Tuna Croquettes or cutlets are like fancy fish sticks for adults. These tuna croquettes are sweet, spicy and incredibly flavorful. They’re shallow fried in ghee and have a delicious, buttery and crispy crust.
Whatever you call them – croquettes, cutlets, or tikkis – they make for the perfect appetizer. These little fried patties are a finger food and they’ll have you and your guests/family wanting more. If you eat beef, you should try my beef cutlet recipe – those take a little more prep work though whereas these tuna cutlets are incredibly easy to make.
This somewhat fancy looking appetizer is made with a couple cans of tuna fish. I know – canned tuna doesn’t sound fancy, right? I’m pretty sure once you make this, you’ll never look at canned tuna the same way again.
These patties – fried in ghee – taste unbelievable. I made them on a night when Roby had a friend over to play video games (Roby is my husband… not my child – in case the “playing video games” threw you off. Apparently you never outgrow them). Anyway, Rob’s buddy told me that he wasn’t a fan of tuna but said he’d take a bite… let’s just say I think he’s now a fan of tuna – or at least, of these cutlets 🙂
You can use whatever canned tuna you’d like for this dish but I suggest wild planet tuna. Their tuna is sustainably caught and when you open the can, you’ll see a nice piece of tuna steak inside. My Costco store sometimes carries wild planet but you can also buy this brand online (I suggest buying in bulk because individual cans are expensive). If you have any other suggestions for brands of canned tuna to look out for please let me know in the comments.
So, when you make this dish, you can use either use white potatoes or sweet potatoes to help hold the patties together. I typically use sweet potatoes because I always have them at the house. The thing with sweet potatoes is that they don’t hold up quite as well as white, so you’ll need to refrigerate the patties to help them firm up so that you can dip them in the egg and then into the almond and tapioca flour mixture.
After you’re done frying the cutlets, you’ll have perfectly golden brown patties ready for eating.
This is one of the many delicious recipes in my eBook, South Asian Persuasion so if you’re looking for healthy paleo-friendly recipes with a lot of flavor, then be sure to check it out!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of mashed sweet potato
- 1 tablespoon ghee + enough to fry
- ½ large white onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 inch ginger minced
- 1 Serrano pepper minced, seeds removed
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- 2 5 ounce cans of Wild Planet Tuna
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup tapioca flour
- 1 egg whisked
- ghee enough to fry
Instructions
- Bake sweet potatoes in an oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until tender. Set aside and let cool.
- Melt ghee in a saute pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, ginger and Serrano pepper and saute for 5-6 minutes, or until the onions begin to turn golden brown.
- Add the spices, stir-fry for 30 seconds, then pour the mixture into a large bowl along with the tuna and 1 cup of mashed sweet potato and mix well.
- Roll the mixture into flat little oblong shaped patties.
- Put the patties in the fridge overnight (or for at least a few hours) to help them retain their shape.
- In a plate, mix the almond flour and tapioca flour.
- Dip the patties into the whisked egg and then gently place into the almond and tapioca flour.
- Shallow fry the cutlets in ghee in a cast iron skillet until golden. Use a fork or spatula to gently flip them over.
Marianne says
Hi Ashley, a few questions. I know this is meant to be a snack but we end up eating it for dinner. Any suggestions how to turn this into a meal? I’ve served it with some leftover tikka masala rice but looking for some other non-rice options.
Other question is I’m wondering if the onion spice mix can be frozen after cooking? That step and the potato prep are the most time consuming and I’m debating making and freezing the onion spice mix in batches and freezing. Thank you!
Marianne says
How many cutlets will this make? Sorry I posted the question on the red onion recipe also !
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Marianne, I need to make this again and update the recipe – I’m sorry I didn’t include this information!
Mar says
Thanks Ashley – I aimed to make a dozen and ended up with 13. Most were 40-44 grams and the last two weighed roughly 30 grams. I added a 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs to the mix because it was quite wet. Let it sit in the fridge for about 4 hours and then egg and breadcrumbs and fry – SO YUMMY!!!!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thank you so much for reporting back! I’m glad you liked this 🙂
Marianne says
Hi Ashley – I’m excited to try this. I grew up making and eating tuna cutlets with my family. We always served it with a red onion salas (spelling?) – Any chance you have a recipe for that ? I know it’s red onion, salt and vinegar and maybe a green chili but no clue about the proportions and my attempts to eyeball it have always been hit or miss – and never as good as when my dad makes it!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Marianne, I do! You can find it here: https://myheartbeets.com/indian-pickled-onions/ Let me know what you think of the cutlets 🙂
Rajinder says
Hi Ashley, how are you?
Made this recipe today and really enjoyed them with salad!
Definitely going to make it again.
Thank you.
😊
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
That’s so great to hear! Thank you for letting me know how this recipe turned out for you 🙂
Natasha says
I read in one of the comments above you can use bread crumbs instead of almond and tapioca flour. How much breadcrumbs would we need?
Mehnaz says
Hi Ashley! I’m always searching for good time recipes, and just came across yours which looks delicious. I was wondering if the almond and tapioca flour are necessary. Can they be substituted with something else?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Mehnaz, I use almond and tapioca flours to keep this gluten-free but you can use breadcrumbs if you’d like!
Sarah says
Hi Ashley! What’s the serving size on these? Thanks!
Thara says
I’m South Indian and made these for my parents today. They were amazing and we devoured them!! Can’t wait to try more recipes on this site:)
My Heart Beets says
That’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear your parents liked them too!! Hope you love everything else you try 🙂
Thara says
Hi- can I use something else instead of ghee, i.e. coconut or olive oil? Thanks! I grew up on cutlets and am excited to try these paleo ones:)
My Heart Beets says
Hi Thara, yes, you can use the fat of your choice. Can’t wait to hear what you think of them!
Carla says
Hi there. I’m in Australia and our stores have so many different sized cans of tuna, from really tiny to quite large. Can you give me an idea of the weight/volume of a standard can used in this recipe please? Cheers, Carla
My Heart Beets says
Hi Carla! The cans were 5 ounces each – I’ve updated the recipe to reflect that and will make an effort to include that information in other recipes. Thanks for letting me know 🙂 Hope you love the croquettes!
Jan says
I’d love to try these, we don’t get that brand of Tuna
where we live, would you tell how much in weight the cans are please?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Jan, each can is 5 ounces. Hope that helps!
Jan says
Thank you for letting me know the weight, I made them tonight and they were really nice, my son who normally won’t eat fish cakes, loved them and even asked for the recipe, my husband who doesn’t like sweet potato, I was hoping he wouldn’t notice them and change his mind, unfortunately he didn’t like them, but my son and I thought they were great, thank you.
My Heart Beets says
Jan, so glad you and your son liked them 🙂 And, I understand – my husband doesn’t care for sweet potatoes either so I usually make his with white potatoes.
Valerie says
Between some of my family not liking sweet potatoes, and my own suspicion that I would prefer the flavor of white potatoes, I split the recipe and made half batches of both types of potatoes. Much to my surprise, the sweet potato was very harmonious and balanced with the tuna! The white potato made the serrano flavor stand out, more individually. Over-all this was quite interesting! My son LOVED these (with the white potato), and asked for more…
I am very happy to have a very nice recipe to nicely use canned tuna! I want to try this recipe with various adjustments, including crab meat.
My Heart Beets says
Valerie, I’m so glad to hear that you and your son enjoyed the recipe! 🙂 Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you.
amar says
but you won’t lol
Laura Nugent says
Until this recipe I hadn’t been able to find any way to eat canned tuna. I just didn’t like the flavor or texture. BUT, these patties are so, so good. Both my husband and I love them. Thank you so much for the recipe. These are amazing.
My Heart Beets says
Laura, I’m so glad you gave these a try!! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out for you 🙂
Colette says
Thank you, Ashley!
I’ve been trying to add more fish to our diet , but had completely given up on ever eating tuna again. I make my own mayo..but with tuna it just had to be Hellman’s. Then I found your Tuna Croquettes! OMG! they are so delicious. I used the tuna you suggested from Costco. Delicious. I never missed the mayo for a second. We will be having this every week. My sister even suggested these for our Friday Pizza Night replacement. Sounds good to me. maybe with some sweet potato fries!
My Heart Beets says
Colette, I’m so glad you and your sister liked this recipe! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out for you guys 🙂 I bet they would be great with sweet potato fries!
Keira says
any way to replace the egg?
thanks so much!!
My Heart Beets says
Keira, you can use ghee to get the coating to stick instead. Hope that helps!
Layla says
Planning to make these tonight! But there is no mention of when to add the spices. I’m assuming with the onion mixture?
Thanks!
Layla
My Heart Beets says
Hi Layla! Thanks so much for letting me know – I’ve updated the recipe 🙂 Let me know how they turn out for you!