Southwest Potato Croquettes are mashed potatoes mixed with Southwest seasoning and fried to a crispy golden brown. Served with a spicy cool green chile ranch dip and they are the perfect appetizer!

If you’d rather skip my essential cooking tips and tricks and get straight to this delicious recipe – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.

POTATO CROQUETTES

Do you even have leftover mashed potatoes? If you do, and you want to change them up a bit to make them new again, try making them into potato croquettes.

Not sure what a potato croquette is? It is a delicious ball of mashed potatoes, cheese, and spices. They are coated in breadcrumbs and fried to a crispy golden brown. Doesn’t that sound delicious?

I love that potatoes are so versatile and you can add any flavor profile to them to make them into a new dish.

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SOUTHWEST POTATO CROQUETTE INGREDIENTS

• mashed potatoes
• egg yolks
• Southwest Seasoning Mix
• all-purpose flour
• Mexican blend shredded cheese
• vegetable oil for frying
• eggs
• breadcrumbs
• sour cream
• Greek yogurt
• chopped green chilies
• Ranch Seasoning Mix

For more insider tips & tricks, and a candid behind the scenes look follow me on social media! Check use out on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter (yes, people still use Twitter, LOL!)

HOW TO MAKE POTATO CROQUETTES

FIRST: Heat the oven to 200F. Mix the mashed potatoes, egg yolks, Southwest seasoning mix, flour, and cheese together in a bowl. Scoop out the mixture and roll into 1 inch balls. Place on a baking sheet and pop in the fridge to set.

SECOND: Crack the whole eggs in a small bowl and whisk to scramble. Add the breadcrumbs in a separate bowl to make the coating stations. Heat the oil in a medium frying pan t0 375F

THIRD: When the oil is ready, remove the croquettes from the fridge. In batches of 4 or five, dip the croquettes in the egg, then roll in the breadcrumbs to coat. This is where I smash mine into disc shapes but you can leave round if you want to.

FOURTH: Place in the oil gently and fry till golden brown, flipping or moving around to cook all sides. When crispy and golden brown, remove from the oil and place on a baking sheet lined with paper towels or brown bag paper.

For the full recipe and detailed instructions, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Making potato croquettes is pretty easy, and with a basic recipe in your head (or on your mobile device like me) you can start to add your own spin to it!  That is what I did with these.  I hopped on over to my friends’ (Dan and Scott) blog Platter Talk and grabbed their recipe.  

I didn’t really need to mess with it too much as it is perfect already, but I did want to kick up the spice factor a bit.  After I get done making this recipe I am definitely going to try out their Beer Dip Recipe, because who doesn’t want to combine beer and dip, and their Corn Fritters with Jalapeno Aioli.  I can’t wait for all the fresh summer corn to start rolling in just thinking about them.

It just so happens that today is our Freaky Friday Blog Swap – Winter Edition.  If you are not familiar with it let me give you a quick run-down.  A group of us food bloggers get together and try recipes from each other’s blogs.  

It is done in secret (the person’s blog we are grabbing the recipe from) kind of like secret Santa, and then we make the recipe.  We can choose to put our own spin on it like I did here, or just keep it the same.

It is so much fun and it gives us a chance to introduce other blogs to you guys that you might not have seen before. Last time I made some Crispy Roasted Chickpeas with Ghost Pepper Salt that I adapted from my friend Michelle’s Blog, A Dish of Daily Life. Down below you can see all the other blogs that are participating this round, so please go check them out too!

Platter Talk is run by two dads that have a ton of boys!  I can relate as I have two boys myself, three if you count the hubby, so I love to hear their stories of parenting and trying to feed those hungry kids.  It is nice to know that I am not alone in constantly cooking and keeping the boy’s bellies full.

For more insider tips & tricks, and a candid behind the scenes look follow me on social media! Check use out on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter (yes, people still use Twitter, LOL!)

TAPAS TIPS & TRICKS

• You have to work in batches when you fry them so don’t crowd the frying pan too much. Too many croquettes in there at one time and the oil temperature will drop. This makes for greasy croquettes and that is not fun at all.
• While I am frying up the subsequent batches, I keep my cooked ones on a baking sheet in the oven. I have it set on 200F to keep them all warm.
• I serve these hot and with a great ranch dip that I spiced up with green chilies! To make the dip I use my homemade Ranch Dip seasoning mix. I add it to some sour cream, plain Greek yogurt, and a spoonful of chopped green chilies.  
• I always have a can of these in my pantry! You can make the dip ahead of time (as you might use it for chips or fries) and just have it sitting in your fridge ready to go!

Serve them in a cute fry basket for individual servings.  If you want a more upscale presentation, you can add a dollop or smear of the dip and place the potato croquettes on top like I did in this picture above.  

Or you can do what I do.  I eat them as they come out of the fryer, standing in the kitchen.  No judgment here.  Most of my food never makes it to an actual plate 🙂

Grab the recipe for these Southwest Potato Croquettes right here and then go and check out all the other blogs participating in Freaky Friday.  I know you will find something tasty to make this weekend!

MORE EASY TAPAS RECIPES

• Southwest Dipping Oil with Tortillas
• Bacon Manchego Croquettes
• Southwest Chicken Wings
• Zesty Southwest Seasoning
• Southwest Pepitas

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