A versatile savoury snack that is crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.
by Ena Scheerstra
Meat croquettes (kroketten) consist of a thick meat ragout rolled into a cylindrical form, covered in breadcrumbs, which are deep-fried. They are a much loved food in the Netherlands, for example as a lunch staple and as part of a snackbar takeaway, but almost no one makes them at home. For this post I did make them myself and was pleasantly surprised. It didn’t take that much time (most of it was waiting time) and the result was very delicious. 
I served my delicious homemade croquettes in a typical Dutch way: the 12 o’clock (het twaalfuurtje). This is a dish often found on the lunch menu in lunchrooms and restaurants and consists of a slice of bread with butter, mustard and a croquette; a small ‘uitsmijter‘; a garnish of crudités or salad; and a small bowl of soup. Sometimes you also get juice or coffee. Two generously topped slices of bread, some salad and a bowl of soup is enough lunch for a hungry person. You can always choose if you like white or brown bread. The salad is usually potato, russian or beef, but making those is subject for a later post.
You can also use this recipe to make ‘bitterballen’, the only difference is to roll the ragout into small balls (about 4 cm in diameter) instead of cylinders. Bitterballen are served as a cocktail snack, accompanied by a small bowl of mustard to dip them in.
Print
Dutch Beef Croquettes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
A savoury snack that is crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.
Ingredients
- 200 g beef/400 g beef with bone
Stock
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1/2 leek
- 2 sprigs of parsley
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1 bay leave
- a small bit of mace
- 5 pepper corns, slightly crushed
- 1 tsp salt
Sauce
- 35 g butter
- 35 g flour
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp cream
- 1/2 tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1 egg yolk
breading and cooking
- 1 egg
- dried breadcrumbs
- oil for deepfrying
Instructions
- Wash the vegetables, cut in large chunks.
- Place in a cooking pan together with the herbs and spices, lay the meat on top.
- Add water until just covered.
- Bring to the boil and leave to simmer until the meat is cooked and tender (depends on the cut of meat).
- Take the meat out, slice in cubes of 0,5 cm (discard any tough, sinewy or very fatty bits).
- Sieve the stock and set aside 200 ml. The rest will not be used. For a stronger flavour, reduce down the stock before measuring the 200 ml.
- Melt the butter in a sauce pot.
- Add the flour, mix well, and cook for about 1 minute.
- Add the measured stock gradually while stirring to form a smooth and thick sauce.
- Leave to cook on low heat for 2 minutes, then take off the heat.
- Add the lemon juice, cream, parsley and egg yolk, mix them through the sauce.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
- Add the cubes of meat, mix them through.
- Pour the sauce into a deep plate that you rinsed with water.
- Cover with cling film and leave to cool in the fridge (takes about an hour).
- Whisk the egg together with a little water in a deep plate. Pour the dried breadcrumbs on another plate.
- Slice the cooled croquette mix in 4 equal parts (8 if you want mini-croquettes).
- Place a part on top of the bread crumbs and form into a cylinder/croquette form (the breadcrumbs will prevent the mix from sticking).
- Place the croquette in the egg mixture, cover completely.
- Then place again on the breadcrumbs, cover completely with crumbs. Pat the croquette so that the breadcrumbs are attached well.
- Do the same with the other three portions.
- Heat the oil to 200C.
- Place a croquette (or more, depending on the size of your fryer) in the fryer and bake for about 2 minutes, or until the crust is brown.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Use a cut of beef that is suitable for making stock. You can use veal instead of beef. You can use leftover meat (180 g); in that case you can use a ready made stock instead of the stock you make in the recipe.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Main
Dear Ena,
I love all that you posted. Thank you so very much. It is just wonderful to read and I have already made your pancakes for my Dutch/US kids. We all loved them. I can’t wait to make your Dutch apple pie recipe and spice cookies for the holidays. I also like to read your descriptions before the recipes. I’m so grateful for all the time that you put into this wonderful cache of Dutch recipes.
Many Thanks,
S
Thanks a lot! I’m happy you enjoy my posts and recipes!
My aunt and I used to make a cake or loaf . It was called translated to English “old wife’s cake”. She has passed on and I have been looking for this recipe. It was a spice cake made with aniseed . I am hoping you might know of it and give me the recipe
Thankyou nancy
I know of that cake, but I don’t like it myself because I hate the aniseed flavour. I did searched for a good recipe for you, but unfortunately couldn’t find one. I do have a recipe for “ontbijtkoek” (Dutch Spiced Breakfast Bread) on Honest Cooking, which is quite similar except for the spices. You could try that recipe and add some more aniseed to it. I hope this helps!
Ena thanks for the recipe. I doubled the ingredients to made a double batch but the rue came out very runny. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Adrian
Ena, thank you for the recipe! I’ve tried to make it for the lunch. I cooked the croquette mix a day ahead, and cool it down in the refrigerator. But turn out, the mixture still very runny and it was very diffucult to make a rolls. I have tried very carefully to make a croquettes, and fried them. The results was ok, the only thing I wished more have filling inside instead of bread crumbs. I didn’t use 2 table spoon of cream, maybe because of that the mixture didn’t get stiff enough? I haven’t try the real Dutch croquettes, so I have nothing to compare. Thank you for your sharing, I also want to try make a Satay with peanut butter.
Dear Ena, I have made kroketten and bitterballen all my life so I do know how to make them BUT now I have a friend who cannot eat gluten (wheat flour). Can you tell me what flour I can use (except wheat) to make these delicious snacks. I want to surprise her. The rest of the ingredients I can handle.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
akoudys@shaw.ca
this was nice
this was nice and gave me a good view of my heritage and culture
il tell you a quick story
i was running in the streets of Melbourne and came across some clocks. one of the clocks said ” berlin” so i sprinted as fast as i could for no reason. but then it hit me , i have to go to berlin. so i took a train to dandenong and got a coffee. and then went back to my dads house the end
This is not the authentic dutch recipe sadly.
Thanks Ena, was wondering if you could post a pic of the inside of this croquette. Want to know what it should look like. Thanks.