Classic Potato Latkes Recipe (2024)

By Melissa Clark

Classic Potato Latkes Recipe (1)

Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
5(5,712)
Notes
Read community notes

This recipe is for a classic, unadorned latke; no kohlrabi or cumin here. Serve them hot and make more than you think you need. They go fast.

Featured in: How to Make Classic Potato Latkes

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Ingredients

Yield:About 3 dozen

  • 2large Russet potatoes (about 1 pound), scrubbed and cut lengthwise into quarters
  • 1large onion (8 ounces), peeled and cut into quarters
  • 2large eggs
  • ½cup all-purpose flour
  • 2teaspoons coarse kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon fine sea salt), plus more for sprinkling
  • 1teaspoon baking powder
  • ½teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • Safflower or other oil, for frying

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Make the recipe with us

  1. Step

    1

    Using a food processor with a coarse grating disc, grate the potatoes and onion. Transfer the mixture to a clean dishtowel and squeeze and wring out as much of the liquid as possible.

  2. Step

    2

    Working quickly, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the eggs, flour, salt, baking powder and pepper, and mix until the flour is absorbed.

  3. Step

    3

    In a medium heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat, pour in about ¼ inch of the oil. Once the oil is hot (a drop of batter placed in the pan should sizzle), use a heaping tablespoon to drop the batter into the hot pan, cooking in batches. Use a spatula to flatten and shape the drops into discs. When the edges of the latkes are brown and crispy, about 5 minutes, flip. Cook until the second side is deeply browned, about another 5 minutes. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and sprinkle with salt while still warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Lisa Romantum Schwartz

This looks identical to my ol' (Russian-American) Pops' recipe. But you've gotta use a box grater because I think knuckle skin is the secret ingredient that makes this recipe transcendent.

Debbie

I’ve used this recipe for years, but with one trick: brush each side with oil, flatten and bake in a 425 oven until crisp on both sides. You can do all of them at once and not have used oil to deal with later. They come out crispy and perfect each time!

Fiona

A good friend, her husband always makes the latkes, gave me this tip. After grating (whether in food processor or box grater), rinse and spin dry in a salad spinner.I have done this every since, it makes The crispiest latkes.

DrPat

Over many years of delicious latke-making, I always grate twice - using a food processor to coarsely grate the potatoes, then putting them quickly back through with the propeller-like chopper blade, before draining and squeezing out the excess liquid. Eliminates the hashed-browns look and feel, makes it more like finely hand grated. Yum!

Also, I use matzoh meal, not flour. Unpeeled potatoes work fine.

Yum!

Benjamin Ben-Baruch

All purpose flour? Safflower oil? Where did your bubbe come from?Hanukah latkes have to be made with left-over matzah meal. This is critical! All of the left-over matzah meal must be used before next Passover because that is the tradition! More importantly, using matzah meal in the latkes connects one holiday of freedom to another holiday of freedom giving the latkes extra special taste!

Matt Miller

I have made many, many potato pancakes in my day, and I can assure you, no matter how hard you have tried, you haven't yet squeezed enough water out of the potato shreds. That is all.

Katie Olmstead

I think I made this up but it is very helpful. After the batter is all put together (with or without bloody knuckles), put it in a colander and put the colander in a bowl. By doing this, there are no soggy latkas at the end. All the potentially pooled liquid has slipped through the colander holes.

Deborah

.Absolutely delicious but no way this recipe makes 36 latkes. My first batch yielded 12. Even making tiny ones that would have produced 24. For 36 fairly small latkes, double the recipe. I had 40 people to my hanukkah party. I made them in the afternoon and stood them on their sides in rows in an aluminum pan so they didn't get soggy. Popped the pans in the oven at 350 for around 15 minutes before serving. 130 latkes gone in maybe 20 minutes. Next year I'll make more!

Roc Rizzo

I have used a box grater on the coarsest side to make these before there were food processors! I am sure that many a Jewish grandma did the same. BTW- I am only Jewish by osmosis. I grew up in Brooklyn in an Italian-Jewish neighborhood.

Setenaya

A good, classic recipe. I'm in the matzoh meal camp myself. As to the grated knuckles, I firmly believe that if my grandmothers had had access to food processors, you can bet they would have used them and would have thought foolish anyone who didn't.

Kathleen

I use Yukon gold potatoes. They have less starch so they don’t turn color on you and they fry up to a delicious brown.

Judy

Please no flour or baking powder. It makes them gluey. Matzoh meal or dry bread crumbs.

Brad

I followed the recipe except I baked them at 350 for 30 minutes, then broiled each side for 2 minutes using a light brushing of evoo.They were perfect, not oily and the house wasn’t overwhelmed by the hot oil bath smell. Try it, you’ll like it!

Erin

Can I prep these so that all I have to do is fry at dinner time?

Adah

I use matzah meal instead of flour, and put everything in the food processor. It is a little simpler, and just as good.

John McAward

anybody tried panko breadcrumbs instead of flour or matzoh meal?

agw

really good this timeused russets, squeezed out watermed to med low

Erin

Can I prep these so that all I have to do is fry at dinner time?

Andrea

DO NOT SKIP OUT on sprinkling with salt!!!! Really brought them to the next level.

Claudia

Hand-grate with a box grater, use matzo meal instead of flour, and fry in schmaltz. These were amazing! My family went bonkers for them.

s y

Matzo meal

Joanna Sherwin

I made them medium sized I got about a little less than 2 doz.

Joby

These were delightfully crisp and light, made with gf flour blend and grated onion/potato without using the grater but processing until achieving a course mince. Such a marvelous way to translate a family tradition to my college age daughter! Many thanks!

Jmk

Warning: makes only about 20 latkes if you like them medium sized. Good recipe though.

Lisa S

I used matzoh meal instead of flour and it was perfect! I'm making them again, bite-sized, for a Christmas party, topped with sour cream and a strip of lox. Latkes at Christmas? Who knew!

Deborah

.Absolutely delicious but no way this recipe makes 36 latkes. My first batch yielded 12. Even making tiny ones that would have produced 24. For 36 fairly small latkes, double the recipe. I had 40 people to my hanukkah party. I made them in the afternoon and stood them on their sides in rows in an aluminum pan so they didn't get soggy. Popped the pans in the oven at 350 for around 15 minutes before serving. 130 latkes gone in maybe 20 minutes. Next year I'll make more!

Suki

I thought these were perfect -- best latkes I ever had or made

Loving/Living Cooking

I've made this terrific, basic recipe several times this past year. Nothing like Latkes for breakfast with a little sliced apple or sour cream and cranberry sauce on the side! For the flour, I generally substitute a combo of sprouted whole grain spelt and teff flours--anything to up the iron and micronutrient content in a recipe my kids will gobble up, regardless!

Candace Lieberman

Only 2 potatoes? For 36latkes? Also, you have to run them through the processor twice or the it not sufficiently grated.

Melissa

These are small - only 1 tablespoons of batter per cake. But you can make them bigger if you like.

Judith

How could two russets (however large) possibly make three dozen latkes (however small)?My father, who made the world's best potato latkes, never, ever added baking powder and used matzo meal instead of flour.Squeezing grated potatoes/onions in cheesecloth works beautifully. Have never tried a salad spinner, but next chance I will.

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Classic Potato Latkes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between potato pancakes and latkes? ›

Potato pancakes have a creamy, almost mashed-potato-like center, with a thin, golden, crisp exterior. Latkes, on the other hand, should have a deeply browned crust, with wispy, lacy edges. Latkes also aren't hash browns.

What were the original latkes made of? ›

Of course we associate potato latkes with Hanukkah, but in reality latkes descends from Italian pancakes that were made with ricotta cheese. The first connection between Hanukkah and pancakes was made by a rabbi in Italy named Rabbi Kalonymus ben Kalonymus (c. 1286-1328).

Is applesauce or sour cream better for latkes? ›

Tart and fruity applesauce—unsweetened is best—cuts through the grease and lightens them right up, leaving you feeling perfectly satisfied, but not stuffed. Sure, sour cream is tart too, but since it's dairy, it can weigh down the latkes—adding unwanted heft to an already filling meal.

What type of potato is best for latkes? ›

Russet potatoes: Russet potatoes, or baking potatoes, are high in starch and have a dry, mealy texture. This type of potato is best for latkes because the dryness of the potato is partially responsible for that desirable, crispy texture. Yellow onion: Yellow onion adds a savory flavor to the latkes.

Why do Jews make latkes? ›

These potato pancakes (called latkes) are meant to symbolize the miracle of Hanukkah, when the oil of the menorah in the ransacked Second Temple of Jerusalem was able to stay aflame for eight days even though there was only enough oil for one day. The symbolism comes in the form of the oil in which latkes are fried.

What kind of oil do you use to fry latkes? ›

Fry in an oil with a high smoke point

Vegetable oil or canola oil is usually best, because of its high smoking point. Latkes were traditionally made with schmaltz, or chicken fat, so if you have access to it, you should certainly add it in, because it does contribute to the flavor.

Is latke Hebrew or Yiddish? ›

A latke (Yiddish: לאַטקע latke; sometimes romanized latka, lit. "pancake") is a type of potato pancake or fritter in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine that is traditionally prepared to celebrate Hanukkah.

Why do you put applesauce on potato pancakes? ›

The sweet tang of applesauce adds a contrasty punch to the potatoes and green onions, which make up latkes, while also cutting the grease from frying them. On the other hand, sour cream, while also adding its own version of tartness, can weigh the fried potato cakes down with dairy.

Why do Jews eat applesauce with latkes? ›

In addition to apples' lengthy Jewish history, applesauce enjoys another key advantage: It's not dairy, so it can be served with latkes cooked in chicken schmaltz, a commonplace in the old country.

What is traditionally served with latkes? ›

Latkes are just fried potatoes, so they're basically a blank canvas of crispy deliciousness. Pick any of our top latke recipes and try a new topping this year. Applesauce and sour cream are the traditional accoutrements for latkes.

What goes with latkes for dinner? ›

What to Serve with Latkes?
  • Serve Latkes with Borscht.
  • Serve Latkes with Pierogi.
  • Serve Latkes with Chicken Paprikash.
  • Serve Latkes with Veal Goulash.
  • Serve Latkes with Beef Stroganoff.
  • Serve Latkes with Chicken Noodle Soup.
  • Serve Latkes with Matzoh Ball Soup.
  • Serve Latkes with Mushroom Gravy.
Mar 15, 2024

How do you keep latke batter from turning brown? ›

I will have to travel with them for two hours and latkes are only good as soon as you fry them. What can I do to keep the potato batter from turning brown? A: When shredding the potatoes be sure to add some acidity (such as a teaspoon of white wine vinegar or concentrated lemon juice to the water.

Can you shred potatoes ahead of time for latkes? ›

Or, you can grate the potatoes hours ahead and store them submerged in water in the refrigerator. Drain them well and make the batter up to two hours ahead. (It doesn't matter if it discolors– when you fry them the latkes turn a beautiful golden brown). Fry the latkes no more than an hour or two ahead of serving.

Why are my potato pancakes falling apart? ›

Your Latkes Fall Apart

There's not enough starch binding the latkes. Luckily, the fix for both of these problems is the same: add some more starch — ideally in the form of matzo meal — which will soak up that extra moisture and bind the ingredients together more tightly.

What's the difference between hash browns and potato latkes? ›

Are Hash Browns and Potato Pancakes the Same Thing? Potato pancakes are more complex than hash browns. Hash browns are pan-fried shredded potatoes, whereas potato pancakes are mixed with a binder, seasoned typically with onion or garlic, and formed into patties before cooking.

Why do they make potato pancakes on Hanukkah? ›

During the Jewish holiday, eating crispy, fried, slightly oniony potato pancakes represents perseverance, and a little bit of magic. But miraculously it lasted eight days. Centuries after the fact, Jews were told to celebrate by eating foods cooked in oil.

Are potato latkes the same as hash browns? ›

Hash browns are shredded potatoes, fried (or air-fried), til golden brown. They typically remain loose, or in shreds. Latkes, a.k.a potato pancakes, are grated or ground potatoes that are mixed with egged, flour, or other binding agents. They are one piece, like a pancake.

What is another name for potato pancakes? ›

Potato pancakes are associated with almost every European cuisine and are referred to as a variety of names including latkes (Jewish culture), kartoffelpuffer (Germany), bramborak (Slovakia and Czech Republic), draniki (Austria), tattifish (England) and rosti (Switzerland) (“Potato Pancake Background”, n.d).

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