Bleacher Nacho Croquettes with Pimento-Beer Cheese

Recipe intelligence

The parts that change whether this works tonight.

Yield

24 croquettes; serves 8 to 12 as an appetizer

Time

About 2 hours

Equipment

Chef's knife, Cutting board, Mixing bowl, Heavy pot and frying thermometer, Refrigerator space

Make-ahead

One day ahead: Shape and bread the croquettes; refrigerate in a single layer on a covered tray

Holding

Within 20 minutes of frying

Leftovers

Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and store the croquettes separately from the sauce

The method

17 ingredients · 6 steps

From this recipe’s own recipe card. Nothing here is a guess.

These croquettes take the useful parts of loaded nachos—corn, jalapeño, cheddar, salt, and crunch—and remove the structural failure of the bottom chip. The center stays creamy, the cornmeal shell stays crisp, and the pimento-beer cheese remains a sauce rather than a warm bath.

Yield and timing

• Yield: 24 croquettes; serves 8 to 12 as an appetizer
• Prep: 35 minutes
• Chill: 1 hour
• Cook: 20 to 25 minutes
• Total: About 2 hours
• Best service window: Within 20 minutes of frying

Ingredients

For the croquettes

• 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup roasted corn kernels, cooled and patted dry
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced, divided
• 1/3 cup chopped pickled jalapeños, well drained, plus more for finishing
• 1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the cooking water and finishing
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup fine cornmeal
• Neutral high-heat oil, for frying

For the pimento-beer cheese

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into pieces
• 1 1/2 cups finely shredded sharp cheddar
• 1/2 cup lager, plus more as needed
• 1/2 cup chopped pimentos, drained
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Hot sauce and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Where the time goes

1. 12–15 minCook and dry the potatoes
2. Build the filling
3. 20 minShape and chill
4. Bread
5. Make the sauce
6. 3–4 minFry350°F

1. Cook and dry the potatoes: Cover the potatoes with cold salted water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until completely tender. Drain well, return them to the hot pot, and shake over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes to drive off surface moisture.
2. Build the filling: Mash until smooth. Fold in the corn, two-thirds of the scallions, jalapeños, cheddar, smoked paprika, and 1 teaspoon salt. Taste once cool enough; the mixture should be fully seasoned before breading.
3. Shape and chill: Cool completely. Divide into 24 portions of about 2 tablespoons each and shape into short cylinders roughly 2 inches long. Refrigerate uncovered for 20 minutes, then cover and chill until firm, at least 40 minutes more.
4. Bread: Place flour, beaten egg, and cornmeal in separate shallow dishes. Coat each croquette in flour, then egg, then cornmeal, pressing lightly so the coating adheres. Refrigerate while the oil heats.
5. Make the sauce: Combine cream cheese and lager in a small saucepan over low heat. Whisk until smooth, then add cheddar by handfuls, stirring until each addition melts. Fold in pimentos, Dijon, hot sauce, and black pepper. Thin with lager one tablespoon at a time until the sauce falls from a spoon in a thick ribbon. Keep warm below a simmer.
6. Fry: Heat 2 to 3 inches of oil to 350°F. Fry in batches without crowding for 3 to 4 minutes, turning as needed, until deeply golden and hot through. Allow the oil to return to 350°F between batches. Drain on a wire rack and season lightly while hot.

Serving

Spread a shallow ribbon or pool of pimento-beer cheese across a broad platter, leaving some plate visible. Arrange the croquettes over and beside it rather than burying their crisp undersides. Finish with the reserved scallions, a restrained scattering of chopped jalapeño, and black pepper.

Make-ahead, holding, and batching

One day ahead: Shape and bread the croquettes; refrigerate in a single layer on a covered tray. Make the sauce and refrigerate separately.

Before service: Reheat the sauce slowly with a splash of lager. Fry the croquettes in two or three batches. Hold fried croquettes on a rack in a 200°F oven for no more than 20 minutes. Be honest with yourself about what that sentence is asking: somebody is standing over hot oil while the first guests arrive, and it is going to be you. I front-load everything else in this recipe for exactly that reason — the breading, the sauce, the chilling — so the only thing left at the last minute is the part that cannot be done early. Sauce the platter only when the final batch is ready.

Do not cover hot croquettes with foil. Trapped steam is extremely efficient at undoing all the work performed by the fryer.

Substitutions that work

• Frozen corn: Thaw, drain, and roast or sauté until dry before using.
• Monterey Jack: Makes a milder, stretchier filling and sauce.
• Pickled green chile: Can replace jalapeño for softer heat.
• Fine dry breadcrumbs: Can replace cornmeal, though the crust will lose some corn flavor.
• Alcohol-free lager: Works in the sauce. Milk can also be used, but add 1 teaspoon cider vinegar to restore some sharpness.

Likely failure points

The croquettes split: The potato mixture was warm, wet, or insufficiently chilled. Dry the potatoes thoroughly and return shaped pieces to the refrigerator before breading.

The coating slides off: The croquettes were damp or the flour layer was skipped. Use a thin, complete flour coating before the egg.

The crust is greasy: The oil fell below 340°F or the pan was crowded. Fry fewer at a time and allow the oil to recover. Frying is the one place in this recipe where the thermometer outranks me. This recipe was developed by reasoning from method rather than from a tested bench run, which is how most of what we publish begins; Salty & Clever’s standing note on how we write and check recipes applies to it. The oil and the cheese sauce fail in opposite directions — the oil drops and the crust goes greasy, the sauce climbs and goes grainy — and neither gives you a second chance. Tell us where it drifted.

The cheese sauce is grainy: It became too hot. Remove it from the burner and whisk in a spoonful of cool lager. Finely shredded cheese also melts more evenly than thick packaged shreds.

The appetizer tastes heavy: Add more drained jalapeño, hot sauce, or a squeeze of lime to the sauce rather than more salt. Heavy is almost never a salt problem. It is an acid problem wearing a salt costume, and salt is the one correction here you cannot take back.

Storage and reheating

Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and store the croquettes separately from the sauce. Reheat croquettes on a rack in a 400°F oven for 8 to 12 minutes. Reheat the sauce over low heat with a splash of lager. Microwave reheating softens the crust.

Kitchen Kit

Pairing: The same lager in the cheese, ice-cold. Teetotaler: pickled-jalapeño lemonade. Fried potato and pimento beer cheese want bitterness and brine.

Goods: Yukon Gold potatoes, roasted corn, scallions, pickled jalapeños, cheddar, cream cheese, lager, pimentos, Dijon, cornmeal, eggs, flour, and frying oil.

Gear: Heavy pot, frying thermometer, wire rack, sheet pan, shallow breading dishes, saucepan, and whisk.

Magic: Dry the potatoes, chill twice, maintain 350°F oil, and keep the cheese sauce beneath the croquettes rather than over them.

The result should eat like the most competent nacho on the tray: hot, crisp, sharp, and structurally capable of reaching the plate intact.

Part of Recipes & Technique.

Recipe provenance: Salty & Clever editorial formulation, built from established culinary technique and the traditions identified in the article. No chef, restaurant, family, or firsthand cultural provenance is claimed unless it is explicitly named and sourced. How we write and check recipes