meal-prep, NIKUMISO, which is the miso-flavored ground meat in your fridge or freezer, you make potato croquettes pretty easily.

Adding the caramelized onions or skipping them is up to you!

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