Tasty crispy Papa Rellena. They are large, juicy, and filled with seasoned ground beef with delicious flavors. You can find this traditional recipe from Peruvian cuisine on every street side, and now you can easily make them yourself. A delicious fast food recipe.
Papa Rellena
What could be more fun than looking in another world’s kitchen? And today, that is Peru’s cuisine. I made a papa rellena recipe, which means stuffed potato. These snacks can be stuffed with cheese, Picadillo, or meat. And this time, the potatoes are filled with a delicious seasoned minced beef mixture.
It is an extremely popular recipe in Latin America, and each region has its own variants. Vegetarian, filled with meat or cheese. It is street food and if you come across it, be sure to try it because they are delicious. And otherwise, you can easily make them yourself with this recipe.
Papa Rellena, delicious comfort food. A crispy mashed potato ball filled with flavored beef. This Peruvian snack is a real crowd-pleasure.
What do you need for Papas Rellenas?
To prepare this Papa Rellena, you need the following ingredients. You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:
- Ground beef - In this recipe, we use ground beef. But you can also use half beef, half pork, ground chicken, or vegetarian mince (like Quorn).
- Potatoes - Use floury potatoes to make this recipe. Russet, Doré, King Edward, Yukon gold, and Maris Piper are great choices.
- White wine - For flavoring the filling. Use a dry white wine such as Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. There are even Sauvignon blanc wines from Peru available.
- Garlic, pepper, and Onion - Basic flavoring of the meat filling.
- Eggs, hard-boiled - Used in the stuffing. A great recipe to prepare hard-boiled eggs every time.
- Eggs, uncooked - Use one to bind the mashed potatoes and another to coat the bread crumbs.
- Raisins - Soak them in water before adding, so they won’t burn. They give a little sweetness to the filling.
- Cumin and cayenne - spice the Papa Rellena.
- White wine - use a dry white wine for deglazing. You could substitute it with an equal amount of water or beef stock.
- Flour - The papas rellenas are rolled in spiced all-purpose flour after forming to get the first coating.
- Bread crumbs - The third and final coating of the stuffed potatoes. You can use 'regular' bread crumbs, and Panko breadcrumbs is also a great choice.
- Frying oil - Used to deep - fry the papa rellena. Use vegetable oil or corn oil.
How to prepare Peruvian Fried Stuffed Potatoes?
You can find a printable recipe with a step-by-step description at the bottom of this blog.
Step 1 - Preparing the mashed potatoes.
- Bring a pan of water to a boil. Peel and wash the potatoes and cut them into pieces of the same size (this way, they are done at the same time). Boil the potatoes in the water for 20 minutes until tender. You can check this by pricking it with a fork. If the fork goes in easily, the potato is done. Drain the potatoes.
- Let the potatoes cool to room temperature. Mash them finely with a potato masher or squeezer. Not with a mixer; you will get a glue-like substance.
- Add the egg, salt, and pepper to the potatoes.
- Knead the potato mixture until you get a dough.
Step 2 - Fry the ground beef filling.
- Pour oil into the pan and fry the onion on medium heat for three minutes until translucent. Add garlic and pepper and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
- Put the ground meat in the frying pan with the onion and garlic and loose until brown.
- Add the raisins, cumin, and paprika and mix well. Pour in the wine; now turn off the heat.
- Peel the hard-boiled eggs and cut them into small pieces. Stir it into the minced meat mixture. Let cool to room temperature.
Step 3 - Form the potato balls.
- Put some beef filling in your hand.
- Grab some mashed potatoes and fold them around the ground beef mixture.
- Continue until the filling is covered with the potato mixture. Roll between your hands a few times until you have a ball.
- Repeat for the rest of the filling.
Step 4 - Prepare the crisp outside.
- Prepare three bowls. In the first bowl, mix flour with cayenne pepper. In the second bowl, you put a beaten egg. Fill the third bowl with breadcrumbs.
- First, pass each ball through the flour and cover all sides.
- Then roll the balls through the egg.
- And cover all sides with breadcrumbs. Your filled potato croquettes are done.
Step 5 - Deep fry the Papas Rellenas until done.
- Preheat the deep fryer to 375 °F (190 °C) and place the breaded balls in the frying basket.
- Fry for three minutes, and then turn the balls upside down. Fry for another three minutes. They are then golden brown. Serve.
Can you reheat Papas Rellenas?
Yes, you can. Warm them up in the microwave or warm them up in a preheated oven at 390 °F (200 °C) for 10 minutes.
Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Tasty crispy Papa Rellena. They are large, juicy, and filled with seasoned ground beef with delicious flavors. You can find this traditional recipe from Peruvian cuisine on every street side, and now you can easily make them yourself. A delicious fast food recipe.
Equipment
- Deep Fryer
- frying pan
- Potato masher
Ingredients
Outside:
- 2.2 lb potatoes
- 1 egg, size L
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
For the filling
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or passed through a press
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 red chili pepper, finely diced, deseeded
- 9 oz. ground beef
- 3 oz. raisins, soaked in 1 cup (240 ml) boiling water for 10 minutes, then minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin, ground
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika, ground
- ¼ cup white wine , water or beef stock for deglazing
- 3 eggs, size L, boiled
- ⅓ teaspoon salt , to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Final preparation:
- 1 egg , size L, beaten
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper ground
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dry bread crumbs
- sunflower oil , for frying
Instructions
Mashed potatoes
- Boil the potatoes until they pierce easily with a fork. Remove them from the water and cool.2.2 lb potatoes
- Once the potatoes are cooled, peel them and mash them with a potato masher or force them through a potato ricer (preferred).
- Add egg, salt, and pepper and knead “dough” thoroughly to ensure that ingredients are well combined and uniformly distributed.1 egg, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- While the potatoes cool down before finishing the dough, you can make the filling. Make sure you cool the potatoes to room temperature (or fridge temperatures), for the best results.
Filling
- Gently brown onion and garlic in oil (about 5 minutes).2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic
- Add the pepper and fry for a couple more minutes.1 red chili pepper
- Put the ground beef into the skillet and brown. Add raisins, cumin, and paprika and fry briefly (a few seconds).9 oz. ground beef, 3 oz. raisins, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
- Deglaze the pan with white wine.¼ cup white wine
- Add hard-boiled eggs and fold in off heat to allow the filling to cool before forming “papas.”3 eggs
- Flavor with salt and pepper.⅓ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Prepare Papas Rellena
- Spoon a generous amount of filling into the center and then roll the potato closed, forming a smooth, potato-shaped casing around the filling.
- Repeat with all dough (you should have about 6 papas).
- Use three small bowls to prepare the papas. In one, combine flour, cayenne, and salt. In the second, a beaten egg with a tiny bit of water. Put bread crumbs in the third.1 cup all-purpose flour, ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper ground, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Dip each papa in the three bowls to coat: first roll in flour, then dip in egg, then roll in bread crumbs.1 egg, 1 cup dry bread crumbs
Baking
- Heat the deep fryer to 375 °F (190 °C).sunflower oil
- Fry the papas (in batches if necessary) for about 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
- Flip once in the middle of frying to brown both sides. Drain on a paper towel.
Notes
1. Potatoes - Use floury potatoes to make this recipe. Russet, Doré, King Edward, and Maris Piper are great choices.
2. White wine - Use dry white wine, such as Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. TIP: did you know that wines from Peru are also available as Sauvignon Blanc?
3. - Substitutes
Ground beef - Instead of ground beef, you can also use half pork and half ground beef or ground chicken. If you want to make this recipe without meat, choose vegetarian mince, like Quorn.
4. Bake
If you don't have a deep fryer (they're really the best fried), you could use an oven. Place the papas rellenas on a baking plate lined with baking paper and bake the rellena for 20 minutes at 450 °F (230 °C) until heated through. 5. - Store
If you don't have a deep fryer (they're really the best fried), you could use an oven. Place the papas rellenas on a baking plate lined with baking paper and bake the rellena for 20 minutes at 450 °F (230 °C) until heated through. 5. - Store
- Refrigerator - Keep the papa rellena covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat: If they are still un-fried, you can do that for 3 minutes on both sides at 375 °F (190 °C). Is your Papa Rellena already baked? Then heat them for 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 390 °F (200 °C).
- Freezer - Store the Papas Rellenas in a freezer bag (one piece in each bag) and keep it in the freezer for three months. After that, you can fry them directly from the freezer. Then extend the frying time by 3 minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 541kcalCarbohydrates: 72gProtein: 21gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 167mgSodium: 509mgFiber: 7gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 308IUVitamin C: 35mgIron: 5mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Rose Phillips says
I'm Peruvian Papa Rellena is one of my favorite dish, we all love it is a meal by itself!. like to eat it with a salad or some kind off veggies.Aji de Gallina is another.