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When I was a little girl, I remember my grandmother making potato pancakes quite regularly, usually on Friday nights. (Potatoes were cheap, and stored well in the unheated basement of grandma’s farmhouse.)

With six kids to feed, mom appreciated this budget friendly food, too. Both mom and grandma always served their pancakes with homemade applesauce.

When I was looking through The Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook, the potato latkes reminded me of grandma’s potato pancakes.

Duncan and I did some experimenting, and came up with a recipe that’s a hybrid of the two recipes. After the potatoes are shredded, we give them a vinegar and water rinse. The extra acidity gives them more depth of flavor.

Once the water is drained, we toss the potatoes and onions with salt and let them rest in a strainer. This helps draw off excess water to keep your potato pancakes crisp.

If you don’t mind a texture that’s more like hash browns, you can skip the flour and let the potato starch and eggs bind the pancakes together.

Potato Pancake Recipe

A classic comfort food gets a simple update for extra flavor.

Ingredients

3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, or other starchy, not waxy potatoes
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
2 large eggs or one duck egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup all purpose flour or gluten free flour blend (optional)
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
butter or lard, for frying
applesauce and/or sour cream, for serving

Directions

Grate the potatoes, either by hand or with a food processor. I like using my box grater, which is quieter than the food processor and easier to clean up.

As you grate the potatoes, move them into water with added acid. Use 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to 4 cups water. Mix the shredded potatoes with water for one minute, then pour into a strainer and drain well.

The acids keep the potatoes from turning pink, then gray, as they oxidize with exposure to air. It also adds extra flavor.

Toss the shredded potatoes and chopped onion with 2 teaspoons salt. Let rest for 5-10 minutes in a strainer. Squeeze off excess moisture.

Place the potatoes and onions in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet up to medium-high, and lube it up with plenty of butter or lard. (Don’t skip on the butter – fat adds flavor and butter is good for you – honest.)

Drop the potato pancake mixture in the pan about 1/4 cup at a time and flatten slightly. Fry until golden brown on the bottom, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Flip the pancake over and repeat.

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Give each pancake plenty of room so you get nice, crispy edges.

Serving the Potato Pancakes

If you’re cooking in lard, you can spread paper towels on baking sheets and place the finished pancakes there to drain.

You can keep the potato pancakes warm in the oven while you finish cooking, or you can just start dishing them up as you go (my preferred option). If they sit too long, they loose that crispy goodness.

Serve with applesauce, sour cream and chives, or ketchup. (My youngest used to treat ketchup as a food group.)

These are pretty tasty warmed up (in the toaster oven or frying pan) the next day for breakfast, too, or even eaten cold.

Variations

Add a little garlic powder or other spices of your choice to give your potato pancakes extra zip.

Do you have leftover mashed potatoes? Skip the shredding and soaking, and jump right to adding the onion and other ingredients.

Low Carb “Potato Pancakes”

If you’re eating low carb, swap in zucchini for the potatoes. Skip the acidic rinse, and jump to mixing the shredded zucchini with salt. Taking the time for this step makes it a lot easier to get a crispy pancake.

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