Easy Potato Pancakes (The Best Latke Recipe)
I'm always amazed how quickly these potato pancakes disappear. Our recipe is adapted from Nikki Russ Federman (of Russ & Daughters) via the December 2014 issue of Food & Wine Magazine. Among a few other changes, I've simply doubled the original recipe. This quantity serves 8 people for dinner and can serve from 8 to a much bigger crowd on a party buffet table. Makes about 40 small- to medium- latkes.
Servings: 8
Calories: 451kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 pounds baking potatoes such as Russet or Idaho
- 1 large yellow onion
- 4 large eggs beaten
- ½ cup matzo meal
- 6 tablespoons good salted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Safflower oil or other high-heat vegetable oil for frying
To serve
- Sour cream applesauce, and smoked salmon (optional)
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut lengthwise into quarters. Contrary to what you might normally do, don't put the peeled potatoes in a bowl of water, because you want to keep all the starch. Just leave them on the counter. Don't worry if they brown a bit.
- Peel and quarter the onion.
- Set up a food processor with the grating blade. Grate the potatoes and onions in two batches and add them to a strainer set over a large mixing bowl. Squeeze out as much moisture as you can with your hands, then let the mixture rest and drain for three minutes or so.
- Pour off all the liquid from the bowl, but leave the layer of starch that's accumulated at the bottom. Add grated potatoes and onions to the bowl.
- Mix in beaten eggs, matzo meal, melted butter, salt, pepper, and baking powder.
- Pour safflower oil into a large frying pan to a depth of about ⅛ inch. Heat oil over medium-high until it thins and becomes shimmery. Use a soup spoon to scoop little mounds of the potato mixture into the skillet (3 tablespoons at a time makes nice, diminutive latkes). Gently flatten the pancakes. Don't crowd the skillet — leave an inch or so between latkes.
- Fry until the underside is crispy and golden brown, then flip and fry until the second side is crispy and golden brown, about 5 minutes total. Remove cooked latkes to paper towels to drain. Continue cooking, adding more oil as necessary and adjusting the heat to keep oil hot but not smoking, until you've used all of the potato mixture.
- Serve with applesauce, sour cream, and smoked salmon if you like.
Video
Notes
- Use russet or Idaho potatoes (or another starchy variety).
- You can watch the video to see how it looks when you pour off the liquid but leave the starch behind.
- You can make your own matzo meal by grinding matzo in a food processor, or buy it premade. I almost always do the latter.
- Besides safflower oil, other good neutral-tasting, high-smoke-point oils for pan frying include peanut, canola, and vegetable oil blends.
- You can fry the potato pancakes several hours ahead of time and crisp them back up in a 250° oven before serving if you like. They are also great at room temperature.
- Keep leftovers tightly sealed in the fridge for up to a few days. Reheat and recrisp leftovers in a a warm oven or toaster oven before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 451kcal | Carbohydrates: 50.1g | Protein: 8.6g | Fat: 25g | Fiber: 7.3g | Sugar: 4.2g