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Our Papas Rellenas recipe is a baked stuffed potato balls dish you will love! Mashed potato balls are coated in breadcrumbs, filled with flavorful ground beef, and baked until golden. It’s a fun, easy, and delicious dish you will want to make again and again!
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🍽 Equipment
One of my favorite things about making this stuffed potato balls recipe is how easy it is. You don’t need any special equipment. All you need is:
- A frying pan
- Wooden spoon or spatula
- A large dish
- Baking sheet
- Your oven
I bake my papas rellenas for a healthier take on everyone’s favorite potato ball recipe!
You can also fry them, but I think they come out just as crispy and delicious in the oven. And, as a bonus, they are no-fuss and so easy to clean up after when baked.
🥔 Ingredients
- Mashed potatoes – use our Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes or Creamy Mashed Potatoes recipe
- Ground beef
- Tomato sauce
- Minced garlic
- Dried oregano
- Salt
- Seasoned bread crumbs
We also have a special Halloween-themed spider spuds recipe that uses olives and chow mein noodles! If you want to make your potato ball recipe spider-themed for Halloween 🕷, find the extra instructions below.
🔪 How to Make Potato Balls
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. In a frying pan, heat olive oil and add ground beef. Cook until it browns, stirring it occasionally to break it up as it cooks.
- Add tomato sauce, minced garlic, dried oregano, and salt to the ground beef. Mix thoroughly.
- Turn heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove from the heat and allow the ground beef to cool.
- Add bread crumbs to a large dish.
Spread a spoonful of mashed potatoes in your hand. Make an indentation in the middle and stuff it with 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture.
Cover with more potato, and then shape into a ball.
Roll the potato ball in the bread crumbs until evenly coated, then place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all of the potatoes and meat are used up. - Melt butter, then brush all stuffed potato balls with it. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove and allow to cool.
For full ingredient measurements and more ideas, scroll to the recipe card below!
🎃 Make it Halloween themed!
Something I look forward to every year is coming up with holiday-themed food. These mashed potato balls have always been one of my favorite holiday foods!
What do I make them into? Spider spuds! How cute is that? Just take a look for yourself:
Aren’t they cute? These little stuffed potatoes make a perfect Halloween treat. I use chow mein noodles for the legs and olive slices for the eyes.
You can easily make them yourself. Follow the above instructions to form and bake your Cuban potato balls, then:
- Slice 2 olives into tiny squares or rectangles – these will be the eyes. Place them side-by-side on the potato ball. Using a little extra leftover mashed potatoes makes them easier to stick on to the ball.
- Carefully add fried chow mein noodles as the legs. They should stick right in! Add 4 noodles on each side.
- There you have it – your own spider spuds!
Please tell me if you make these! My kids have always loved them and I look forward to making them every year. They are just so cute and perfect for forming a fun Halloween memory.
For more fun Halloween ideas, check out our Easy Halloween Themed Food!
🍟 Can you fry papas rellenas?
Yes! Actually, although we bake them in this recipe as a healthy and easy alternative, papas rellenas are traditionally fried.
These little mashed potato balls tend to fall apart more easily while frying, so unlike baking them, you will want to cool them first for at least a couple of hours.
- Fill a frying pan with enough oil to cover the potato balls. You may need to use a deeper pot. Heat the oil until adding a splash of bread crumbs sizzles and pops.
- Carefully add potato balls to the oil to begin frying. Don’t overcrowd the pan – only add about 4-5 at a time. Turn them over until they’re brown on all sides.
🥫 How to Store
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days. But we’ll be surprised if they last that long!
🔥 How to Reheat
Reheat baked or fried mashed potato balls by heating in the microwave or the oven. If heating in the oven, preheat to 400°F and bake for about 5-10 minutes until heated through.
❄ Can you freeze papas rellenas?
Yes! I recommend freezing them before you bake or fry them. Place them on the baking sheet, then add to the freezer for a few hours until frozen solid.
Move to freezer-safe bags and label with the current date. Then, you can fry or bake them straight out of the freezer. If baking, add about 15 minutes of extra baking time or so – no need to thaw.
They are best used up before 4 months of freezing.
🥗 What to Serve with Mashed Potato Balls
Baked mashed potato balls go so well with dips and veggies on the side. Here are some ideas for what you can serve them with:
- Mexican Street Corn Dip (Hot Corn Dip)
- Sriracha Fry Sauce Recipe
- Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad
- Elotes Mexicanos (Mexican Street Corn)
And for dessert, try our Fresas con Crema – Strawberries and Cream!
Enjoy this dish as a part of a Tapas Menu!
📖 Best Ground Beef Recipes
Try some of our other best ground beef recipes! If you enjoyed these beef stuffed potato balls, we know you’ll love:
We also guarantee you’ll enjoy our Portuguese Potatoes and Chorizo (Sheet Pan) and Loaded Baked Potatoes Wrapped in Bacon!
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Did you give these stuffed potatoes a try? Let us know in the comments below! We love to hear from you. And please leave a rating!
📋 Recipe
Papas Rellenas Recipe (Stuffed Potato Balls)
Equipment
- Frying pan
- Wooden spoon or spatula
- Large dish
- Baking sheet
- Oven
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potatoes hot
- 3 Tbsp. butter softened
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 8 Tbsp. tomato sauce
- 1 tsp. garlic minced
- 2 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
Optional Halloween additions:
- fried chow mein noodles
- black olives
See our Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. In a frying pan, heat olive oil and add ground beef. Cook until it browns, stirring it occasionally to break it up as it cooks.
- Add tomato sauce, minced garlic, dried oregano, and salt to the ground beef. Mix thoroughly.
- Turn heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove from the heat and allow the ground beef to cool.
- Add bread crumbs to a large dish. Spread a spoonful of mashed potatoes in your hand. Make an indentation in the middle and stuff it with 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture.
- Cover with more potato, and then shape into a ball.Roll the potato ball in the bread crumbs until evenly coated, then place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all of the potatoes and meat are used up.
- Melt butter, then brush all stuffed potato balls with it. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove and allow to cool.
Make it Halloween themed! 🎃
- Slice 2 olives into tiny squares or rectangles – these will be the eyes. Place them side-by-side on the potato ball. Using a little extra leftover mashed potatoes makes them easier to stick on to the ball.Carefully add fried chow mein noodles as the legs. They should stick right in! Add 4 noodles on each side.There you have it – your own spider spuds!
Video
Notes
- You can fry these mashed potato balls, too! Check the post for instructions on how to fry papas rellenas.
Let us know what you think or ask a question about the recipe!