Potato Pancakes
Comforting and classic Potato Pancakes are made with a simple combination of potatoes, onions, eggs and flour. They’re pan fried to golden perfection, creating the best crispy texture outside and softness on the inside. Serve them with sour cream or applesauce!
Make sure to check out The Best French Toast, Homemade Waffles and Crepes for more classic breakfast recipes.
Classic potato pancakes make a wonderful weekend breakfast! Every time I make them, my husband says he is taken right back to his childhood. I have the same reaction and while he likes his potato pancakes with Applesauce, I love them with sour cream.
It might be a cultural thing because until I met him, I’d never heard of eating potato pancakes with applesauce. In Russia, we always had them with sour cream and fresh dill weed. Potatoes and dill weed always go so well together! I add that simple combo to so many of my potato dishes.
Basic potato pancakes are made with a classic combination of potatoes, onion, eggs and flour. It’s also seasoned with salt and pepper. You can always add some more flavor by throwing in garlic powder, herbs, scallions or even some paprika!
Ingredient Notes
Potatoes – Idaho or russet potatoes are best for making potato pancakes. These potatoes cook soft, crumbly, and also contain a good amount of starch.
Onion – A white onion is preferred but a yellow onion will also work well.
Flour – all purpose flour will work well and if you need to keep your potato pancakes gluten free, use gluten free all purpose flour.
Dill Weed – Fresh dill weed is preferred, but you can use fried in a pinch. Just use a little less because dried herbs are often more potent.
Salt and Pepper – To taste! Add more or less as you see fit.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Potato Pancakes
Blend. Peel potatoes and onions (1). Grate potatoes and onions OR pulse them in a food processor until there are no more chunks (2).
Strain. Transfer potato and onion mixture into a fine strainer and set it over a mixing bowl. This way, all the liquid will drain into the bowl (3). Press on the mixture to get the liquid out. The goal is to get most of the liquid out. Once the liquid has been strained out, discard the liquid out of the bowl carefully.
PRO TIP: I highly recommend that you place the mixture into either a mesh vegetable bag or doubled cheese cloth first, especially if potato mixture is finely blended, and then into the fine strainer.
Keep the starch. You will see accumulation of white powdery stuff in the bottom of the bowl (4). That is starch. Don’t discard starch, you will need to mix it into the potato pancake batter. Drain off the liquid but not the starch.
Mix it all together. Add the squeezed potatoes and onions to the bowl with starch and add eggs, flour, salt, garlic powder, and dill weed (5). Mix everything well (6).
Heat the oil. Pour oil into a wide cooking pan filling it only about 1/4 inch full. Preheat oil to 350°F. Depending on the stove, set the heat to medium or medium-low.
Form the patties. Form patties out of the dough that are about 1/2 inch thick. Add patties to hot oil and fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden-brown (7).
Drain the excess oil. Take them out with a metal slotted spoon or spatula (8) and gently shake off excess oil. Place potato pancakes onto a paper towel to soak some excess oil before serving.
PRO TIP: The batter will be soft but you should still be able to form patties. This potato batter is not sticky and a formed patty will be able to slide off the hand easily. Be careful when placing patties into hot oil. Use metal spatula when needed.
Recipe FAQs
Potato pancakes are much simpler. They feature raw grated potatoes, egg, and all-purpose flour. They have a soft inside center and browned edges. Latkes, on the other hand, add baking powder, matzo meal, and sometimes a splash of milk. Latkes also have a different texture! They are crispier, browned and thinner.
The two best options are russet potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes. Both potatoes will become soft and crumble when cooked.
If your potato pancakes are falling apart, that means there aren’t enough ingredients to hold them together. The ingredients that help them hold together are egg and the leftover cornstarch from blending potatoes. Make sure to add the starch left after draining potatoes – don’t skip that! Another reason could be that you didn’t drain the pureed potatoes well and the batter is too thin.
Of course! You can easily make these potato pancakes gluten free simply by using gluten free all purpose flour instead of regular flour. All remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check any packaging to be sure.
Yes! Choose either tool, depending on what kind of texture is desired and how much work you want to put into preparing the batter.
A box grater can be used in several different ways. Use the large grater side with the widest holes if you want more of a shredded potato look. Although, the onion will still need to be done on the fine side.
To achieve a finer texture, use small shredding holes. A small shredding side can be used for both, potatoes and onion.
If you want the finest texture, use the rough side with holes that stick out. Those will create the finest texture.
Serving Suggestions
The most traditional and classic way to serve potato pancakes is topped with Applesauce or sour cream. Sour cream can be flavored with different herbs to compliment the flavors of the pancakes.
Top off each pancake with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese, and bacon for a hearty brunch/breakfast option! Potato pancakes can also compliment a classic breakfast of eggs, bacon, and sausage very well.
If you want to get adventurous, try dipping potato pancakes into Ranch Dressing.
For more brunch ideas, top off potato pancakes with lox, chicken or your favorite shredded cheese.
Freezing Instructions
To freeze potato pancakes, cool them first to room temperature. Place them on a cutting board covered with parchment paper in one layer and freeze for about 2 hours.
Once the potato pancakes are frozen, transfer them into a large zip-lock freezer bag. Get all the air out of the bag and seal it. Label the bag and freeze it for up to 3 months.
Potato pancakes can also be portioned into several smaller freezer bags. Portioning them will make it easier to defrost and reheat one serving at a time.
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Potato Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs potatoes Idaho or Russet
- 1 medium onion
- 2 eggs
- 2-3 tbsp all purpose flour (can substitute gluten free all purpose flour)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp fresh minced dill weed
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- To make potato pancakes, you can use a box grater or a food processor. Box grater can be used to create a shredded texture of potatoes or a fine texture. Food processor can be used to blend potatoes and onions into fine texture. You can also use food processor with a large grate attachment to quickly create shredded potatoes.
Potato pancake batter:
- One you’ve decided on the texture and which tool to use, peel potatoes and onions.
- Grate potatoes and onions or pulse them in a food processor until there are no more chunks.
- Transfer potato and onion mixture into a fine strainer and set it over a mixing bowl. This way, all the liquid will drain into the bowl. (I highly recommend that you place the mixture into either a mesh vegetable bag or doubled cheese cloth first, especially if potato mixture is finely blended, and then into the fine strainer.)
- Press on the mixture to get the liquid out. The goal is to get most of the liquid out.
- Once the liquid has been strained out, discard the liquid out of the bowl carefully. NOTE: you will see accumulation of white powdery stuff in the bottom of the bowl, that is starch. Don’t discard starch, you will need to mix it into the potato pancake batter. Drain off the liquid but not the starch.
- Add squeezed potatoes and onions to the bowl with starch and add eggs, flour, salt, garlic powder, and dill weed. Mix everything well.
Cooking potato pancakes:
- Pour oil into a wide cooking pan filling it only about 1/4 inch full. Preheat oil to 350°. Depending on the stove, set the heat to medium or medium-low.
- NOTE: the batter will be soft but you should still be able to form patties. This potato batter is not sticky and a formed patty will be able to slide off the hand easily. Do be careful when placing patties into hot oil.
- Form patties out of the dough that are about 1/2 inch thick. Add patties to hot oil and fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden-brown.
- Take them out with a metal slotted spoon and gently shake off excess oil. Place potato pancakes onto a paper towel to soak some excess oil before serving.
Video
Notes
- TIP: I highly recommend that you place the mixture into either a mesh vegetable bag or doubled cheese cloth first, especially if potato mixture is finely blended, and then into the fine strainer.
- Gluten free: You can easily make these potato pancakes gluten free simply by using gluten free all purpose flour instead of regular flour. All remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check any packaging to be sure.
- To Use Box Grater: A box grater can be used in several different ways. Use the large grater side with the widest holes if you want more of a shredded potato look. Although, the onion will still need to be done on the fine side.
To achieve a finer texture, use small shredding holes. A small shredding side can be used for both, potatoes and onion.
If you want the finest texture, use the rough side with holes that stick out. Those will create the finest texture.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in March 2019.
Categories:
Breakfast, Brunch, Holiday Leftover Recipes, Mother's Day, Pancakes, Popular Posts, Potatoes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
These are awesome! I’ve added fresh garlic instead of garlic powder and it works great!
Just love potato pancakes, my family would eat several times a week if I would make them that often! Love the idea to freeze – will try that and always then have some on hand! Thank you for your recipes and tips!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for stopping by to let me know you liked them!
I tried it at home. thank you for the wonderful recipe of POTATO PANCAKES
Thank you! I am so glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
These are perfection!
Thank you so much, Melissa!