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🇪🇸 · Spanish · Across Spain

Croquetas

Spain's béchamel croquettes — thick white sauce flavoured with jamón or cod, chilled, breadcrumbed and fried until crisp outside and molten within.

Also known as: Croquetas de jamón · Spanish croquettes

  • Milk
  • Fritter
  • Deep-fried
  • Starter

Allergens & declarations

Contains

Cereals (gluten)

Wheat

Contains cereals and gluten-containing products

Egg

Contains eggs and egg products

Milk (including Lactose)

Contains milk and milk products (including lactose)

Also declarable

  • With Nitrite Curing Salt — Contains nitrite curing salt

This describes the classic recipe, so you know what to ask about. It is not a declaration for any particular kitchen — recipes and suppliers vary, and only the restaurant can tell you what is in the dish it serves.

In detail

Croquetas are Spanish croquettes made from thick béchamel, breadcrumbed and fried. The measure of a good one is the contrast: a crisp shell around a filling that is almost liquid when you bite it.

What it actually is

A thick white sauce of milk, flour and butter or olive oil is cooked out and flavoured — most often with finely chopped jamón serrano, but also with salt cod, chicken, mushroom, or the leftover meat from a cocido.

The mixture is chilled until firm, shaped into small cylinders, coated in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, and deep-fried.

They are not related to the French potato croquette. That one is starchy; this one is creamy, and the difference is the whole dish.

How it's served

  • Hot, straight from the fryer — they collapse if they sit.
  • By the piece, or as a ración of half a dozen to share.
  • In tapas bars, where they are one of the standard measures of a kitchen.

Writing it on a menu

  • Name the filling — jamón, cod, mushroom, chicken. It is the whole identity of the croqueta, and "croquettes" alone tells a guest nothing.
  • Price by the piece or by the ración, and say how many are in one.
  • Note the allergens: gluten, dairy and egg always, plus pork in the jamón version. A mushroom filling made with olive oil is the easiest vegetarian option to offer.

Typical ingredients

  • milk
  • flour
  • butter or olive oil
  • jamón serrano
  • breadcrumbs
  • egg
  • nutmeg

Frequently asked questions

What is Croquetas?
Spain's béchamel croquettes — thick white sauce flavoured with jamón or cod, chilled, breadcrumbed and fried until crisp outside and molten within.
Where does Croquetas come from?
Spain.
What is Croquetas made of?
Milk, flour, butter or olive oil, jamón serrano, breadcrumbs, egg, nutmeg.
Which allergens does Croquetas contain?
Contains cereals and gluten-containing products. Contains eggs and egg products. Contains milk and milk products (including lactose).
What is Croquetas also known as?
Croquetas de jamón, Spanish croquettes.

Related dishes

Patatas Bravas

Spain's best-known tapa — fried potato cubes under a smoky, lightly spicy tomato-and-paprika sauce, often with alioli alongside.

Tortilla Española

The Spanish potato omelette — a thick, set cake of egg, slow-cooked potato and onion, served in wedges warm or cold.

Arancini

Sicilian fried rice balls with a filling of ragù and peas or ham and mozzarella — crisp outside, saffron rice within, eaten with the hands.

Put it on your menu with Menuella
Reviewed by Menuella Food Team·Updated 2026-07-25

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