One of my favorite memories of growing up in New Jersey was going out to eat at one of the many diners in the area. And Turkey Croquettes was always at the top of my list of dishes I would order when we stopped for dinner.
Although I wasn’t born in New Jersey, we moved here when I was pretty young and at the height of New Jersey’s love affair with Diners.
Turkey Croquettes was a dish that was rarely made at home. But at diner that serves turkey every day, it was the perfect way to use the leftover turkey.
It never fails that every time I roast a turkey, I always have more turkey than we can eat before we get tired of it. I re-use the leftovers just about every way you can think of, but a good portion always ends up in the freezer and never gets used.
That’s why I started making Turkey Croquettes, it’s a delicious way to use up the leftover turkey. And they freeze well too, that way you’ve got more ready to heat up for dinners for those days you don’t feel like cooking.
What is a Croquette?
“A Croquette is a small breadcrumbed fried food roll containing, usually as main ingredients, ground meat (veal, beef, chicken, or turkey), shellfish, fish, ham, cheese, mashed potatoes or vegetables, and mixed with béchamel or brown sauce, and soaked white bread, egg, onion, spices and herbs, wine, milk, beer, or some combination, sometimes with a filling, such as sautéed onions, mushrooms, or boiled eggs.
The croquette is usually shaped into a cylinder, disk, or oval shape, and then deep-fried. The croquette (from the French croquer, “to crunch”) has gained worldwide popularity, both as a delicacy and as fast food.”
How do I make Turkey Croquettes?
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Turkey Croquettes. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
In your food processor, add celery, carrots and onion and pulse till finely minced. Repeat the process with the turkey.
*You can pulse the veggies to a finer consistency if you’d rather not see the bigger pieces in the croquette.
In a saute pan, melt butter and add finely minced celery, carrots, and onion. Saute until softened (3-5 minutes) Allow the mixture to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, add turkey, stuffing cubes, sauteed celery, onions, carrots, and poultry seasoning. Mix all the ingredients together.
- Add 1 cup of chicken stock and two lightly beaten eggs and mix together. Gradually add more chicken stock as needed. You want the mixture to resemble a stuffing consistency. **Don’t let it get too wet. It will continue to absorb the liquid as it sits in your refrigerator setting up but it still needs to be shaped, so it needs to have a formable consistency.
- Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
- After mixing all ingredients together fully, refrigerate for 2-3 hours to allow mix to set up.
After the mix has set up, form the mixture into cone-shaped croquettes.
*If you prefer another shape, go for it. Traditionally croquettes were cone-shaped.
If you like using your Instant Pot, this is a delicious Instant Pot Ground Turkey Recipe.
Set up a Breading Station
- Dredge the croquettes in flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
- Then dip the floured croquette into the egg wash (egg and milk).
- Finally, coat the egged croquette with seasoned bread crumbs.
Saute the Turkey Croquettes
- Saute the turkey croquettes in olive oil (or your choice of oil), turning until all sides have been lightly browned.
- Place the croquettes you are going to serve into a 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes until fully heated. (minimum 165 degrees)
Not only is this a great way to use up leftover turkey, but it’s also a wonderful way to introduce a new generation to the joys of true Diner Food. Enjoy these croquettes with a salad, soup, or indulge with a side of mashed potatoes and lots of turkey gravy!
You’ll find different views on how to make turkey croquettes, some folks use mashed potatoes and others use stuffing. I’ve always found that stuffing makes a lighter tastier croquette that doesn’t sink like a lead weight in your stomach. I promise you’ll like my stuffing version better!
But any way you make them, you’re making a New Jersey Diner Classic!
More Delicious Recipes You’ll Love!
Diner Style Turkey Croquettes
Ingredients
Turkey Croquettes
- 2 cups turkey finely chopped – use a food processor
- 2 cups potato bread stuffing mix or use your favortie brand of stuffing mix
- ½ cup celery finely minced
- ½ cup onion finely minced
- ½ cup carrots finely minced
- 4 oz butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning or ground sage
breading station
- black pepper and sea salt to taste
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup milk
- 4 oz olive oil to saute croquettes
Instructions
- In your food processor add celery, carrots and onion and pulse till finely minced
- In the food processor add your turkey and pulse until finely chopped. (use a mix of dark and white meat)
- In a saute pan melt butter and add finely minced celery, carrots, and onion. Saute until softened (3-5 minutes) Allow to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, add turkey, stuffing cubes, sauteed celery, onions, carrots, and poultry seasoning. Mix all the ingredients together.
- Add 1 cup of chicken stock and two lightly beaten eggs and mix together. Gradually add more chicken stock as needed. You want the mixture to resemble stuffing consistency. **Don't let it get too wet. It will continue to absorb the liquid as it sits in your refrigerator setting up but it still needs to be shaped so it needs to have a formable consistency.
- Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
- After mixing all ingredients together fully, refrigerate for 2-3 hours to allow mix to set up .
- After the mix has set up form into cone-shaped croquettes
- Dredge the croquettes in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Dip the floured croquette into the egg wash (2 eggs, ½ cup of milk).Coat the egged croquette with seasoned bread crumbs.
- Saute croquettes in olive oil, turning until all sides have been lightly browned.
- Place croquettes you are going to serve into a 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes until fully heated. (minimum 165 degrees internal temperature)
- Freeze the remainder to use another day!
- Serve Croquettes with sides of your choice and your favorite turkey gravy and enjoy!
Andy
made this with leftover Turkey It came faboulous the family and friends enjoyed THANK YOU
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the croquettes.
Marion
How would you recommend freezing them? Thank you.
Sandy
I cannot believe how excellent these are. Absolutely delicious!
Heather NJ
Thank you Chef Dennis! Exactly what I was looking for my first try at Turkey Croquettes and we wanted classic diner style.
We had Thanksgiving, 3 of us and one bone-in breast with stuffing. I used the cooked cavity stuffing and pulled back on the broth, followed the rest. Figure we’re going for meatball consistency.
It’s setting up in the fridge. Looks marvelous. We’re also doing mash potato croques with the leftovers. Thanks again for the confidence we’re on the right track 🙂
Chef Dennis Littley
You’re very welcome Heather, I hope you enjoy the croquettes!
Marie V
Hello Chef Dennis just wondering if you can use unseasoned bread cubes in this recipe I was going to use stove top bread cubes and not use the seasoning packet but wondered if using plain bread cubes is better for the recipe won’t be too salty?
Chef Dennis Littley
You can use unseasoned bread cubes, the potato bread cubes in the recipe are unseasoned. As for the seasoning packet, you can use it, but you may want to use a low sodium chicken broth, or simply cut it back a bit replacing some of the broth with water.
Richard M.
Wow my mother-in law used to make these…I enjoyed making them they were wonderful thanks for the recipe. It has made into my recipe list…
Marisa
Could I use cooked ground turkey for this recipe? I’m excited to try it, looks delicious!
Chef Dennis Littley
you can just cook it first. The texture will be a little different but the taste will be good. If you can find ground turkey that isn’t all white meat they will be better,
Marisa
Thank you for your response!
Lori Baxter
Absolutely. I used ground turkey breast and they turned out incredible.
nancy meyers
Fabulous!! I made these using leftovers from T-day, I served the with all the leftover trimmings & a new can of cranberry sauce. Everyone raved about them. I recently bought some turkey tenderloins and will make them again. Soo easy, Thank you!
jean
I didn’t have enough turkey, so I supplemented with chicken. I had a ziplock bag of leftover stuffing so I used your idea and just married the two in the food processor. The other recipe I used (from an old New York Times cookbook) was cumbersome to make and … didn’t taste like I remembered from my mom’s house growing up. This recipe was wonderful! The old recipe called for deep frying in vegetable oil, but I like your saute method: the olive oil gives them better flavor, with less absorption. Hands down a winner in our house!!!
Linda
These turkey croquettes are so fun and the perfect size for a family of 3 like us. Plus, who can say no to delicious croquettes like this
Miriam
So nice to have a croquette recipe that doesn’t call for deep frying. How do I make the croquettes without a food processor?
Chef Dennis Littley
You’ll have to chop everything very finely. They don’t have to be as fine as a food processor would make them.
nancy
yummy. these croquettes are not only good with leftovers but we make these alot for a quick snack!
Cindy
My family loved the croquettes last year! I’ll definitely be making them again
Tricia
How many croquettes does the recipe make? (Assuming the size is equivalent to the ones in the picture)
Chef Dennis Littley
it makes 8 croquettes
Ellen
These were delicious!!! The only change I made was airfrying them. I will make this again.
Kevin
Best old fashioned turkey croquettes recipe on the planet!!
Sherryl Townsley
Made these exactly as recommended they are great! Used left over cornbread stuffing & mashed potatoes, I have a lot frozen for future meals. I wrapped each one in plastic wrap then in gallon freezer bag.
Liz
How big of a pan do I brown my croquettes
Chef Dennis Littley
What ever size you feel comfortable using. You can do them all at once or in batches
Dana Vanhove
I grew up in NJ, and remember back in the 70s when my mom used to make croquettes. Always loved them! Made your recipe last night with my left over turkey from Thanksgiving–and OMG it was delish! My family loved it. To make it just a bit crispier on the outside, I added a bit of cornmeal flour to the breading SO GOOD! Served atop taters, with gravy on top, a few sprigs of thyme… Broc on the side, and Mama Stamberg’s cranberry chutney, plus my lemon/ginger/jalapeno cranberry sauce. MMMMMM!
Chef Dennis Littley
Wow that sounds delicious and I like the addition of the cornmeal to the recipe.
Beth M
Made these tonight I’m a Jersey girl and have been missing this for 40 + years what a treat, I have pic’s for you too , thank you! I just don’t know how to post them