Leftover mashed potatoes? LUCKY YOU! You can make these crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside potato pancakes from mashed potatoes tonight. No flour needed. Just an egg, green onions, seasoning and a fork.
Skip right to the potato pancakes from mashed potatoes recipe.
My favourite potato dishes in order of preference (as of my mood at this exact moment): potato chips, french fries, potato pancakes, gnocchi. TWO of the things on my list are made with leftover mashed potatoes.
I have an easy gnocchi recipe that uses leftover mashed potatoes and then there's my potato pancakes. The love of my life.
I usually get a craving for them just by looking at the jars of homemade chili sauce in my kitchen cupboard. Get my chili sauce recipe here if you're wanting to make some of the good homemade stuff.
I have the same reaction when I spot horseradish in my fridge only that ends with me making an entire roast beef dinner. I think we all know what I end up making when I spot the bottle of ketchup. Yes french fries. In fact, I believe I make some pretty perfect french fries. It's all in the double fry.
I'm highly suggestible when it comes to food condiments.
So you want some potato pancakes? 'Cause you can have some! All you have to do is remember to make extra mashed potatoes the next time you have them. Thennnnn the next night you can have potato pancakes out of the leftovers. It's simple math really.
Obviously these don't have to be made with leftover mashed potatoes, you can cook mashed potatoes specifically for making them. You just need to make sure you have time to cool the cooked potatoes in the fridge before making the mixture. Using cold mashed potatoes help stop the pancakes from falling apart.
I normally just eyeball everything but for those of you who like a recipe I've included one.
Table of Contents
potato Pancake Recipe
- Preheat oven to 210 F for keeping finished pancakes warm.
- Slice a couple of green onions.
- Mix the green onions in with 2 cups of mashed potatoes and one large egg.
* If you're making these from just cooked, hot mashed potatoes, you need to temper the egg with some hot potatoes before adding it to them. But I would recommend cooling the potatoes in the fridge after mashing them and before adding the onions and egg.
- Season the mixture with salt and pepper.
- Grab a ball of the potatoes. About "this" much. Maybe ¼ cup or so and form the mixture into patties.
- Fry in olive or vegetable oil and/or butter. I use both oil and butter in a non stick pan for frying these. It gives flavour and makes sure the pancakes don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Cook over medium/low heat until golden brown. Keep an eye on them to make sure your heat isn't set too high which will burn them.
- Once your pancakes are cooked, pop them in the oven on a baking sheet to keep them warm while you cook the remaining ones.
- Serve with chili sauce or sour cream.
Can you see that?? I'm sure you can see that. Crispy on the outside, fluffy and hot on the inside. And just so you know, there's really no such thing as too much chili sauce with potato pancakes. I've been known to go through an entire jar in one sitting.
Not fond of chili sauce? I don't actually understand that but like I mentioned before sour cream is another respectable condiment choice for potato pancakes OR the classic dollop of applesauce.
Mashed Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups Potatoes mashed
- 2 Green Onions sliced thin
- 1 Egg
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 210 f.
- Slice your green onions.
- Add green onions and egg to mashed potatoes and mix together.
- Season with salt and pepper
- Form mixture into hamburger shaped patties.
- Heat oil and butter in non stick pan over medium low heat.
- Fry patties allowing the underside to brown until crisp before flipping them over to fry the other side. Add more oil or butter if needed once you flip them.
- Keep finished potato pancakes on a plate in the preheated oven to keep hot.
- Serve potato pancakes with sour cream or chili sauce.
Nutrition
How to keep potato pancakes from falling apart
- Egg is what will bind everything together so there's no need to add flour.
- If your pancakes aren't sticking together while you form them, you can add a bit more egg, or put the potato mixture into the refrigerator to firm up again.
- If your pancakes are feeling too wet and won't form into a patty you can add a bit of flour to act as a binder.
- Putting your mashed potato pancakes into the fridge before frying will firm them up and help them hold together while you cook them.
Where's the CHEESE?
Cheese is my favourite food group, but for whatever reason I don't like to add cheese to my potato pancakes. YOU might feel differently. If you'd like cheese, just add ¼ cup of parmesan cheese or ½ cup of shredded cheddar to the mixture.
I know I've mentioned this before but these really do pair well with the fall spices of homemade chili sauce. It's addicting. As an added bonus, while you're simmering this chili sauce your whole house will smell delicious. Less of a bonus is when you start licking your own furniture because of it.
If I've convinced you about the merits of homemade chili sauce you can read my whole recipe and canning instructions for it in this post.
O.K., you have mashed potato pancakes now what are you going to serve them with? If you're having them for breakfast then you can have them in place of hash browns but for dinner this is how I like to serve them.
What are you gonna serve with them?
I'm not sure why you don't want to just eat an entire plate of potato pancakes, but O.K.
My go-to is grilled sausage with some type of greens like swiss chard or green beans with butter.
Meat mains
- sausage
- pork chops
- goulash
- roast chicken
- brisket
- smoked salmon
Vegetarian mains
- chana masala
- ratatouille
- tempeh breakfast sausages
- cheesy black bean bake
Yes yes yes! Baked potatoes make great mashed potatoes, which in turn make really good potato pancakes.
Add 1 cup of grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese per 2 cups of mashed potatoes for really cheesy potato pancakes. Just add the cheese to the mixture after you've incorporated the eggs.
You bet you can. They'll freeze best if you cook them first then let them cool. After that you can place them on a parchment lined plate and stick them in the freezer to freeze quickly. Once frozen, separate each pancake with a small piece of parchment or waxed paper and put them in an airtight container or bag.
As long as you don't add flour to the mixture, your potato pancakes will be gluten-free.
Now that I've polished off every one of the potato pancakes seen in this photo I can plan for tonight's dinner. What am I having? Here's a hint. I got the craving while looking at the bottle of squeeze mustard in my fridge.
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My mom's always end up way too salty but instead of green onions she uses queso cotija
Last night I made your pumpkin soup and burnt the carmalized pepitos - didn't realize how quickly that would happen. Oh well, only two in our family wanted soup so I have filled my freezer, yea for me. I also made mashed potatoes since every autumn I am also consumed with wanting potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce. My daughter gave me a big spiral ham to cook since her hubby wants meat and no carbs and I live with them but she later ate a huge bowl of soup. I tried something new - adding evap milk to the smashed up taters with butter and s&p. They were so good but I also filled up on soup ahead of time (it was DELICIOUS) and so did my granddaughter resulting in a nice bowl of mashed goodness for tonight. I was going to look up a recipe for pancakes after I finished reading my blogs and there it was. You read my mind and have it all set for me. Thanks - and YUM. The burnt soup topper would have been delicious just as a treat but mine was bitter. Maybe I'll try again tonight.
My favorite way to eat these is with apple sauce and sour cream on top. My German grandmother would die if she saw us make them from mashed potatoes instead of ground fresh, but my Mom always made these since Dad wanted mashed potatoes almost every single night. (Unless she cooked egg noodles with browned butter.) She planned leftovers and I'd rather have these than dessert. She cooked them in butter not oil. It's a Wisconsin thing. Yes, I have excess potato/butter weight!
Ah! Potato pancakes from shredded raw potatoes are Latkes! ~ karen
Can you freeze these?
LOVE potatoes and pretty much in the order you listed. When I make potato latkes, I use 2/3 shredded potatoes and 1/3 shredded rutabaga. Yummy!!
That was the first pull to try the potato pancakes out, actually. I've got "shop for tomato seeds" on the list of to-do's so that I can get started on that chili sauce right away..... (Late to TAODS party, but glad I'm here!)
Holy macaroli. *Entirely* too tasty. Fingers crossed that I forget all about how to make this!!!
WAIT! Have you tried them with chili sauce??? https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/homemade-chili-sauce/ Now you're really in trouble. ~ karen!
My all-time favorite childhood food!
Karen, my Mom's eyeball recipe called for some flour. Have you ever tried flour in your mix? Hers were dense and a bit doughy but really savory. I haven't been able to duplicate the flavor but maybe I'm missing an egg....sadly she's no longer around to ask.
Oh yea, now yer talkin.
I love them too! If you are from the East Coast, like me, you may call them potato fadge. Thanks for the memories, Karen.
LOL. Never heard that one. I don't care what you call them. I love 'em. ~ karen!
Yup, I checked all of the responses to see if anyone else called them potato fudge and there you were, Ann. I’m an Ann too, from New Brunswick. My grandmother who had an Irish background (and a huge family) made these a lot. Who would have guessed?!
Oops, replying to my own message with a correction. I meant potato fadge not fudge and that dreaded autocorrect almost caught be again! Ann 2
Followed a link from today's On The Menu to this recipe. In the "you might also like" section was a suggestion for " Draw your guns, let's talk calk!" Hahaha
So thrilled to realize I typed "pealed" instead of "peeled", for all the world to see! Oye vey! LOL!
I made potato pancakes for Chanukah last December. I don't have a recipe either, but I remember watching my grandmother make them. Grate pealed russet potatoes and some brown onion on the box grater. Add egg and matzoh meal. Salt and pepper to taste. Fry in vegetable oil. Serve with sour cream and a stent. Yum yum yum!
My own personal touch (Don't listen, Bubby!) was to eat then sitting next to the menorah AND the Christmas tree...
Those are Latkes! Love em. As I love all potato products. ~ karen
I meant to say I ate dinner. I guess that was a Freudian slip.
LOL! That was a perfect slip wasn't it? ~ k
This reminds me of a time when I was a little girl, and I hate dinner at my step grandmother's house. She fixed three strange things: potato pancakes, codfish balls, and squash. I thought it all looked awful, and after one taste of the squash, I was sure it was awful. So, when she wasn't looking, I wrapped it all up in a napkin and later threw it under the house. Well, I love summer squash now, and I have never met any potato dish that I don't like. But, I still don't think I ever want to eat a cod fish's balls.
Bonnie,
"But, I still don’t think I ever want to eat a cod fish’s balls."
I got a feeling your name would go with others on a rather loooooong list!!
LOL
I just ate 6 potato pancakes.
Yay!! Did you put anything on them? Chili sauce? Sour cream? Yay!! ~ karen
i would love a recipe for your home made chili sauce. Is that possible??? Or do you share those secrets??lol
Yup, I share. I just don't need to make any at the moment, 'cause I still have a fairly large batch. I'll do a post on it as soon as I need to make chili sauce! If you DESPERATELY need a chili sauce recipe immediately because you're having a chili sauce emergency then I can send just the recipe to you w/out pictures. ~ karen!
I've always made mine too big until today. These were perfect for the day after US Thanksgiving. My roommates all thought I was crazy until they had one for themselves. Unfortunately someone ate all our sweet chili sauce but they were delicious with some leftover gravy too.
I made an extra amount of mashed potatoes just so that I could make this!!!! WIll update on results later!!! Thanks
In NY, we eat them with applesauce. This looks like a great recipe. Can't wait to try it!
We always ate them with applesauce. (I thought everybody did.) I suspect it might be a tradition from my Lithuanian wetback ancestors. I took my mom to breakfast in a restaurant a couple years back. She asked for applesauce with her potato pancakes and I said I'd have the same. The waitress smiled and said, "Like mother like son, eh?". Mom turned to her and said, with a straight face, "I wish I'd strangled him in his crib.". Mom was beginning to have issues about then.
If you can't laugh at the 'issues' then you will be able miserable. My cousin's Mom developed dementia and my cousin and her hubby could entertain us for hours telling Mom stories which sure helped them deal with it. Mom wouldn't have cared if she were in a place for those suffering from dementia but they would have missed that opportunity to care for her and since they were a 'they' it was easier to cope. Laughter became the cornerstone of that coping. Thanks for sharing your bit of Mom - It does make me giggle picturing it! I actually sounds like it should be in a skit in some British comedy show.