Recipe: How to Make Rellenos de Papa (Puerto Rican Potato Balls)
Rellenos de papa are a Puerto Rican “fritura”, mashed potatoes balls stuffed with meat and fried.
- Prep Time: 60 Minutes
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
Ingredients
Scale
Picadillo
1 lb ground pork (or any other ground meat)
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 packet of sazón
1/2 cup of sofrito
1 small onion 1/3 cup of finely chopped olives (optional)
Cooking oil to fry
Potatoes
6–7 large potatoes
1 tbsp adobo
Instructions
Make Picadillo
- Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, add onions and cook until translucent
- Add the ground meat and use a spatula or wooden spoon to break it down
- Add tomato sauce, sazon, sofrito and olives and stir well until all the condiments have been integrated.
- Cook picadillo until done. Around 12-15 minutes. Set aside.
Preparing the potatoes
- In a large pot, add whole potatoes and top with water. Bring to a boil and allow to cook for around 40 minutes or until potatoes are soft enough to be easily pierced with a fork.
- If you haven’t done so yet, peel and mash potatoes. Add adobo and let them cool enough to be managed by hand.
- Place oil in a deep frying pan and let it get very hot.
- While the oil is heating, start making the Rellenos de papa.
- Make a half ball with your hand and fill with picadillo, top with more mashed potatoes, and shape into a ball.
- Roll the ball in cornstarch and place in the hot oil. Allow cooking for 3-4 minutes until golden.
- Spoon hot oil over the top of the relleno de papa if it’s not under oil. Flip rellenos to ensure they are fully cooked.
- Place rellenos de papa on a plate with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
