Potato Pancake Recipe
This mashed potato pancake recipe is an excellent way to use up leftover mashed potatoes!
Whether you have leftover mashed potatoes from a holiday celebration or just a weeknight dinner, they don’t have to go to waste just because nobody likes reheated mashed potatoes. (Tell me I’m not alone in this!)
Potato pancakes from mashed potatoes can be made for breakfast, lunch or dinner and make an excellent side dish or main course, depending on what you are serving. And I promise, you won’t even notice they got reheated! This is a totally different experience from reheated mashed potatoes. Scout’s honor!
German Potato Pancake Recipe
A lot of folks know these pancakes as a German dish. But to truly make these more authentically German, you’ll want to add about 1/2 a cup chopped and sautéd onions and even 1 to 2 tablespoons of caraway seeds. The seeds are optional, but definitely an authentic German flavor!
What You’ll Need For This Potato Pancake Recipe
2 cups mashed potatoes – The best part about this recipe is that you don’t have to bother reheating the mashed potatoes. Just scoop them into your measuring cup cold from the fridge and add them to the mixing bowl.
2 large eggs – These can also be cold from the fridge. Room temperature eggs would be a better choice here, but it’s not necessary to make the recipe work.
2 tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour – If you can’t find this, white whole wheat flour is often easier to find and is easily exchanged here in equal amounts.
1 tsp. garlic powder – I used garlic granules, but powder will work here just fine.
½ tsp. onion powder – If you are making the German version of these as mentioned above, you can omit this. It won’t hurt anything if you add it, however. The choice is yours.
Oil for cooking – Depending on how you cook these, I find that an oil sprayer is the easiest way to go. Sprayers work best for limiting fats when using a non-stick surface to cook with. Read on below for more information on this.
How To Make Potato Pancakes From Mashed Potatoes
In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, eggs, flour, garlic powder and onion powder.
Mash well to combine.
If you feel like the mixture is too thick to manage properly, you can add a small amount (1 tbsp. at a time) of either water or milk until you reach a manageable consistency. But the “batter” should be a little on the thicker side.
Oil a pan.
Spread the potato mixture out in a pan or, if you’re like me, the pancake plates of your waffle maker.
Cook until browned, flip, and cook until the other side is browned. Each side should be about 7-8 minutes if you make this exactly as the recipe states. If you thin them out, they should only take about 5 minutes on each side, but you’ll want to make very sure (in either case!) that the egg gets fully cooked. These don’t burn all that easily, so feel free to cook a little longer if you are unsure. Just keep an eye on them.
Recipe Notes
If you use a cast iron skillet, you’ll need to use more oil. You will need to add more throughout the cooking process as well.
A non-stick surface such as a pan or pancake plate on a waffle maker will help you use much less oil to cook these potato pancakes. Just make sure they aren’t scratched Teflon. Discard the entire pan if that’s the situation. You don’t want that stuff in your food!
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Equipment
- Skillet OR waffle iron with pancakes plates
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potatoes
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat flour)
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. onion powder (omit if using onions)
- oil for cooking
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, eggs, flour, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Mash well to combine.If you feel like the mixture is too thick to manage properly, you can add a small amount (1 tbsp. at a time) of either water or milk until you reach a manageable consistency. But the "batter" should be a little on the thicker side.
- Oil your pan.
- Spread the potato mixture out in a pan or, if you're like me, the pancake plates of your waffle maker.
- Cook until browned, flip, and cook until the other side is browned. Each side should be about 7-8 minutes if you make this exactly as the recipe states. If you thin them out, they should only take about 5 minutes on each side, but you'll want to make very sure (in either case!) that the egg gets fully cooked. These don't burn all that easily, so feel free to cook a little longer if you are unsure. Just keep an eye on them.
Can I use plain whole wheat flour, as this is what I have in the pantry?
Phyll – You can. Whole wheat flour gives a slightly denser or “bready” consistency to things, but in such a small amount, it should be fine. If you are concerned about texture, you can cut it down to 1 tbsp. Hope that helps!