Krokiety Polish Croquettes are traditionally served along side Barszcz, a spicy beet broth soup or topped with a mushroom sauce or gravy. They’re filled naleśniki or crepes that’s battered with breadcrumbs and fried until beautifully crisp.
They are delicious little bits of heaven, and I’m including a couple of shortcuts to tempt you into making them not matter how busy your day is.
Krokiety Fillings
The filling could take many forms, a mix of vegetables, maybe some meat. Although on Christmas Eve or during Lent you can be sure the filling will be meatless. Just combine flavors that you like.
Veggie fillings should be finely chopped:
- sautéed mushrooms
- sautéed onion
- sautéed cabbage
- drained sauerkraut
- grated cooked carrot (from your soup broth if you’re making barszcz)
Meat fillings should be cooked, shredded or ground:
- chicken
- turkey
- beef
- finely diced ham
Shortcuts
I’ve read some recipes that add egg to the filling to bind it together. I like to use grated cheese, which is quick and easy, or a white sauce. I mix up a bechamel sauce or sos beszamelowy.
Here’s Martha Stewart’s recipe. You would just need 1/4 of her recipe, or save a little time with a packet mix or even jarred sauce, the kind of white sauce or Alfredo sauce you might find next to spaghetti sauce in the supermarket.
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In addition to this substitution, you might even substitute egg roll wrappers for the crepes because when you think about it, these are a lot like egg rolls. This is a shortcut that makes it easy to use up little bits of leftover meat or veggies.
I made these with Barszcz, so for the meat, I just used shortribs, and I picked the meat off the bones after making the broth. They’re equally delicious without meat.
Smacznego!
Lois
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Krokiety Polish Croquettes
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 12 krokiety 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: Polish
Description
Crispy bundles filled with veggie and maybe meat
Ingredients
- for crepes
- 1 cups flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- for filling
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 8 ouces mushrooms, diced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1/2 cup sauerkraut, drained
- 1/2 cup meat of your choice
- 1/2 cup grated cheese or white sauce (just enough to bind ingredients together)
- to assemble
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- oil for frying
Instructions
for crepes
- Combine flour, milk, water, eggs, melted butter, salt with mixer or blender
- Let the batter rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
- Heat a small frying pan, 8 or 9 inches, over medium high heat
- Brush or spray the pan with oil
- Add about 1/4 cup of batter and shake and tilt the pan to spread the batter to coat the bottom of the pan
- Cook about 30 seconds, until crepe is set and beginning to brown
- Flip crepe and cook another 10 – 20 seconds
- Remove, stack on a plate
for the filling
- Add butter and chopped mushrooms, and onion to a frying pan and cook until tender
- Add sauerkraut, I snipped the kraut with scissors, it seemed easier than dicing, and cooked meat
- Add grated cheese or white sauce and stir to combine
- Set aside
to assemble
- Put approximately 2 tablespoons of filling on a crepe, if the crepe were a clock, position the filling between 10 and 2 o’clock, keeping it about an inch from the edges, fold the top over the filling and fold the sides in and continue rolling
- Repeat until you run out of crepes or filling
- Whisk egg and water
- Carefully dip in rolled crepes in the egg wash and them roll in breadcrumbs
- Heat oil, about 1/2 inch deep, to 350 F over high to medium high heat
- Carefully place krokiety in hot oil, cooking until golden brown, about one minute on each side
- Serve along side Barszcz or with mushroom sauce
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Jan
Hi,
I cannot see any recipe or instructions, just outlined boxes with a print icon in the corner and titles.
Jan
polishhousewife
Thanks for letting me know, Jan. My recipe plug-in has been acting up lately. I think it’s working well now.
Jan
Hi,
I can see the recipe now. Thanks so much for posting this recipe. I had these when I visited Poland and have been looking for a recipe for a while. I can’t wait to try these!
Jan
polishhousewife
My pleasure!
Heidi
Hi Lois!!
Thank-you for this beautiful source of info
polishhousewife
Hello Heidi! It’s my pleasure; thanks for taking the time to comment.
Teri
Just made these for the first time! Had some at a Polish deli and wanted a recipe. I used fermented cabbage, grated carrot, shredded cheese, both fresh and dried mushrooms, and onion. They came out fantastic and the family loved them without any sauce. Crepe batter was quick and easy. Just delightful!
polishhousewife
Your filling sounds delicious, Teri. I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them. Thanks for taking the time to let me know! ❤️
Stephen J Oksienik
Excellent recipe!
I did kapusta and mushroom.
My Mom, Stella, would be proud to have made these as good.
Nice Job!
polishhousewife
Thanks for taking time to comment, Stephen and for your high praise. I’m happy to hear yours turned out so well!
Wendy
help please, you had a recipe for a meatball soup. now i cant find it anywhere. I got the ingredients and now i cant find it
polishhousewife
Hi Wendy, I have two recipes that might be what you saw. (And I have proper meatball soup on my list to write about.) It might be this cabbage roll soup that has meatballs https://polishhousewife.com/cabbage-roll-soup/ or it might have been this recipe for meatballs that I picture with a mushroom sauce. https://polishhousewife.com/polish-meatballs-klopsiki/
Thanks for your question!
Michele
My grandmother always made these, she just called them “cabbage crepes” and served them with Sour Cream Mushroom Sauce over top (pidpenky) She would saute a few onions, finely chop the leftover over cabbage from cabbage rolls and add that to the dutch oven, and then add a jar of sauerkraut, adding salt, pepper, bay leaf and dill as seasoning, then braise it in the oven for a few hours, She would either make pierogi or crepes or both! with the filling, I am making the crepes tomorrow for Christmas. Thanks for the recipe and memory 🙂
★★★★★
Adam Coston
What sort of cheese do you recommend using in the filling to bind it? Is there an equivalent available in the UK?
polishhousewife
Adam, use any mild-flavored cheese, cream cheese would be ideal.