Authentic Colombian meat stuffed potatoes “papas rellenas” are a delicious and fulfilling breakfast. Crispy outside with soft mashed potatoes and well-seasoned meat inside.
This is a classic South American recipe. Papas rellenas are really popular in the Colombian cuisine, but they are also found in Chile, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Perú, and some parts of Venezuela.
This recipe can be a bit tricky to achieve the first time, but I will give you my best tricks for the perfect papas rellenas.
Also, I highly recommend you to make this recipe on a free day when you can do each step slowly.
I struggled a bit the first time because I rushed every step and the result was not nearly as good as shown in the pictures.
Papas rellenas has three major components. The meat stuffing, the potato dough, and the crispy outside.
How to make the meat stuffing?
This is an easy and versatile ground meat recipe that I learned from my mother. It can be used for multiple recipes like Venezuelan arepas or empanadas, tacos, with pasta or rice.
It’s a basic recipe that can take you out of trouble many times. Also, you can prep meals in a big batch and have ready-to-serve ground meat for the week.
First, I cut an onion into cubes and I mince 2 big garlic cloves. This will be the base of the flavor.
In a big pan with a bit of olive oil, I cook the onion and the garlic for a minute until it is fragrant. Add 2 tbsp of tomato paste and cook for another minute. Then, toss the ground beef. Season with thyme, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir to distribute the seasoning evenly and cook for 10 minutes until the meat it’s fully cooked.
Optionally, you can add a hard-boiled egg crumbled into the meat at the end of the cooking process.
That’s it! Now onto the assembling process.
How to assemble papas rellenas?
The potatoes dough is made of plain boiled potatoes with salt. The tricky part is that the consistency must be perfect or otherwise the recipe will flop. This is the backbone of papas rellenas. It must be tender and fluffy like Italian gnocchi.
The potatoes must be firm but fork-tender. If they are too hard you’ll get a clumpy and hard-to-handle dough. But if they are too soft and mushy the dough will be so watery that it won’t resist the frying process and the papas rellenas will break into the oil.
For that reason, I cut the potatoes into same-size cubes to control the cooking process. I boil the potatoes for 20 minutes until they are fork-tender and firm. The water must be salty as if we were cooking pasta.
Another important tip is to let the potatoes chill completely. After the potatoes are cold it is time to mash them into a dough.
Using a plastic wrap (as in the picture below), and make flat circles of dough. If you have a tortilla maker, the process is way easier and you get better results.
Fill the circles with 1 to 2 tbsp of meat stuffing (the amount will depend on how big are your papas rellenas). Make a ball with the help of the plastic wrap (see in the pictures). Make sure that there is no stuffing sticking out. Use more potato dough if needed.
Take the balls into the fridge for at least 1 hour — you can even let them overnight. Don’t skip this step. This will give structure to the papas rellenas and it will make the frying process easier.
The final step is the crispy outside. The batter is pretty simple: 2 beaten eggs + ¼ cup flour. I mix these two ingredients until I get a homogeneous batter. Dip each ball and fry in enough oil.
You can totally use a deep fryer for this part of the recipe.
Finally, let the papas rellenas rest in absorbent paper. Serve along with some cilantro garlic sauce. Devour!!!
