Margarita’s Cuban Croquetas de Jamon, Perfect for Holiday Leftovers

These Cuban croquetas de jamon are popular with her friends and familia any time of year, says Margarita Balsameda, but they are especially delicioso after the holidays when there is lots of ham and other tasty leftover meats from the big Christmas feast.

Born in Fomento, Cuba, Margarita, now 93, and her husband found their way to Puerto Rico after escaping Fidel more than 70 years ago. They settled in Fajardo in eastern Puerto Rico, where she became a school teacher, her husband managed a hardware store, and they became the parents of two sons. This fried Cuban treat has always been one of her family’s favorites, she says.

”I’ve been making croquetas so long, I don’t even think I ever learned how,” Margarita jokes. ”I was born knowing how to make them.”

”I’ve always liked to cook,” she says. Today, she lives in a senior home near San Juan and misses having access to a full kitchen. This is one of the traditional dishes from her homeland she dreams of making again one day.

This recipe is one of her go-tos after big parties. “I love to make croquetas with all those carnes ricas that were left over from holiday cooking.” Margarita would take whatever remained of the Christmas ham or Thanksgiving turkey and cook it with a simple sofrito of sautéd onions, garlic and parsley. ”Of course, I’d add more ham or pork. You can even use beef or chicken, but the important things is to always make sure you have even a little bit of ham, because that is what gives this dish its signature flavor.”

As she starts to dictate her recipe to Familia Kitchen, she stops and smiles. ”I always told my mother I could never learn her recipes because she always would always tell me to add a little of this, a little of that. Nothing was ever specific. And now I’m going to give you this recipe with the same kind of instructions. It’s a little of this, a little garlic of that. That’s how I remember things now.”

Margarita searches her memory. What is the exact amount of garlic and parsley? She’s got it: 2 cloves of garlic and 6 to 8 sprigs of parsley. Plus, there is one very important ingredient she is sure about: This recipe uses perejil or parsley, but be sure NOT to use flat parsley. What some call Italian parsley. Curly parsley is much better. Because flat parsley “no sabe a nada.” It tastes like nothing, she says.

This is a dish that easily scales up or down. “The last time I made this recipe, I made 100 croquetas,” she says. ”I have a granddaughter who wanted the recipe. So she came over to my house early one Sunday before I came to live here, and we made these all day. She wanted to make a lot and give them out to our family.”

What might take a little bit of practice is how to shape the croquetas. You want them to look like short, chubby cigars, about 3 inches by 1 inch. “Not too big or too small,” says Margarita. And once you form the croquetas, make sure you chill them in the fridge for at least an hour before frying. This is essential to helping them keep their shape and crisp nicely when you fry them.

Margarita advises making a batch of the ham mixture to keep in your refrigerator, especially during the holidays. “When someone drops by, fry some up. When you have company, fry some up. You’ll always be ready to entertain if you have croquetas chilling in the fridge.”

Everyone in Cuba makes their croquetas differently, says Margarita, adding that hers have long been family famous (and much better than her mother-in-law’s, she grins). You’ll find that all homemade croquetas are better than the ones from restaurants, Margarita promises. ”When I’d go out and eat croquetas or other places, I’d always tease them and say they had to try mine to taste the real thing,” she smiles. ”I’d offer to bring them some so they could try them.”

Oh, and she has one last bit of Cuban croquetas advice. “Eat them with ketchup,” Margarita says. ”That’s how I think they taste the best.”

To try more Cuban croqueta recipes, check out these ham croquetas with mayoketchup and these plant-based croquetas made with beans and mushrooms.

Ready to Make Margarita’s Cuban Croquetas de Jamon?

Margarita’s Cuban Croquetas de Jamon, Perfect for Holiday Leftovers

Recipe by Margarita Balmaseda

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Cuban

Servings

18

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 onion, medium, minced

• 6 to 8 sprigs parsley, curly

• 2 tsp salt, or to taste, divided

• 1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste, divided

• 1 lb cooking ham or holiday ham, ground in a food processor

• 1 cup flour

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

• 1 1/2 cups cracker meal (store-bought or make your own with crushed saltines) or bread crumbs

• 3 eggs, hand beaten

Directions

• Finely mince or grind the ham and any other meat you are adding in the food processor.
• Season the meat with 1 tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper and set aside.
• Make the Sofrito and Add the Ham Mixture
• In a pan on medium-low heat, warm the olive oil.
• Add the minced onion, garlic and curly parsley. Sautee until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring every so ofte.
• Add the ground ham and sauté for about 10 minutes, until all the meat is lightly browned. Stir so that the ham doesn’t burn. Set aside.
• Make the Milk, Flour and Meat Filling
• Sift the flour and set aside.
• In a pan, warm the milk to lukewarm over low heat. Heating the milk helps it bind more easily with the flour, says Margarita.
• Stirring constantly with a fork or a whisk, slowly add the sifted flour into the warm milk, in small spurts, to give the milk time to absorb the flour.
• When the flour and milk are fully combined and there are no lumps, add to the ham mixture, stirring until blended.
• Add 1 tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper, to taste.
• Stir and cook for about 10 minutes. The texture should be firm but not dry. Add a little bit of milk, as needed.
• Remove from the head and let the mixture fully cool. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour, which will make these croquetas easier to fry the following day.
• Get Ready to Fry Your Croquetas
• Oil a sheet tray or pan and add the ham mixture. To form each croqueta, scoop about 3 Tbsp of the mixture and shape into the shape of a small cigar, about 3 inches long by 1 inch wide. Repeat until all the croquetas are shaped and ready to fry. Place the croquetas on the sheet tray and chill in the fridge for at least ½ hour.
• Line a plate or the sheet tray with paper towels and set aside. This is where you will place the fried croquetas once ready.
• In a frying pan, pour about 2 cups of vegetable oil and bring to frying heat, about 350°.
• Hand beat the eggs in a bowl and set aside.
• Pour the ground cracker meal or bread crumbs into a shallow plate.
• Time to Fry: Croqueta Time!
• Take one croqueta, dip it into the beaten eggs mixture and roll in the crackermeal or bread crumbs.
• Gently lower the croqueta in the hot oil and let it cook for 1 minute per side, until it lightly browns. When both sides are golden brown, place on the paper-line plate to absorb the excess oil.
• Work in batches of about 3 to 4 croquetas at a time, so as not to crowd them, using tongs. Once all the croquetas are fried, serve them hot to your crowd with a side of ketchup or mayoketchup (half ketchup, half mayo) and watch them disappear.

Notes

• Cracker meal is a common ingredient in Latino grocery stores. If you can’t find any in your local food store, crush your own saltines. Or substitute with unseasoned bread crumbs.
• You can add any other kind of meat into the ground ham mixture, says Margarita. If you have leftover turkey or chicken from a big family dinner, go ahead: grind it in the food processor and add it to the ham mixture, says Margarita. Even ground beef. As long as you have ham in the mixture, you will have deliciosos croquetas de jamon that will taste better than any restaurant, she promises.