These Cassava Balls are breaded with bread crumbs and filled with cheese. They are absolutely delicious.
Yuca , mandioca or cassava is an extremely versatile ingredient and can be cooked in so many different ways. You can fry it, boil it, bake it, mash it, steam it, and even grill it. It can be used to make empanada dough, dumplings, arepas, soups, desserts, and more. You can even use yuca flour as a replacement for regular flour!
I’ve got a great recipe that combines some of my favorite ingredients, yuca and cheese, into one perfect bite. These crispy little Yuca Balls Stuffed with Cheese are a fabulous party appetizer, snack or side dish. To make them, the yuca is cooked over medium heat until very tender, then mashed into dough, stuffed with cheese, formed into round balls, and then fried again until crispy.
Ingredients for these Yuca Balls
Detailed measurements and cooking instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at below.
Yuca: Fresh or frozen yuca will work for this recipe. You can find it at your local Latin market or supermarket in the vegetable aisle.
Eggs: I like to use cage free eggs for this dish.
Bread crumbs: I use regular bread crumbs, but feel free to use Panko if you like.
Cheese: I like to use whole milk cubed mozzarella cheese, but cheddar or Gouda cheese will work too.
Oil: Vegetable or canola oil for frying
Yuca Balls Stuffed with Cheese Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound frozen or fresh yuca, peeled
- 2 beaten eggs
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- ½ pound mozzarella cheese, cubed
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Guacamole for serving
Instructions
- Cook the yuca in a large pot with salted water over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until fork tender.
- Drain the yuca and remove any fibers from the center. Transfer to a large bowl and mash.
- Place the eggs in a bowl. Place the breadcrumbs in another bowl.
- Form 12 balls with the mash. Flatten them with your hands and place 1 piece of cheese in the center and form the ball again to cover the cheese.
- Dip the balls into the beaten egg covering all sides, and then cover them with breadcrumbs.
- Fill a large skillet with oil and heat over medium-high heat to 350F. Place the balls into heated oil and fry for 4 minutes or until brown on all sides, turning over once about halfway through. Remove from the oil and place on a plate lined with paper towels.
Notes
Nutrition
And the best part? You can make them ahead and freeze them. Just fry them over when guests show up (or you get a craving that won't quit!). I make the balls ahead of time, during those afternoons when I have a few extra minutes, then fry them straight from the freezer. Whenever you need them, you can whip them up for a quick and delicious appetizer.
What to serve with these Yuca Balls Stuffed with Cheese
I like to serve these them as an appetizer with guacamole and pink sauce, or as a side dish with grilled chicken breast, grilled salmon and steak with chimichurri sauce. Feel free to serve them with your favorite dipping sauce or with any entree.
These yuca balls are very versatile they can be filled with different kind of cheeses and add chorizo, bacon, ham, ground meat or cooked shredded chicken if you like. The filling variations are endless.
More recipes to make with Yuca
Belinda @zomppa
Ooo the inside is perfectly gooey!
Joanne
Yay for yucca!! These look awesome.
Pearl
Be careful. Yuca (cassava) is very different from Yucca which is an ornamental plant.
https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-deal-17-24054
Angie@Angie's Recipes
What an exotic snack!
Joan Nova
Beautiful and very tempting recipe/photos.
Evelyne@cheapethniceatz
These look wonderful and so perfect for the holidays. So many cheese to try out the the yucca 'dough'
Jeannie Tay
Oh these balls looks lovely and delicious! We do fry yuca balls here too but never thought of filling them with cheese! Yummy idea!
Jessica
We were going to make these for my son's Spanish class, but couldn't find any yuca locally... we ended up making the coca cola rice (yum!!) and we do plan to try these SOMEDAY, hopefully we'll get to the city and find some soon...
Tonight for supper, we're going to try the Chuleta de Pollo (the chicken is already in ziplock bags marinating in the aliños sauce)..
Thanks for this blog! I love trying all different cuisines and probably should set up a food blog, if nothing else to share links and talk about the changes I make ! 🙂
Chris
Wow those puffy treats sound fantastic, Erica. I'm not even hungry and I want one right now.
yanette
Receta muy practica y sabrosa,gracias
Anonymous
Hola saludos porque si esta receta esta en ingles porqu al menos no pones el paso a paso ilustrado ...en español ya q no hay traductor.
jenny
Hoja porque esta receta no aparece en español español español
Erica Dinho
La voy a traducir pronto!
Michael
Get the best recipes for Colombian food here. I tried other blogs and this is the most traditional and has the best Colombian recipes. Thanks!
Jim
I tried this recipe last night and it was GREAT!!! I followed the link to your blog from pinterest I am going to try several other recipes I saw here. Thanks so much. Keep posting these recipes!!!!
rebecca
this looks a fun snack
Anonymous
en español los pin por favor..
Ruth
Wow thanks for such an awesome snack. I'm making this for my little girl..she's going to love them. It reminds me of my mama back home.☺
Alan Bowman
These are really delicious. The comment in the intro about using yuca flour to replace regular wheat flour has the advantage that yuca flour is gluten free!
LILIANA
If I am using frozen shredded yuca, do I have to boil it first?
Anonymous
These look amazing! Do you fry them before freezing when made ahead or freeze prior to frying?
Erica Dinho
Both ways. Yo can fry them before and reheat them in the oven or freeze and fry after.