Vegan potato croquettes melt in your mouth. Crispy on the outside and soft and delicate on the inside, this vegan potato croquette recipe can be air-fried and baked. Served with a creamy vegan bacon dipping sauce or select from a list of yummy oil-free dips. They are like fried mashed potato balls!
Potatoes are a magical vegetable. What I love most about potatoes is the ability to transform a simple potato into a savory meal. So, if you are unfamiliar with potato croquettes, you are in for a special treat. And not only are these mashed potato croquettes savory and delicious, but my recipe is vegan and cheesy! So, let's make some yummy vegan croquettes!
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What are Potato Croquettes?
A croquette is a type of dumping consisting of a thick binder that is bread or fried. Although most croquettes contain meat, cheese, or vegetables, vegan potato croquettes are a veganized version of an otherwise savory treat.
When researching the meaning and origin of the word croquette, croquette means 'crunchy' and originated in France. Traditionally, ingredients in potato croquettes are butter, flour, milk, whatever meat or vegetable you are using in the stuffing, salt, eggs, and breadcrumbs. But the secret to the gooey texture is mixing some ingredients into a bechamel sauce. Once the mixture has set, you make them into rolls, fry them up, and pop an endless amount into your mouth.
But vegan croquettes are healthy, oil-free, made with whole foods, and air-fried or baked.
Croquette Ingredients
- Potatoes: Peeled baking potatoes, cut into equal-sized pieces, and boiled for 15 minutes.
- Oat Milk: I like oat milk because it's so creamy, but plant milk works well. But make sure you select unsweetened, unflavored plant milk.
- Nutritional Yeast: This cheesy vegan ingredient gives it the creamy cheese taste. If you don't care for nutritional yeast, use any favorite vegan cheese, or skip the cheesy component altogether.
- Flour Wash: A combination of garbanzo flour and water for a sticky wash to dredge before adding to a breadcrumb mixture. Substitute any flour of choice (whole-grain or any flour of choice)
- Bread Crumb Mixture: Bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder. Make your bread crumbs by toasting bread and processing them in a food processor (gluten-free or oil-free bread) or store-bought bread crumbs.
- Seasonings and Herbs: Garlic powder, Onion Powder, Salt, Pepper, Fresh Garlic, and fresh parsley.
- Green Onions: Chopped finely.
As a result, the mashed potato mixture is thicker than a typical mashed potato. Because potatoes vary in size, add the plant milk slowly, possibly requiring less or more milk depending on the texture. So the final product is NOT creamy.
Dip Ingredients
As many of you know, I love dips and sauces. To me, a great sauce served with a savory potato is magical. For this recipe, I made a vegan bacon-flavored dip.
- Vegan Sour Cream: I make my own plant-based sour cream with cashews. But I also have a nut-free option for those who don't eat nuts.
- Vegan Maple Bacon Seasoning: I found this fabulous vegan maple bacon seasoning that my husband and kids love!
But if you don't like a smokey, creamy dip, there are many other vegan options.
- Marinara Sauce
- Ranch Dressing
- Thousand Island Salad Dressing
- Oil-Free Pizza Sauce
- Mustard Dipping Sauce
- Lemon Basil Dressing
- French Dressing
- Green Goddess Dressing
- Creamy Italian Dressing
- Maple Dijon Dressing
Storing Leftovers
- Once the potato croquettes are formed, before dredging in the flour wash and bread crumbs, freeze the croquettes for up to 3 months. Then, thaw before dredging in the wash and bread crumbs before cooking.
- Or, form the croquettes and place them on a baking sheet covered for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
- Another option is to make the mashed potato mixture and refrigerate it in a bowl until ready to form the croquettes.
Recipe FAQs
Because the main ingredient is potatoes, I suggest serving it with a large green salad, kidney bean salad, chopped kale salad, green bean salad, or steamed or grilled vegetables.
Tips
- Choose your shape. Croquettes are often oval-shaped or formed into a cylinder shape. Or, make them circular golf balls using an ice cream scooper or a cookie scoop for a bit-sized croquette.
- Air-frying is my favorite way to cook croquettes, but baking is also an option if you don't have an air-frier.
- Making smaller croquettes (cookie scoop size) reduces cooking time in half.
- For a gluten-free option, choose gluten-free flour and make your gluten-free bread crumbs by toasting gluten-free bread and using a food processor to process it into bread crumbs.
- Similarly, use oil-free bread, such as Dave's bread, toast, and a food processor, to make your oil-free bread crumbs.
- Change the flavor of the vegan potato croquettes by changing the seasoning combination. For example, do you want a smokey flavor, add smoked paprika or a small amount of liquid smoke. Or, if you wish to make Italian croquettes, add Italian seasoning and Vegan Parmesan Cheese. Add cumin or chili powder for a Mexican flair as an alternative seasoning. In other words, the various ways to enjoy these tasty potato poppers are endless.
- One slice of bread fields about ⅓ cup of bread crumbs; the amount may vary based on the size of the sliced bread.
Even my grand dog, Lenna, wanted to try a potato croquette. And she's very picky!
More Fabulous Vegan Appetizers to Try
If you love these potato croquettes, give us a 5-star review and comment below. We would love to hear from you!
📖 Recipe
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Croquettes
- 3 large baking potatoes peeled and cut into equal-sized chunks (about 3 ¼ to 4 ¼″+ diameter, or 1 ½ pounds)
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- ½-1 cup unsweetened plain plant-based milk
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 bunch green onions chopped fine
- 3 Tablespoons parsley chopped
Bread Crumb Mixture
- 1 cup breadcrumbs gluten-free, or regular bread crumbs
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
Flour Wash
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup chickpea flour or flour of choice
Vegan Bacon Dip
- ½ cup vegan sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vegan bacon seasoning
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or date syrup
Garnish
- Additional chopped parsley
Instructions
Potato Croquette
- Peel and cut potatoes into equal-sized chunks
- Place potatoes in a pot, and cover with water
- Add a small amount of salt to the water
- Bring to a boil
- Boil for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are tender and can easily be pierced with a fork
- Drain potatoes
- Place potatoes in a bowl
- The mashed potato mixture should be thicker than a typical mashed potato. Because potatoes vary in size, add the plant milk slowly, beginning with ½ cup and adding more as needed. The final product should be thick, not creamy.
- Add all the ingredients (add the plant milk slowly; you may need less than 1 cup), except for the parsley.
- Mash until ingredients are mixed using a hand masher, electric mixer, or immersion blender; , blend until smooth. I used a hand masher.
- Stir in the parsley and allow it to cool to room temperature.
- Once cool, use an ice cream scoop and scoop the potato mixture. Then, use your hands to form identical balls about the size of golf balls.
Bread Crumb Mixture
- Combine bread crumbs and the nutritional yeast in a wide mouth bowl and whisk together.
- Set aside.
Flour Wash
- In the second wide-mouth bowl, combine water and flour and whisk together.
- Or, combine in a small blender to avoid clumps.
- Set aside.
Preparing and cooking the croquettes
- Dip each potato ball in the flour/water wash, covering each ball.
- Then, transfer to the bread crumb mixture and cover the ball in bread crumbs.
- Transfer to a baking sheet until all the potato balls are covered.
Air Fry Option
- Preheat the air-frier to 400 degrees.
- Work in batches and place the bread crumb coated balls in a single layer in the base of the air-frier basket.
- Cook in a single layer; do not overlap or overcrowd the basket.
- Cook for 5 minutes; then open and shake to rotate the potato croquettes.
- Cook another 5 minutes.
- Remove from the air fryer, transfer to a baking sheet, and place in a 325-degree oven to keep warm while cooking the remaining croquettes.
Oven Option
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Place bread crumb-coated croquettes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Cook for r25-27minutes, rotating the croquettes halfway through cooking.
Vegan Bacon Dip
- Mix ½ cup vegan sour cream with the bacon seasoning and maple syrup.
- Stir together.
- Refrigerate until servings.
Serving
- Serve with an additional parsley garnish.
Notes
- Choose your shape. Croquettes are often oval-shaped or formed into a cylinder shape. Or, make them circular golf balls by using an ice cream scooper or a cookie scoop for a bit-sized croquette.
- Making smaller croquettes (cookie scoop size) reduces cooking time in half.
- Air-frying is my favorite way to cook croquettes, but baking is also an option if you don't have an air-frier.
- For a gluten-free option, choose a gluten-free flour and make your gluten-free bread crumbs by toasting gluten-free bread and using a food processor to process it into bread crumbs.
- Similarly, use oil-free bread, such as Dave's bread and toast, and use a food processor to make your oil-free bread crumbs.
- Change the flavor of the vegan potato croquettes by changing the seasoning combination. For example, do you want a smokey flavor, add smoked paprika or a small amount of liquid smoke. Or, if you want Italian croquettes, add Italian seasoning and Vegan Parmesan Cheese. Add cumin or chili powder for a Mexican flair as an alternative seasoning. In other words, the various ways to enjoy these tasty potato poppers are endless.
- 1 slice of bread yields about ⅓ cup of bread crumbs; the amount may vary based on the size of the sliced bread.
- Because the main ingredient is potatoes, I suggest serving with a large green salad, Kidney Bean Salad, Chopped Kale Salad, Green Bean Salad Recipe, Autumn Pear Salad Recipe, or steamed or grilled vegetables.
Other Dipping Options
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
Lyn
Tried these yesterday and really liked them, but they were a tad spicy for me, so I will cut back on some of the extra ingredients next time or maybe add a little at time and taste as I go.
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Lyn, I'm sorry the potato croquettes were too spicy for you. I am glad you will try them again with the spicy ingredients. Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it.
Brian
The croquettes were great, but they didn’t really hold their form. They spread out while baking and cracked. They were very soft. I only used a fraction of the plant milk called for. Maybe I should use bo plant milk?
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Brian, it sounds like your potato mixture was too wet. Did you add the nutritional yeast?
Keri Mager
thanks for this recipe, sounds like a great way to use up potatoes! Also, Lenna is gorgeous!
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Keri, the croquettes turned out great and they are very filling. We have leftovers, which my husband took to work with him, so that's always a good sign. Lenna is a sweetheart; she is one of two grand dogs I am babysitting while my daughter and son-in-law are in the Maldives. She likes my vegan food 🙂