Spinacine. Italian chicken and spinach croquettes. Kids will love them!

Spinacine = Italian chicken & spinach croquettes. This is definitely a way to make your kids love spinach at first sight. A popular recipe among Italian families, very kid friendly.

The crust is our favorite part. The double round of coating (egg + breadcrumbs + egg + breadcrumbs) creates a lovely crunchy and tasty crust that contains the moist and tender spinach and chicken filling. Thanks to the spinach the chicken doesn’t dry out. Thanks to the chicken, the spinach does not have a metallic flavor. Perfect combo.

Spinacine are easy to prepare and they never disappoint. I like to serve them to the kids for lunch/dinner with some more veggies on the side and rice or send them to school in the lunchbox.

Ready to cook?

The first thing to do is preparing the spinach. I buy the big large bag of fresh spinach at the store, around 10oz. In a large skillet heat 2 Tbsp olive oil with 1 clove of garlic for 1 minute. Add the spinach, a bit at the time. Mix with thongs. It’s easier to mix. In a few minutes the spinach will drastically reduce their volume. Season with 1/2 tsp sea salt, mix and turn the heat off. Remove the garlic. Let the spinach cool down completely before squeezing out all the extra liquid. Place them on a cutting board and chop them finely.

In a large bowl add the ground chicken, the cooked spinach, one egg, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Mix together.

Prepare your working station with the chicken/spinach bowl, one bowl with 1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and one with 2 beaten eggs.

Wet your hands with water. Scoop one tablespoon of chicken mix in your hands and create a round croquette. Coat the croquette with the egg wash, then coat it with breadcrumbs, coat again in the egg wash and finish with a last coat of breadcrumbs. Set your croquette aside on the cutting board and keep preparing the other croquettes using all the mix.

Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet for 1 minute at low heat. Add 4 croquettes when the oil is nicely hot and let them cook for around 4 minutes. Flip on the other side and cook for other 4 minutes. Do not cook the croquettes at higher heat or the crust will burn without the inside being cooked. A longer slow cook is better for a lovely golden brown crust with a fully cooked and moist inside. I cooked the croquettes in multiple batches. At every new batch I added 2 Tbsp olive oil to the pan.

CAN I FREEZE THE CROQUETTES?

This recipe freezes very well! You can freeze the spinacine once cooked for up to 4 months and thaw them directly in the oven (preheated to 400 for 10 min) or air fryer (6/7 min). You can also freeze them before cooking them; in this case you will start from the skillet. You can cook them from frozen, no need to thaw them before.

CAN I USE ANOTHER KIND OF MEAT?

I tried the recipe with chicken and with turkey. They are both good options. I never tried with beef.

IS THERE AN EGG FREE OPTION?

For the chicken mix, you can substitute the egg with 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal mixed with 3 Tbsp water. For the coating you can substitute the eggs with a mix of milk and flour or water and flour. I usually start with 1 cup of liquid and a few tbsp of flour. You want the mix to be creamy but not too thick. Keep in mind the egg wash texture as a reference.

MORE CROQUETTE IDEAS

SPINACINE. Italian chicken & spinach croquettes.

Ingredients

FOR THE SPINACH to be added to the croquettes

10 oz fresh spinach. A big bag.
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil

FOR THE CROQUETTES

1 lb ground chicken
1 medium egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg

FOR THE COATING

2 medium eggs
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs

TO COOK THE CROQUETTES

4 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions

SPINACH

In a large skillet heat 2 Tbsp olive oil with 1 clove of garlic for 1 minute. Add the spinach, a bit at the time.
In a few minutes the spinach will drastically reduce their volume. Season with 1/2 tsp sea salt, mix and turn the heat off.
Remove the garlic. Let the spinach cool down completely before squeezing out all the extra liquid. Place them on a cutting board and chop them finely. Set them aside.

COATING

Prepare one bowl with 1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and one with 2 beaten eggs.

CROQUETTES

In a large bowl add the ground chicken, the cooked spinach, one egg, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Mix together.
Wet your hands with water. Scoop one tablespoon of chicken mix in your hands and create a round croquette. Coat the croquette with the egg wash, then coat it with breadcrumbs, coat again in the egg wash and finish with a last coat of breadcrumbs. Keep preparing the other croquettes using all the mix.
Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet for 1 minute at low heat. Add 4 croquettes when the oil is nicely hot and let them cook for around 4 minutes. Flip on the other side and cook for other 4 minutes. Cook the croquettes in batches, for every batch add 2 Tbsp olive oil at the beginning.

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In Italian BuonaPappa means “enjoy your baby food”. I thought that if I had issues cooking for my baby for the first time, well, maybe I was not the only mom in this situation. Why not start sharing what I learned with other moms and dads all around the world? That's how BuonaPappa.net was born, THANK YOU for following! I feel honored and humbled daily that you would stop by and view my recipes. Grazie mille!