Today we’d like to share a classic Spanish recipe—but adapted to its Manchegan version—with this recipe for Manchego cheese croquettes.

Making croquettes is always a bit of a challenge. It’s one of those dishes you’ve tried a thousand times in many versions, but it always feels like it might be tricky to get right.

But really, making Manchego cheese croquettes isn’t that hard—you just need to follow the recipe step by step, and the result will be worth it.

Ingredients for making Manchego cheese croquettes

Below are the ingredients to make around 25–30 croquettes using delicious Gómez Moreno Manchego cheese:

• 100 g of butter
• 2 heaping tablespoons of flour
• Around 900 ml of whole milk (room temperature)
• Oil
• Breadcrumbs
• 2 large eggs
• 250 g of Carpuela cured Manchego cheese
• Salt to taste

Step-by-step: How to make Manchego cheese croquettes

To make the croquettes, you’ll need a large pan to prepare the dough, a container to chill it in the fridge, and a smaller pan for frying.

Follow these steps carefully and they’ll turn out amazing:

• First, grate the wedge of cured Manchego cheese and set aside.
• Heat the large pan with the butter over medium heat.
• Once the butter has melted, raise the heat to medium-high and add the two tablespoons of flour.
• Stir continuously to avoid lumps and cook until the flour loses its raw taste (about 4 minutes).
• Next, stirring with a whisk to achieve a smooth mixture, we gradually add a splash of milk.
• Once the milk is well incorporated, we add another splash of milk, and continue like this until all the milk is integrated into our croquette dough. (Keep stirring)
• This way, we’ll achieve a perfect béchamel; we’ll know it’s ready when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.
• Now we season to taste and add the grated cheese, stirring until it is well incorporated.
• I recommend adding the cheese first and then seasoning.
• Next, transfer all the dough to a container and cover it with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
• This dough needs to rest in the fridge until the next day.

Shaping the Manchego cheese croquettes

Once the croquette dough is cold, it’s time to shape them.

You can shape them however you like—long, round, square, or rectangular by cutting the cold dough.

Here are two ways to bread your croquettes, depending on how crunchy you want them:

If you like them very crunchy, the trick is to first coat them in breadcrumbs, then dip in egg, and again in breadcrumbs.

If you prefer them softer, go the traditional route: egg first, then breadcrumbs.

Frying Manchego cheese croquettes

Once you’ve conquered the culinary challenge of making croquettes, it’s time for the final step—and not the least important.

Put oil (I use olive oil) in a pan, with enough to completely cover your croquettes—this will prevent them from breaking.

Pon el fuego medio alto y cuando esté bien caliente fríe tus croquetas hasta que estén como te gusten de doradas.

Want to freeze your Manchego cheese croquettes?

When you make such a labor-intensive dish like cheese croquettes and end up with enough for a big family, you can always freeze a few for another time.

To do this, take a tray and place the breaded croquettes on it without touching each other, and put them in the freezer.

After 24 hours they’ll be well frozen and you can remove them from the tray and store them in a bag or container.

On the day you want to use them, I recommend taking them out the night before and letting them thaw slowly in the fridge in a dish.

What to pair with Manchego cheese croquettes?

Now it’s time to enjoy this special dish—and you can enjoy them even more by pairing them.

At Quesos Gómez Moreno, we recommend pairing them with a young red wine or a dry white wine if that’s more your style.

If you prefer beer, try them with a toasted beer.

But the most important thing is to enjoy the croquettes in good company—even if paired with water.

As you’ve seen, making croquettes isn’t so hard. And if you prefer another type of Manchego cheese like semi-cured, truffle cheese, or rosemary cheese, I encourage you to experiment and share your results with us on our social media.

If you want to enjoy our cheeses, we invite you to visit our Manchego cheese shop.

Recipe via: El Español