Papas Rellenas are stuffed mashed potato balls, popular in Cuba and many other countries. They come filled with picadillo, a beef filling, and then fried. They are crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and absolute heaven.
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I’m a lover of all things mashed potatoes. My mom used to say that if I was thrown into a swimming pool of mashed potatoes, I could eat my way out.
Surprisingly, I’ve only ever made one mashed potato recipe on my website (ooooh but it’s a doozy!). Until today.
These Papas Rellenas are making me want to pack my bags and visit Cuba! Gosh, I would be so lucky… Keep reading for the delicious recipe 🙂
What are Papas Rellenas?
Papas Rellenas are stuffed mashed potato balls. They are popular in Cuba, but they’re also popular in many other places as well, such as Puerto Rico, Peru, or Spain.
To make this recipe, you stuff the mashed potato balls with picadillo, a Cuban beef and tomato mixture. You can make my version of picadillo in the Instant Pot, but you can also choose to make it on the stove as well if you’d like!
The next step is to fry the mashed potato balls on the stove, giving them a crispy exterior with a creamy interior. They are spectacular!
What Ingredients are in this Recipe?
Russet potatoes
Water
Milk
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Cuban Picadillo
Breadcrumbs
Eggs
Sunflower oil or Vegetable Oil for Frying
For full ingredient measurements and instructions, visit the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
How to Make this Recipe
Stovetop Potatoes Method
Place the potatoes in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the potatoes. Cover with a lid and bring the water to a boil. Allow to boil until the potatoes are easily pierced by a fork, about 15 minutes.
Instant Pot Potatoes Method
Place 2 cups of water and your chopped potatoes into your Instant Pot and secure the lid. Turn the pressure to HIGH and cook for 6 minutes. When the cooking cycle is complete, perform a Quick Release.
When the potatoes are tender, drain the water. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Add the milk, garlic, salt and pepper. Use the masher to mash until the potatoes are smooth.
In your hand, use about 2 tbsp of mashed potatoes. Form them into the shape of a bowl in your hand. Place a spoonful of picadillo in the center of the bowl. Fold the mashed potatoes over, closing the picadillo inside.
Whisk the egg in a separate bowl. Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl.
Roll each mashed potato ball in the whisked egg. Then roll it in the breadcrumbs.
Heat the oil to about 375 degrees. Place each breaded mashed potato ball in the oil and allow to fry for about 2 minutes on each side until it turns golden brown. Enjoy!
Can I Bake Papas Rellenas?
Yes! Papas Rellenas typically come fried, but you don’t have to fry them if you don’t want to!
You can bake the Papas Rellenas instead by placing them on baking sheets and baking at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes.
The mashed potatoes and picadillo are already cooked when you fry/bake them, so you don’t need to worry about truly cooking the potatoes or meat. You simply just need to crisp up the outside!
Baking the mashed potatoes is the healthier option, but it takes a lot longer and they’re never quite as crispy. It’s up to you how you’d like to make them!
Did you like this Cuban Papas Rellenas Recipe? If so, leave a comment on this post letting me know what you thought! And don’t forget to post a photo on Facebook or Instagram and tag @TheForeignFork and hashtag #TheForeignFork.
If you liked this recipe, you might also like these other yummy recipes that I picked out just for you:
- Picadillo
- Medianoche
- Cuban Black Beans
- Potato Recipes from Around the World
- Belgian Frites
- Potato Pancakes from Belarus
Papas Rellenas
Ingredients
- 2 lb russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into eighths
- Water
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- ¼ tsp salt
- Pepper to taste
- ½ recipe for Cuban Picadillo
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- Sunflower oil or Vegetable Oil for Frying
Instructions
Stovetop Potatoes Method
- Place the potatoes in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the potatoes. Cover with a lid and bring the water to a boil. Allow to boil until the potatoes are easily pierced by a fork, about 15 minutes.
Instant Pot Potatoes Method
- Place 2 cups of water and your chopped potatoes into your Instant Pot and secure the lid. Turn the pressure to HIGH and cook for 6 minutes. When the cooking cycle is complete, perform a Quick Release
- When the potatoes are tender, drain the water. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Add the milk, garlic, salt and pepper. Use the masher to mash until the potatoes are smooth.
- In your hand, use about 2 tbsp of mashed potatoes. Form them into your hand, in a bowl shape. Place a spoonful of picadillo in the center of the bowl. Fold the mashed potatoes over, closing the picadillo inside.
- Whisk the egg in a separate bowl. Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl.
- Roll each mashed potato ball in the whisked egg. Then roll it in the breadcrumbs.
- Heat the oil to about 375 degrees. Place each breaded mashed potato ball in the oil and allow to fry for about 2 minutes on each side until it turns golden brown. Enjoy
David Martin says
Forget the mess and expense and unhealthyness of deep frying. But an oven isn’t even a close substitute. However, the Air Fryer version is perfect, fast, ‘fried’ and healthy IF you know the secret: after breading let your rellenas sit and the batter firm up a few minutes. Then spray with a light mist of oil – I have a pressure mister and use olive oil, but you can use store bought cooking spray if you want. Then air fry @400 about 10 minutes. I promise, this is game changer. No one would ever guess these aren’t traditionally deep fried unless, well maybe, doing a side by side comparison…
The Foreign Fork says
Thanks for the tips David! I unfortunately don’t have an air fryer (it’s on my wishlist!!) but this would be great for readers that have one and don’t want to deep fry 🙂