Crispy Easy Potato Pancakes

Crispy potato pancakes make the perfect side dish or breakfast! Serve this golden brown potato pancakes recipe with sour cream or your favorite dipping sauce for a delicious bite that the whole family will enjoy.

 

Why We Love Crispy Potato Pancakes

• Crispy Potatoes – Listen I don’t know how you feel about it, but I am always up for crispy potatoes. These potato pancakes is a great recipe to give you the crispy brown potatoes you’re craving without having to leave your house.
• Great As A Side Dish OR For Breakfast – Potato pancakes are so versatile, you can totally serve them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or sometimes I’ll make them a little smaller and serve them more like an appetizer, also sometimes called potato cakes or potato patty. Any way you serve potato pancakes they are crispy on the outside and delicious!
• Kid Friendly Dish – I’ll be honest, my kid also gets visibly excited when she smells potatoes cooking in the pan. Your family will love this potato recipe too. It’s also a great recipe to make for St. Patrick’s Day along with a side of this Irish soda bread.

Ingredients For Potato Pancakes Recipe

• Russet potatoes peeled and cubed into large chunks. Peeling is optional and completely dependent on your own preferences. Potato pancakes will have a lot more variation in color if you choose to leave the peels. For this recipe I prefer to remove the peels. Yellow golden potatoes can also be used, but I don’t recommend other varieties in this recipe.
• yellow onion chopped into large chunks
• eggs
• all-purpose flour – If the pancake dough seems too wet add more flour by the tablespoon until the thick batter seems scoopable but not liquidy.
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• olive oil – While it can be tempting to reduce the oil, it’s important to have enough oil that the pancakes get crispy. No one wants mushy potato pancakes. Extra oil may be needed in between the pancakes. I find I add a little more oil about every two pancakes.
• sour cream– optional garnish
• green onions chopped optional garnish. chives also work

How To Make Potato Pancakes

1. Place the potatoes and onion into a food processor. Pulse the food processor for 2 minutes or until the potato onion mixture no longer has big lumps. You can also run the potatoes and onions through a shredding attachment or grate them with a cheese grater.

2. Place the potato mixture into a strainer and squeeze the liquid into a medium mixing bowl. Pour out any excess liquid but you can keep any potato starch (white powder) that may form at the bottom of the bowl. This starch is ok to keep, and can just make the potatoes crispier.

3. Scoop the potato mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder to the potato mixture. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly blended.

4. In a non-stick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Test that the oil is hot by dropping a single drip of water in the pan, it should sizzle and pop. It’s important the oil is hot.
5. Add a heaping spoonful of potato mixture. Press down slightly with the bottom of the spoon, spreading it some.

6. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until the pancakes start to brown and look crispy. Repeat with each pancake, adding more oil in between pancakes as needed. Serve with a side of sour cream and green onions, then enjoy.

Make Potato Pancake Variations

Add bacon or ham – Cooked crumbled cooked bacon or finely diced ham can be added to this recipe and is delicious. It gives these pancakes a salty savoriness that is delicious. I also will sometimes serve potato pancakes with kielbasa or smoked turkey sausage to achieve a similar taste profile.

Top with cheese – I find it’s tricky to add cheese to the batter itself, but melting shredded cheese or a slice of cheese over the pancakes at the end is delicious. Pick a melty cheese like cheddar, Monterey Jack or even American cheese for the best results.

Remove or swap the onions – If you’re not an onion fan, you can remove them from this potato pancake recipe altogether. You can also swap the yellow onion with one that has a milder flavor such as green onions mixed with the potatoes or sweet onion.

Can I Use Leftover Mashed Potatoes?

Leftover mashed potatoes (even with add ins like cream cheese or milk) can be used instead of the potato and onion mixture that is blended in the food processor.

You’ll want about two cups of mashed potatoes for the full recipe. The garlic, salt and pepper may need to be reduced or added to taste if the mashed potatoes you use are already seasoned.

FAQ About Potato Pancakes

How To Reheat Potato Pancakes?

Reheat leftover potato pancakes in a skillet, in the air fryer for about 3-4 minutes at 375 degrees, in the oven or even in the toaster oven if they can be supported by a pan.

Potato pancakes can be reheated in the microwave, but will be much more mushy with this method of reheating them.

Do Potato Pancakes Freeze?

Yes potato pancakes freeze especially well. I recommend freezing them flat on a cookie sheet on parchment paper or freezer paper. Once frozen you can store them in a freezer safe container or freezer zip-top bag.

You can reheat potato pancakes directly from frozen either with an air fryer for 5-8 minutes at 375, in the toaster oven or baking them in the oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until they are heated through and crispy.

I find them potato pancakes more tricky to reheat from frozen in a skillet on top of the stove. Reheating potato pancakes in the microwave from frozen makes them really mushy and not as delicious in my opinion.

How Long Will Potato Pancakes Last?

Expect potato pancakes to last about four days if stored in the refrigerator in a covered airtight container.