Skip to main content
Main

Chicken Croquettes

Chicken croquettes are fried balls of chicken and mashed potato coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped chicken and mashed potatoes.

  2. Season with butter, pepper, salt, and celery or nutmeg if using.

  3. Add the egg and cream or milk, mixing until well combined.

Shape and coat

  1. Form the mixture into balls.

  2. Roll each ball in egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

  2. Serve on a napkin.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

  5. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cooked chicken
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the croquettes.
Mashed potatoes
Binds the mixture and keeps the filling moist and tender inside.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and helps the bread crumb coating adhere.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, golden-browning outer crust when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a softer, more flavorful interior.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before it crisps, while the filling may stay cold. Oil at a steady hot temperature sets the crust quickly and browns it evenly.

Swap the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, potato, butter, pepper, egg, cream, bread):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, potato, butter, pepper, egg, cream, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More chicken croquettes recipes

Mock 6Italian 4 See all 418 →

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesChicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesPotato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipes