Turns out that I am not the only lover of all things potato. There are others out there. And we’ve formed a support group of sorts. Cathy at Noble Pig is hosting a Potato Ho Down once a month. Click here if you are interested in what exactly a Potato Ho Down is.

As a member of the Potato Hoes, I was required to submit a potato dish using my own personal Ho name (my [dead] pet’s name and my middle name). I will be forever more known as Cinder Lynn. Well, at least until the end of this post.

So, here you have it. Cinder Lynn’s UNBELIEVABLE Potato Croquettes. You don’t wanna miss these, people. Trust me on that.

Potato croquettes are one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. If you’ve never had one, you are seriously missing out. Basically they are little balls of potatoes that have been mashed with other goodies (in this case: bacon and cheddar cheese) and then coated in bread crumbs and fried until they resemble little balls of PURE LOVE. They remind me of Arby’s Loaded Potato Bites, but they are OH SO MUCH BETTER.

Here’s what we’ll need to get started:

Potatoes, eggs, butter, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, milk, flour, bacon and cheddar cheese. Also, vegetable oil, which is strangely absent from the picture. (Please do not be alarmed. My counter is not actually drooping off to the left there. It just looks that way, because, well, I don’t really know why.)

Now here’s the REALLY EXCELLENT part about potato croquettes: You can use left over mashed potatoes if you’ve got them handy. I tend to add lots of milk, butter, and roasted garlic to my mashed potatoes though, so that doesn’t usually work out for me. The potatoes need to be pretty thick to stick together, so if you do choose to go the leftover route make sure your potatoes are nice and thick. Nobody wants their potato croquettes to fall apart. That’d be pretty darn traumatic.

To start with, we need to get the potatoes boiled. You can be like me and just chuck them in a pot with water, boil until tender and THEN peel the potatoes (so much easier to peel a cooked potato!) or you can be like EVERYONE ELSE in the world and peel your potatoes first. You do whatever you want, I won’t judge.

While your potatoes are boiling, you need to cook up about fifteen pieces of regular cut bacon. Thirteen of those pieces are going in the potatoes and two of them are for you to eat while you wait. You’re welcome. Oh, and when your husband comes snooping around and asking if he can have a piece be sure to slap at his hand and tell him there isn’t enough. Men are so needy.

What’s that? Your potatoes are fork tender and ready to be mashed? Then by all means, let’s mash those puppies! I like to use my KitchenAid for this, but you could also just use a regular old potato masher thingy. Mash your potatoes and one tablespoon of butter together and then add one beaten egg to the mix. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT forget to salt and pepper the potatoes. And remember, potatoes are fairly bland, they need lots of salt! SALT THE POTATOES. Did I get my point across? I hope so.

Dump the cheese and crumbled bacon in to your mashed potatoes. Look longingly at the potatoes. Curse yourself for adding that raw egg because now you are unable to take a bite.

Oh, what the heck! A little raw egg never hurt anyone!

Stir the bacon, cheddar and potatoes together to get it all mixed up together.

Alright, now dump those potatoes onto a plate and dig in! Oh, I’m just kidding. We’re nowhere near done yet. We’re going to spread them out on a plate and stick ‘em in the fridge for half an hour.

The reason we are spreading them out like this is so that they will cool faster. At least, I think that’s why. I really don’t know. It sounds like a good reason though, right?

Cover ‘em with plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge.

After your potatoes have chilled, take them out of the fridge and roll them into balls about the size of golf balls. I’m not a golfer, so don’t quote me on that.

Now let’s get our assembly line started. You’ll need three shallow dishes, one for flour (seasoned with salt and pepper!), one for two eggs beaten with two tablespoons of milk, and one for bread crumbs.

Roll one potato ball in the flour to coat. Then do the same with the egg and the bread crumbs. Keep going until all of your potato balls have been floured, egged and bread crumbed. Put ‘em back on the plate and then drool. They look delicious already, don’t they?

Pop the plate back into the fridge for at least thirty minutes and up to a few hours. If you are like me you will be watching the clock and as soon as thirty minutes has passed you will be READY TO GO, CAN NOT WAIT, MUST EAT POTATOES NOW!

Fill a large, deep frying pan a third full of oil and heat it to about three hundred and fifty degrees.

Add your potatoes to the pan, leaving a little space around each potato. We don’t want to over crowd the little guys. Fry them for about four or five minutes, flipping them over about half way through. You want these to be a light golden brown.

I should warn you now that these are addictive. In fact, I ate so many of them as I was cooking them that I didn’t even eat dinner. I cooked grilled chicken, corn on the cob and potato croquettes, but me? I just had the potatoes.

Be sure to try these dipped in a little ranch dressing. Because, as they say, everything is better with ranch.

I hope you enjoy these potatoes as much as I do. And I’m terribly sorry if you are unable to stop eating them. You and me? We can be fat together.

Cinder Lynn’s Potato Croquettes

• 6 Idaho Potatoes
• 3 Eggs, divided
• 2 Tbsp. Butter
• 2 Tbsp. Milk
• 15 slices (about 3/4 pound) of bacon
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
• vegetable oil for frying
• flour
• bread crumbs
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Boil potatoes until fork tender. Peel potatoes if you didn’t do this before boiling.

2. Mash potatoes, butter, and one beaten egg together until they are the consistency of thick mashed potatoes. Salt and pepper the potatoes.

3. Stir in cheese and bacon and mix well.

4. Spread potato mixture on to a plate and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

5. Remove from refrigerator and shape potatoes in to small-ish, golf ball sized balls.

6. Pour flour (seasoned with salt and pepper, optional) into a shallow dish. Beat 2 eggs and 2 tbsp. milk in another shallow dish and add bread crumbs to a third shallow dish.

7. Roll balls through the flour to coat. Then roll the balls through the eggs and then through the bread crumbs.

8. Return coated potato balls to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to a few hours.

9. Heat a large, deep skillet with vegetable oil to 350 degrees.

10. Add potato balls, a few at a time so as not to over crowd the pan, in to the oil and fry for 4-5 minutes turning the balls about half way through.

11. Enjoy!