Potato pancakes are wonderfully crispy outside and soft melt in the mouth inside. This potato pancake recipe is made with grated potatoes mixed with flour and herbs, no eggs, vegan and dairy-free.
Most popular versions of this recipe are German, Irish and Polish. This comfort food with Applesauce or sour cream is perfect for any meal, appetiser, side dish or even a light dinner.
Potatoes are comfort food for most of us, this is no secret. Any form and shape we love potatoes! So after so many pancakes recipes of a different kind (leaving links in the end for Pancake lovers) This is my absolute favourite recipe of Potato pancakes.
These Potato pancakes are also known as Latkes or draniki or Boxties in various cuisines. The combination of potatoes onions, flour and seasoning taste incredibly delicious. Flour or eggs are usually used to hold them together.
The difference between hash browns and potato pancakes is mainly binding. Hash Browns are usually just the potato, maybe small amount of onion and seasonings. While in pancakes potatoes and onions are held together with flour. This makes crisp potato pancakes.
What Potatoes to Use
Extra starchy potatoes are the best for potatoes. Russet potatoes are the best for pancakes. These absorb lesser fat compared to regular potatoes. When these are available in the supermarkets I get them. Otherwise, I prefer to use Old potatoes which are a little more starchy.
Shortcut To Make Pancakes
You can easily use frozen hash browns to make potato pancakes in minutes. But I prefer to make them from scratch. Both ways you get crisp potato pancakes that is the soft melt in mouth Inside. So depending on convenience and time you can decide which is better for you.
Ingredients for Potato Pancakes
You need very few ingredients for making them. You can even call them 5 Ingredients Savoury pancakes.
POTATOES - You can use any starchy potatoes available to you.
FLOUR - All-Purpose flour and a very small amount of cornflour to make them crisp from outside and soft inside.
ONION - I use regular onions chopped finely to add a little more flavour.
SEASONING -At times I keep it minimal, just salt, pepper. Other times I add some chopped cilantro or chives and maybe some chilli flakes for an extra kick. Traditionally only salt and pepper is used.
OIL- I use Olive oil you can use any healthy oil like Rice bran or canola oil.
SOUR CREAM - to serve them
To Make Best Potato Pancakes - Recipe Notes and Tips
Take care of these few things to make the best pancakes.
- Control Moisture - Dry them as much as possible. To remove moisture I first squeeze them dry and then press them in a kitchen towel to remove moisture. The shredded potatoes are nice and dry when I combine them with other pancake ingredients.
- To make equal size pancake I scoop them with ¼cup of measuring cups. I press the pancake with the base of the same cup to make the surface even.
- Keep the Heat medium to low, On high heat pancakes will become crispy from outside but inside can remain raw. So start with medium heat bring it to low and then to make them crisp outside increase to medium-high.
- While frying, these absorb oil. To drain off excess oil I place them on a paper towel.
- Always make them fresh when you are ready to eat. These tend to get soggy and do not make good leftovers.
MEAL PREP
I am a meal prep freak so like to keep everything prepared in advance. To make the process quicker, I keep grated and squeezed potatoes in the fridge. This store well for 1-2 days. That way it is easier to make them for breakfast. All I need then is to mix things together and cook pancakes.
How to Make Perfect Pancakes
Main preparation here is potatoes, once that is done it is easy and simple .
- To Prep potatoes I grate them using big sized hole size of a box grater.
- Combine them with rest of the ingredients given in the recipe (except oil)
- Fry a small portion at a time and drain out excess oil.
- Serve them as a breakfast or any other meal as a side.
For more clarity on texture and exact recipe looks at various stages I strongly recommend watching video below.
Watch Video
What To Serve Potato pancakes
Traditionally you serve them either with sour cream or applesauce. But My favourite pancake topping is Greek yogurt combined with a bit of mayonnaise.
I strain the yogurt, mix 4 tablespoon of this with 1tbsp mayonnaise and that makes an excellent topping of the pancakes. I always sprinkle some cilantro on top. Traditionally chives are used.
Potato Dishes That We Simply Love
Potato, veggies and Semolina squares - crispy outside soft inside
Crispy Cheesy Potato Tringles - Soft melt in mouth crispy outside
Masala Bombay Potatoes - Baby Potatoes coated with spicy masala
Crispy, Greek-Style Potatoes- Crispy wedges seasoned nicely topped with Feta.
Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- 400 g Potatoes
- 1 small onion
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
- 1 tablespoon cilantro /chives optional
- ⅕ cup vegetable oil more may be needed
- Sour cream to serve
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon corn flour
Instructions
- Using a box grater, grate the potatoes and squeeze them dry using a kitchen towel. Squeeze out as much water as possible.
- In a mixing bowl combine these potatoes with chopped onion, flour, seasonings and mix. You can add in a little bit of milk or if you are keeping it vegan any vegan milk is good. You do not need a lot of milk, just a couple of tablespoons is enough.
- In a skillet heat oil and with a scoop or measuring cup, I scoop out ¼ cup of the mixture and flatten it uniformly onto the skillet.
- At this point, I reduce the heat to a slightly lower side. So the potatoes are cooked inside as well.
- After 2 minutes, I increase the heat to make them crisp.
Video
Notes
- To drain off excess oil use paper towel and enjoy them fresh off skillet when these are still hot and crisp.
- *The potato pancake absorb more oil than the regular ones but I make them few times per year, so for me that’s okay.
- If you like to Use eggs skip cornflour and almond milk and add one whole egg instead.
Namita Khare
These look fabulous and I have a question can I skip eggs and milk both. Do I need to substitute anything then ?