How to Make the Best Chicken Croquettes in 2022

What are Chicken Croquettes?

Chicken croquettes with marinara sauce. Similar to chicken parmesan, but the ingredients are mixed into the chicken instead of being put on top of the chicken. Boneless skinless organic chicken breast cut into dices and mixed with eggs, breadcrumbs, three cheeses, seasonings, garlic, onion, parsley, and basil. Topped with a pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.  Since the focus of our presentation tonight is how to prepare the chicken croquettes and not the sauce, we’re using a ready-made sauce, but we will have a separate video on how to make a marinara sauce from scratch very soon.

Our mise en place for tonight’s dish is:

¼ Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Organic Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts Sliced and Diced
2 Organic Pasture Raised Eggs
½ Cup of Italian Breadcrumbs
¼ Cup of Italian Breadcrumbs for a Plate
½ Cup Each of Parmesan Reggiano Cheese, Havarti Cheese, and Mozzarella Cheese  2 Tablespoons of Chopped Parsley
1 Teaspoon Each of Salt & Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Fennel Seed, Italian Herb Seasoning, and Red Pepper Flakes
3 Cloves of Fresh Garlic Minced
½ Yellow Onion Chopped
2 Tablespoons of Fresh Basil Rolled and Chopped
13 oz Jar of Pizza Sauce (Marinara or Tomato Sauce)

In a large bowl, crack two eggs. Using a fork or a whisk, beat the two eggs thoroughly.  Add the diced chicken into the bowl of eggs, then mix the chicken and the eggs together. We want to ensure that each piece of chicken gets coated with the egg; this will help the croquettes stay together when they get cooked.

Add in the breadcrumbs,  half of the parmesan cheese, half of the Havarti cheese and half of the mozzarella cheese, the seasonings, red pepper flakes, minced garlic, onions, half of the parsley, and give everything a nice mix.

Let’s go ahead get the oven ready. Turn the oven on the 425 degrees.

We have enough of the chicken mix to make about a dozen croquette bites and four croquette patties.   We’ll start with the croquette bites first.  Use a small ice cream scoop and roll the meat into a ball. This will be about the size of a golf ball. Roll the croquette bite into the plate of breadcrumbs ensuring that the entire bite is coated with the breadcrumbs. Set the breaded croquette bites onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper. We’re going to sauté them in a pan of olive oil as soon as they are all breaded and ready to go. 

Next we’ll work on our croquette patties.  We’re using a cookie cutting ring; this is optional; if you want to form your patties by hand like you do when you make hamburger patties, then that is totally fine. We’re using the ring in an attempt to have them perfectly round and evenly sized for our photographs.  Using a tamper we’ll push the chicken mixture into the ring firmly. Then we’ll remove the ring and wallah! A nice chicken croquette patty is made. Repeat the process until all of the patties are made, and then coat them in the breadcrumbs and set them onto a cookie sheet next to your croquette bites.

And now we’ll get our pan ready. In a large stainless-steel pan, add in your extra virgin olive oil and turn the heat to medium low. Remember that olive oil burns if its too hot. The smoke point for extra virgin olive oil is only 325 degrees, so be careful.

We’ll start with the patties first, although it doesn’t matter which. Add the patties to the pan of olive oil and cook for three minutes on each side. ­Our goal here is to have a nice golden brown color with a crispy texture. One reason that we don’t put everything into the pan at the same time is to ensure that the croquettes are crispy   If you crowd a pan when you’re sautéing, the meat will steam instead of getting crispy.  Once the croquette patties are cooked, put them back onto your cookie sheet and leave them on the counter.

Now we’ll move on to the croquette bites. Check to make sure there is enough olive oil in the pan and add more if you need to. Add the croquette bites to the pan and cook them until they are golden brown; you’ll need to roll them around as best you can to ensure that all sides have olive oil on them. As soon as they are cooked, put them onto your cookie sheet and we’ll get them ready for the oven.

Place the croquette bites and the patties into the oven and cook them for 10 minutes. Take the croquettes out of the oven and add the pizza sauce to the croquettes. Add the shredded cheese to the top of the croquettes and this time we’ll place them under the broiler for about three minutes so that the cheese gets bubbly and starts to turn brown. Remove the croquettes from the broiler and you’re ready to serve.

And now it’s time to plate our dish…

And there it is! Chicken croquettes with marinara sauce. Golden brown bites that can be served as an appetizer. And croquette patties that can be served as an entrée. It’s a taste of Italy in your home tonight.

It was delicious!

Until next time,
Bon Appetit!
Ciao,
Mark