Ham Croquettes Recipes

Ham croquettes are one of the most common foods in Spanish homes. They are eaten as a main dish, garnish or appetizer at any time of the year and, although it can have different ingredients, ham is the most recurrent of all. Although each home and each chef has their own work methodology,  the result is always a true delight.

The recipes for ham croquettes that we share below bring together the best preparation techniques, which makes the cooking process much easier. Now, as for the ingredients, it must be borne in mind that the amount of these may vary depending on the number of diners. The only constant that must be maintained is the ham : this should not be reduced too much in quantity because if not, the recipe is not very tasty.

Serrano ham croquettes

Ingredients (for 6 people)

• 1 clove garlic
• Olive oil
• 1 leek
• ½ glass of cream (100 ml)
• 3 medium eggs
• 4 cups of skim milk (1 liter)
• 1 ½ cup of flour (180 g)
• 2 trays of Serrano ham (200 g)
• 5 tablespoons of butter (100 g)
• Breadcrumbs (the amount needed)
• Optional: onion, black pepper, nutmeg
• Others: 1 ham bone.

Preparation

1. We sift the flour and reserve it.
2. In a pot, heat the butter until melted.
3. Chop the ham into small pieces and reserve.
4. Apart, we chop the leek into small pieces. We do the same with garlic.
5. Once the butter has melted, add the leek and garlic to the pot to poach. When the garlic is golden brown, add the ham and sauté everything for a couple of minutes.
6. In a pot, heat the milk and cream. We add the ham bone so that it begins to taste. Be careful, do not let the milk come to a boil.
7. While it is sautéing, we add the flour to the preparation and stir constantly to integrate all the ingredients.
8. Little by little, we add the hot mixture of milk and cream to the roux (that is, to the mixture of onion with ham and butter). It is important that the mixture is smooth, uniform and without lumps.
9. Season to taste and pour into a container. Now we let it cool for about 2 or 30 minutes for the ingredients to settle and the mixture to thicken.
10. We place three containers in the following order: flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Once we have formed the croquette, we pass it through each of these containers to coat it and take it to fry. It is important that, when kneading, we do it with hands lightly greased with a drop of olive oil.
11. Fry the croquettes in plenty of olive oil until golden brown on all sides.
12. Serve with a little fresh parsley on top and that’s it!

Ham and chicken meat croquettes

Ingredients (for 6 people)

• 2 onions
• Olive oil
• ½ glass cup of cream (100 ml)
• 3 medium eggs
• 4 cups of skim milk (1 liter)
• 1 cup of cornstarch (150 g)
• 300 grams of cooked chicken meat
• ⅔ cup of Serrano ham cubes (100 g)
• Breadcrumbs (the amount needed)
• Seasonings: salt, freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. In a bowl, we dilute the cornstarch in a little milk.
2. We bone the goose meat and proceed to shred it as much as we can. Next, we will pass it through a shredder.
3. In addition, we chop the Serrano ham cubes into 4 parts. We booked.
4. In a pot, boil the rest of the milk with a pinch of salt. When reaching the boiling point, add the diluted cornstarch and stir to thicken the mixture.
5. We add the chicken meat and the ham. We constantly stir to integrate all the ingredients. Once we get a sufficiently consistent and flexible dough, we turn off the heat and let it cool.
6. Once the dough has cooled, we proceed to knead the croquettes as in the previous recipe. Coat with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fry in plenty of olive oil.

Ham croquettes can be served fresh or stored for a couple of days or three in the refrigerator. In case we reserve them, the flavor of the seasonings will become more intense. The important thing is to heat them well so that they are not cold inside. On the other hand, we cannot forget that croquettes are always very good if we accompany them with a dressing of our choice.