These Cheesy Fried Colcannon Balls are going to be your new favorite way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! Creamy potatoes and melty cheese, all wrapped up in a crispy crunchy coating. What could be better than that? Not much that I can think of!
What is Colcannon?
Colcannon is a traditional Irish mashed potato dish usually made with cabbage or kale. Colcannon tends to become very popular around St. Patrick's Day!
For this recipe I've taken the ingredients of Colcannon and turned them into fried Colcannon balls-with cheese! Everything is better with cheese, right?
You can make them for St. Patty's day, of course, or you can make them for game day, as an appetizer, whenever!
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Key Ingredients
Potatoes: Obviously. We're using Yukon Gold potatoes for this recipe. They're nice and creamy!
Cabbage: Green cabbage and kale are both commonly used in colcannon. I decided to use green cabbage here. Make sure to chop it up very finely so that it melts into the potatoes. If the cabbage is too chunky, it could be harder to form the potato balls.
Fresh Herbs: Colcannon is often served with scallions. I decided to use both scallions and dill in this recipe. I love the extra pop of flavor they add!
Cheese: I used mozzarella in this recipe because I love how it melts and stretches. Look at those cheese pulls! You can use cheddar instead if you prefer.
Green Dipping Sauce: What's in the sauce? Sour cream, mayo, garlic, fresh herbs. All the good stuff!
Tips and Tricks
This recipe is not hard, per se, but it definitely is time consuming and there are a lot of steps. Here are a few tips and tricks to make the process go as smoothly as possible!
Make ahead. The colcannon can be made a day ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. This way, when you're ready to make the colcannon balls, all you'll have to do is assemble and fry.
Keep it cold! It's much easier to work with cold mashed potatoes! Remember to cool the colcannon for at least 1 hour before attempting to assemble the balls or preferably overnight (see above). Make sure to place the potato balls in the refrigerator on a baking sheet between steps (before breading, before frying) to keep them chilled. That way, they'll be less likely to fall apart. Basically any time you're not directly handling the potatoes, they should be in the fridge!
Add flour. If after chilling, the mashed potatoes are still too tricky to form into balls, you can stir a bit of flour into the potatoes to stiffen them up.
Recipe FAQ
You can make the colcannon ahead of time (and that is preferable) and even bread the potato balls ahead of time. The frying should be done right before serving though, these are best served hot and fresh!
These can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Reheat in the oven at 350 for 10-20 minutes or until warmed through and crispy.
Yes! Try cheddar or jack cheeses to shake things up.
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the potatoes
- 2 Pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (about 6-7 potatoes) peeled and cubed
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Cups green cabbage (about ½ small head) finely chopped
- 3 Garlic cloves minced
- ½ Cup whole milk
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter e
- Kosher salt to taste
- ¼ Cup scallions green parts only, thinly sliced
- ¼ Cup fresh dill chopped
- Block whole milk, low moisture mozzarella cheese cubed
- 1 Cup all purpose flour
- 4 Eggs divided
- ¾ Cup regular breadcrumbs
- ¾ Cup panko breadcrumbs
- 3 Cups neutral oil for frying
For the dipping sauce
- ¾ Cup sour cream
- ½ Cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 very small garlic clove
- ½ Cup fresh parsley stems removed
- ½ Cup fresh dill stems removed
- ½ Cup scallion greens from about 3-4 scallions
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
For the potatoes
- Add the potatoes to a large sauce pan. Add enough cold water to the pan to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain. Add the potatoes to a large bowl and mash with the milk and butter. Stir in the scallions and dill and season with salt to taste.
- Meanwhile, sauté the cabbage. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened; about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Season with salt to taste. Stir the cabbage into the mashed potatoes and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour or preferably overnight.
- Make the sauce. Add all of the ingredients for the sauce to a blender and blend on high until completely combined. Taste and adjust to your preference. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Make the potato balls. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly dust with flour. Stir 1 egg into the potato mixture. With lightly floured hands, take a spoonful of the potato mixture and flatten it into a disk. Add a cube of cheese to the center and wrap the potato mixture around it. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat until you have no more potato mixture left. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator while you prepare the next step.
- Prepare a breading station with 3 bowls or small baking dishes. Add the flour to one, the beaten remaining eggs to one and the breadcrumbs to one. Make sure the eggs are beaten well and the two types of breadcrumbs are combined well. Coat each potato ball in flour, then egg and the breadcrumbs. Transfer to the baking sheet and place back in the refrigerator while preparing to fry.
- Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the oil to a heavy bottomed pan fitted with a thermometer and heat to 300 degrees. Fry the potato balls in batches, making sure not to over crowd the pan, until golden brown on all sides. With a spider strainer or slotted spoon, transfer the potato balls to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle lightly with salt. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes until warmed through and cheese is melted.
- Serve the cheesy fried Colcannon balls with the dipping sauce. Enjoy!
I had left over colcannon potatoes with cabbage . Used this receipe and threw them in the air fryer for 10 mn and loved them
So glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out in the air fryer, I hadn't tried it!