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We love pancakes, but have you ever tried potato pancakes?
Potato pancakes are such a delicious way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. They have fluffy centers, golden edges, and a little cheese for extra flavor.
They’re great as a side dish instead of mashed potatoes or baked potatoes – but we also love them for breakfast instead of making hash browns. Plus, these have added cheese for a little something extra tasty.
We’ve always loved mashed potatoes and rarely have leftovers, but with this recipe we are sure to try and have some saved so we can make these mashed potato pancakes the next morning.
You could also serve these pancakes as an appetizer alongside Bacon Wrapped Smokies, Spinach Puffs, and Queso Blanco.
Why we think you’ll love it:
- Use up those leftovers! We love to make extra mashed potatoes to whip up a batch of these potato pancakes.
- A breakfast, side, or appetizer. This easy recipe is so versatile and can be served any time of the day.
- Ready in 20 minutes. From start to finish, these pancakes are on the table in no time.
Potato Pancake Ingredients And Substitutions
- 3 cups mashed potatoes – You can use plain mashed potatoes or flavored mashed potatoes, both work well. You can even mix up instant mashed potatoes.
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese – or another favorite cheese like Colby jack or pepper jack cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- salt and pepper, to taste – Adjust the amount depending on whether the mashed potatoes have already been seasoned.
- vegetable oil, for frying – or canola oil, coconut oil, or olive oil labeled for frying
- optional toppings – sour cream, green onion, bacon bits, extra cheese
How to Make Potato Pancakes
- PREP. Preheat a large frying pan or griddle to medium heat.
- If your potatoes are cold from the fridge, warm them slightly and give them a second mash so they’re easier to work with.
- MIX. In a large bowl, add mashed potatoes, eggs, flour, cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper (this will depend on how much seasoning was previously added to the mashed potatoes). Mix to combine.
- Grease the frying pan/skillet lightly.
- SHAPE. Form the potato mixture into patties about ¼ cup of batter each. Flatten the patty between your palms.
- FRY. Fry on the one side until golden (about 3-5 minutes), then flip and fry on the second side until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and green onions (optional).
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- Don’t make them too thick; they will take longer to cook through and may burn on the outside before the inside is warm.
- If the potato pancakes have too much moisture you may need an extra tablespoon or two of flour to keep them from falling apart.
- We most often serve these as a side at breakfast, but they can also be covered with sausage gravy and served as a heartier main dish, or as a delicious snack or appetizer.
Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- 3 cups mashed potatoes
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- salt and pepper to taste, to taste
- vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
- Preheat a large frying pan or griddle to medium heat.
- If your potatoes are cold from the fridge, we recommend warming them up slightly and giving them a second mash or beating with an electric mixer so they're easier to work with.
- In a large bowl add the mashed potatoes, eggs, flour, cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Stir the ingredients together.
- Grease the frying pan/skillet lightly.
- Form the dough into patties about ¼ cup of batter each. Flatten the patty between your palms.
- Fry on the one side until golden (about 3-5 minutes), then flip and fry on the second side until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and green onions (optional).
Notes
- Make extra mashed potatoes and set them aside so you can make these pancakes!
- Don’t make them too thick; they will take longer to cook through and may burn on the outside before the inside is warm.
- If the potato pancakes have too much moisture you may need an extra tablespoon or two of flour to keep them from falling apart.
- We most often serve these as a side at breakfast, but they can also be covered with sausage gravy and served as a heartier main dish, or as a delicious snack or appetizer.
- If your potatoes were already seasoned quite heavily, you may not need the salt & pepper.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
To freeze, wrap tightly in aluminum foil and place in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag. Place in freezer and store there for up to 3 months. Look at the notes above on how to reheat the pancakes if frozen.
Reheat frozen pancakes in the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F (or 400°F for frozen potato pancakes). Place a baking rack on a baking sheet, arrange on top, and bake for about 5 minutes (10 minutes for frozen potato pancakes).
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This recipe was originally published January 2019.
Made these tonight. Loved them!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the pancakes!
My entire family loved these, which is rare! We served them with apple sauce and sour cream.
Yum!! Love when I find a recipe the whole family loves! Thank you!
is the flour self raising flour or all purpose flour
I used all purpose 🙂
Can you think of a good egg substitute for this recipe? I normally use flax egg or banana but I wasn’t sure if that would work.
I personally haven’t tried either of those, so I am not sure. I am thinking they’d be ok. I am not normally substituting egg.
Ive Made these once before, AMAZING!! Im making these again tonight except im making Gravy as the “syRup”.
That sounds yum!! I am glad you liked it!
My mom made these these for us as a small child. I dont remember what we called them but I remember that we liked them. A potato served as a patty with all the trimmings.
These are super delicious! Easy to make!
i would never of thought to make pancakes with potatoes. They are so fluffy and taste good. They are great for leftovers too!
My mom would use leftover maShed potatOes, fOrm a pancaKe and fry Them in the Pan we’d just cooked bacon in. Ive Never seen a recipe fOr them until now. I loved the additional ingredIeNts you used. Sooo good!!!
How delicious!! I would have never thought to try these, but they looked so good & they were! They were so soft & adding sour cream on top, makes them the perfect little snack or dinner!
These are seriously so good! I made them ahead of time and just reheated them when it was time i eat!
Yes, they are prefect for re-heating! Thank you for letting me know!
These are a childhood favorite 🙂
THese Look amazing! Can’t wait to try.
These are perfect! Such a great use for leftover potatoes!
I added some rosemary and thyme. Mashed taters already seasoned with onion, garlic and cheese. The flavors melted together and was fabulous! I only had a lil trouble getting the right consistancy since I did not have as many spuds leftover as called for in recipe. I also was able to reheat n eat them and was tastier than the 1st time. Thank you iron cooking makes everything better.
That sounds great!
We made this last weekend. Delicious!