These fried mashed potato balls are crispy, cheesy and outrageously delicious!
Yes, heaven truly is a place on earth – as depicted by these beauties. If you’ve never made mashed potato balls before, your life is about to change for the better! Follow me…
Loaded Mashed Potato Balls Ingredients
These are a little more exciting than just regular mashed potato balls. You know me – I can’t help myself, I had to add some extra goodies. Here’s what you’ll need for the filling:
- Potato – peeled, boiled, drained, then mashed.
- Butter – to add richness and flavour to the potato itself.
- Cheddar – this is grated and mixed through the potato.
- Red Leicester – this is sliced into tiny cubes and stuffed inside the balls. You can sub more cheddar.
- Bacon – where there’s cheese and potato, there’s got to be bacon.
- Chives – these add gorgeous pops of flavour.
- S&P – make sure the mash is seasoned well!
Recipe Tip
When you drain the potato, make sure you leave it to completely cool, so as much moisture leaves the potato as possible. This will help the balls keep their shape.
You can yes – I’ve added more on this in the recipe card below.
How to make Mashed Potato Balls
To make the balls, it’s as simple as mashing everything together and rolling it into a ball around a cube of cheese. Just a few tips to help you along the way:
- Size – try and make sure each ball is a similar size so they cook at an even rate.
- Cheese – make sure the cheese is totally encapsulated by the potato to prevent it from leaking out.
- Cold – I highly recommend placing the balls in the freezer for 15 mins or so to help them firm up after you’ve rolled them.
Process shots: add filling ingredients to bowl (photo 1), combine (photo 2), scoop out mixture and place cheese in the centre (photo 3), roll into balls (photo 4).
How to cook Mashed Potato Balls
To ensure the balls come out extra crispy, we want to do two things:
- Coating – we’ll be coating the balls in flour, then egg, then Panko breadcrumbs for an extra crispy exterior.
- Cooking – for that perfect golden crunch, we will be frying the balls. Don’t worry though – it’s super easy and they cook very quickly.
This process doesn’t actually take long in general because you can work a few at a time.
Process shots: coat balls in seasoned flour (photo 5), coat in beaten egg (photo 6), coat in seasoned Panko (photo 7), add to hot oil (photo 8), fry then remove (photo 9).
How to serve Mashed Potato Balls
Once they’re cooked, I recommend placing them on a wire rack with paper towels underneath to catch excess oil. From there, I love to finish with some parmesan and parsley for a final pop of flavour.
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these mashed potato balls shall we?!
How to make Fried Mashed Potato Balls (Full Recipe & Video)
Fried Mashed Potato Balls
Equipment
- Potato Peeler
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
- Medium Sized Pot & Wooden Spoon (for boiling potatoes)
- Colander, Large Bowl & Potato Masher
- 3 Large Shallow Dishes (for coating mashed potato balls)
- Suitably Sized Pot & Slotted Spoon (for frying)
- Kitchen Thermometer
- Wire Rack & Paper Towels (for resting mashed potato balls)
Ingredients
Filling
- 550g / 1.2lbs Baking Potatoes (see notes)
- 4 slices of Streaky Bacon, cooked, cooked and finely diced
- 30g / 1/3 cup grated Cheddar
- 70g / 2.5oz Red Leicester, sliced in to small cubes (approx 1cm – sub more cheddar)
- 2 tbsp finely diced Fresh Chives
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1/4 tsp Salt, or to taste (plus more to season the water for boiling the potatoes)
- 1/8 tsp Black Pepper, or to taste
Coating
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp EACH: Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper (omit for no spice)
- 40g / 1/4 cup Plain Flour
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- 60g / 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
- 1 litre / 4 cups Vegetable Oil, or as needed for frying
- 2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan, to garnish
- 1 tbsp finely diced Fresh Parsley, to garnish
Instructions
- Peel and dice the potatoes, then add them to a pot of cold water with 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes and just about fork-tender. It's important that you don't over-boil the potatoes, otherwise they'll soak in too much water and the balls will be too sloppy to mould.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander and leave them to steam dry and completely cool. It's important to let the steam escape from the potatoes so they can dry out. To speed up this process, you can lay them on a towel until they're completely cool.
- Mash the potatoes with the butter, cheddar, bacon, chives, salt and pepper. Use a 1 tbsp measuring spoon to scoop out the mixture into portions. Take a piece of cubed cheese and use a portion of mash to wrap into a ball. You should get 14-15 balls in total.
- At this point I highly recommend placing them in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm them up before coating them.
- In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp smoked paprika, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp garlic powder, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Line up 3 large shallow dishes: the first with the flour and half of the seasoning mixed in, the second with the beaten eggs and the third with the Panko and the rest of the seasoning.
- Coat the mashed potato balls in the flour, then the egg, then the Panko, ensuring they're fully coated at each stage (namely the Panko). You can do this a few at a time, depending on the size of your dishes.
- In a pot suitable for frying, add enough oil to cover the height of the balls and heat to 180C/350F (a breadcrumb should rapidly sizzle). Use a slotted spoon to lower the balls into the oil (I do 4 or so at a time) and fry them for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Use your slotted spoon to gently and continually move them around so they fry evenly. You might spot little dots of leakage, which is fine, but if one of them looks like it's about to split open, just remove it. Place the cooked balls on a wire rack above paper towels to catch excess oil.
- Finish with parmesan and parsley then tuck in and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- You’ll need around 1 1/2 cups mashed potato.
- Ideally it’s nice and fluffy, not super creamy in texture.
- If it was made with butter you won’t need the extra butter in the recipe.
- Season to taste based on how much it was originally seasoned.
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
