Korokke (aka Japanese Potato Croquettes). Crispy potato cakes coated in panko crumbs deep fried in hot oil. If you love potatoes, this quick and easy recipe is for you! These delicious Japanese croquettes are vegetarian.
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What is Korroke?
Korokke is a Japanese potato croquette featuring mashed seasoned potatoes coated in egg and panko and deep fried. It is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
I love enjoying this as an appetizer, side dish or snack on its own. Often, it's served with a delicious tonkatsu sauce or Kewpie mayo.
Many Japanese restaurants, convenience stores and specialty shops sell korokke in Japan. They are very similar to French Croquettes except in Japan they usually stuff it with curried ground beef.
There are variations of korokke like the curry korokke, kabocha korokke, kani cream korokke or cheese croquette. But I'm sharing a vegetarian korokke with onions!
Ingredients
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
- Yellow onion: You can also use white onion for this recipe too.
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Avoid olive oil, coconut oil or any heavy scented oils.
- Yellow potatoes: We are using yellow russet potatoes but this would also work with white potatoes too. Any starchy potatoes will work for this recipe. Avoid using sweet potatoes may be a bit too mushy and may end up falling apart when you go to create the oval shaped balls.
- Black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Curry powder (optional): Typical Japanese seasonings for croquettes.
- Salt
- Eggs
- Cornstarch: Or substitute with potato starch, tapioca starch or all-purpose flour.
- Panko breadcrumbs: This is not your usual breadcrumbs. It's a flakier and lighter breadcrumb made of white bread shavings. The outside of korokke becomes super crispy thanks to this breadcrumbs
Tonkatsu sauce
- Vegetarian stir fry sauce: Most Asian grocers and online retailers carry this ingredient. The best one is by a brand called Lee Kum Kee. It's basically a vegetarian version of Oyster sauce.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce: Or sub with normal Worcestershire sauce if you're not vegetarian. This adds a lovely acidity to the tonkatsu sauce.
- Sugar: This is needed to balance out the salty flavors from the stir fry sauce.
- Ketchup: This adds tanginess to the sauce.
Note: Most Asian grocery stores will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
Instructions
Below are step-by-step instructions on how to make korokke:
Prepare Potato Mixture
Peel your potatoes and quarter them. Boil potatoes for 15 minutes until fork tender. Strain in a colander and place them into a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, fry your diced onions in 1 tablespoon of oil until soft and translucent. Place into the mixing bowl. Season your potatoes and onions with salt, garlic powder, black pepper and curry powder (optional).
Mash & Divide Potato Mixture
Mash the potatoes and onions together and mix well.
Divide the potato mixture into 8 equal portions.
Shape Mixture & Prepare Dredging
Roll them into oval shaped balls and place them in the fridge for 15 minutes (do not skip this step or you will have a difficult time coating them).
In three separate bowls, add corn starch to one. In the second one, beat two eggs. Lastly the third bowl, add panko breadcrumbs.
Dredge & Deep Fry
Coat each ball in first cornstarch until evenly coated. Then coat in the egg and lastly cover with panko breadcrumbs.
Heat your 2 cups of oil over medium heat. To test if it's ready, place a wooden chopstick and look for bubbles. If you spot bubbles, it's time to deep fry. Deep fry 3 minutes, flipping over halfway until golden crispy brown. Enjoy with tonkatsu sauce (recipe below).
Storage
- Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot covered or air fry or bake them at 350 degrees F for 5-10 minutes until hot throughout.
- Freezer-friendly? Cooked korokke can be stored in a freezer friendly bag and frozen up to 3 months or until you see freezer burn. To reheat, defrost it and deep fry again in oil until hot or air fry at 400 F for 5-6 minutes until hot again.
Pairing Suggestions
Korokke serves well with miso soup, Japanese crab corn salad, salad with Japanese ginger salad dressing, shrimp tempura, tonkatsu, or Ebi mayo.
FAQ
Yes! This potato korokke can be a foundation for you to add other non-vegetarian ingredients such as: ground meat like ground pork, ground beef, or ground chicken, bacon, shredded cheese, diced ham, diced spam, diced carrots, finely sliced green onions, corn niblets.
Yes, I would suggest lightly spraying them with oil and spraying the air fryer basket with oil. Air fry at 400 F for 17-20 minutes flipping over halfway.
Yes! Before deep frying them, wrap each piece in plastic wrap and store them in a freezer friendly bag. They will last up to 3 months or until you see freezer burn. Deep fry from frozen. No need to thaw.
Korokke pairs well with tonkatsu sauce, ketchup, Japanese or kewpie mayo, or sour cream.
📖 Recipe
Easy & Simple Korokke (Japanese Potato Croquettes)
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable oil or any neutral oil
Potato Mixture
- 6 small-medium russet potatoes peeled and quartered
- 1 small yellow onion diced (or sub with white onion)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil to fry onions
- 2-3 teaspoon curry powder optional
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Coating
- 2 eggs beaten
- ¼ cup cornstarch (or sub with potato starch, tapioca starch or all-purpose flour)
- 1.5 cups panko breadcrumbs
Serving sauce (serves 6 tbsps):
- 2 tablespoon Ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Vegetarian Stir Fry Sauce (or sub with oyster sauce if not vegetarian)
- 5 teaspoon Vegan Worcestershire sauce (or sub with normal Worcestershire sauce if not vegetarian)
- 2 ¼ teaspoon white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Peel your potatoes and quarter them. Boil for 15 minutes until fork tender. Strain in a colander and place them into a mixing bowl.
- Meanwhile, fry your diced onions in 1 tablespoon of oil until soft and translucent. Place into the mixing bowl.
- Season your potatoes and onions with salt, garlic powder and black pepper.
- Mash the potatoes and onions together and mix well. Then divide the potato batter into 8 equal portions. Roll them into oval shaped balls and place them in the fridge for 15 minutes (do not skip this step or you will have a difficult time coating them).
- In one bowl add corn starch. In the second bowl, beat two eggs. Lastly in the third bowl, add your panko breadcrumbs.
- Coat each ball in first cornstarch until evenly coated. Then coat in the egg and lastly cover with panko breadcrumbs.
- Heat 2 cups of oil over medium heat in a large pan. To test if it's ready, place a wooden chopstick and look for bubbles. If you spot bubbles, it's time to deep fry.
- Deep fry for 1.5 minutes on each side until golden crispy brown. Enjoy with homemade katsu sauce (recipe below).
Serving sauce:
- In a small bowl combine all the Sauce ingredients together using a whisk.
Crystal
Hello! These are not vegetarian because they do contain eggs. But they are meatless.
Cricket
They are vegetarian, as vegetarian is just no meat. It is vegan that has no animal products, so the recipe is vegetarian, but not vegan.
K
Do you recommend freezing them before or after frying them? I want to make some to snack on later but I don’t want to ruin them by freezing them improperly
Christie Lai
I would recommend freezing them before frying them.
Sabrina
These were delicious!
Instead of adding curry powder, I added some thyme, parsley and smoked paprika, and served these with rice and vegetarian Japanese Curry - it made for an incredibly yummy dinner. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe and for leaving a kind review, Sabrina! So glad you enjoyed them with the addition of those delicious spices 🙂
ASHVIN GAJJAR
What I can use to replace eggs?
christieathome
Hi there, you can use heavy cream as a substitute instead of eggs for coating. Hope this helps!
Lulu
Very easy and delicious. I fried a double batch of these in the afternoon, took them to a family party and reheated in a hot oven for 10 minutes and they were perfect. I made two of them with gluten free bread crumbs for my daughter and everyone was happy. We enjoyed them with your tonkatsu sauce and kewpie mayo, thanks Christie!
christieathome
You're very welcome Lulu! Glad your party enjoyed my recipe! Thanks for taking the time to make my recipe.
Harmony
Can you freeze these after you coat them in the Panko? Thank you!
christieathome
Yes absolutely!
Jillian
When I was a kid we always went to this hole in the wall home cooked Japanese restaurant. We would always get potato croquettes and slather them in sauce. I was recently diagnosed with celiac and can’t enjoy many of my favorite Japanese recipes. We made this last night for our anniversary dinner using gluten free ingredients. I just about died of happiness. This took me all the way back to those lovely childhood memories. These were so incredibly fabulous.
christieathome
Thank you Jillian for making my recipe! This comment truly made my day and I am so happy I could help provide this recipe for you to enjoy croquettes again!! It honestly brings me a lot of joy to read this 😊 have a lovely day! - Christie
Sherri
I love all things potato and these Japanese potato croquettes look and sound fabulous! Love that they are vegetarian too!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
Your amazing Japanese Potato Croquettes undeniably serve up some of the most tempting potato comfort food imaginable. Yum!
Never Ending Journeys
These potato croquettes look so delicious! It's nice how they're meatless, too.