These chicken bacon croquettes are everything you want when eating something deep-fried. They’re crunchy, hearty, and delicious – and not too difficult, either.
What are Croquettes?
Croquettes are small dumpling-like fritters that have been deep fried. You can make them with just about anything, but meat, rice, and potato are common versions. Croquettes can be made either more dry, or creamier with the addition of more liquid.
Unchilled mixture
What You’ll Need to Make Them
To make these croquettes you’ll need things like bacon, chicken, and milk. You’ll also need standard breading ingredients like flour, breadcrumbs, and eggs.
Chicken
You can use white or dark meat chicken for this. However, I think white meat works better; dark is better suited to something like chicken and potatoes.
Milk
You can use whole or reduced fat milk for this. I haven’t tried this with milk alternatives, so use those at your own risk.
Breadcrumbs
For the breadcrumbs, both “normal” and panko breadcrumbs will work. I believe normal breadcrumbs are more common, and give a more traditional croquette appearance.
Unbreaded croquettes
How to Make Chicken Bacon Croquettes
Make the Filling
The first step for making these croquettes is the filling.
You’ll need to cook the bacon and onion, then add some flour to the pan. Then you’ll add milk and other ingredients to make a thick sauce.
Chill the Filling
Next, you’ll chill the mixture until it can be rolled into balls. Depending on how thick you made the sauce, this can take between 1-2 hours.
Bread Them, Fry Them, and Enjoy
Finally, you’ll bread the croquettes in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs – then deep fry them until golden brown.
Breaded croquettes
Tips for Making the Best Croquettes
When making the sauce, the longer you cook it for, the thicker it will be. I believe I cooked this batch for about 5 minutes, but it can take more or less time, depending.
2. Using tongs when breading helps keep your hands from gunking up and being unusable for non-croquette applications. Many people swear by the “wet hand, dry hand” method, but I’ve never been fully satisfied with it.
Of course, you can also just use both hands with reckless abandon, which is usually how my breading sessions end up.
3. Be sure each croquette is roughly the same size, which will help them cook evenly. The recipe assumes you’ve made them roughly golf-ball sized, so keep that in mind.
Conclusion and Recipe
Below I’ve listed the ingredients, ingredient amounts, and steps for making these chicken bacon croquettes. If you like this recipe, consider sharing with friends and family, or check out my recipe for hush puppies.
You can also follow me on Wix or Pinterest, which will alert you of my new posts. My next post will be a chicken and vegetable sheet pan dinner. If that sounds good to you, be sure to follow 🙂
Preview of my next post
Recipe
Ingredients
For the filling:
1/2 lb cooked chicken*, finely chopped, 227 grams
1/4 lb raw bacon, chopped, 114 grams
3 Tbsps unsalted butter, 41 grams
1 tsp kosher salt, 6 grams
Large pinch of black pepper, about 1/2 tsp
1/2 cup diced yellow onion, 61 grams
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 48 grams
1 1/2 cups whole milk, 337 grams
For the breading:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 60 grams
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 – 1 cup breadcrumbs, 56 – 112 grams
Makes about a dozen croquettes
Preparation
Heat the bacon, onion, and salt in a large pot set over medium heat until the bacon is cooked, 8-12 minutes.
Melt the butter, then add in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk and pepper and cook until thickened, 4-8 minutes. Once thickened, stir in the chicken.
Chill** the mixture, then roll into balls. Bread the croquettes in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
Deep fry*** 3 at a time at 350 F (177 C) for about 4 minutes.
Notes
* I recommend using white meat chicken, like chicken breast, but dark meat would also work.
** Putting the mix in the freezer is the best – and fastest – way to do this. You could use the fridge as well, but it would take much longer – probably at least 4 hours.
*** Chilling the breaded croquettes for another 30 minutes in the freezer (90 minutes in the fridge) wouldn’t be a bad idea. It would help them firm up, keep their shape, and ensure they fry properly.
It isn’t totally necessary though, so skip it if you don’t have the time / can’t be bothered.
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