This post is sponsored by The Little Potato Company.
These savoury potato pancakes are super quick & easy to prepare. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples that you likely have on hand right now! The Little Potato Company's tender skinned Baby Boomers work perfectly here - once they're grated you'd never know we'd didn't peel a single potato for this recipe.
Latkes (Jewish potato pancakes) are usually made with eggs to helps bind the mixture together and are served at Hanukkah. In this vegan recipe we're going to use flour (taking care not to over develop the gluten) and a touch of cornstarch to do the same job. I'm going to be naughty and serve these ones with tzatziki 'cause I love it and it's almost spring! For a more traditional, Hanukkah-appropriate side, serve 'em with apple sauce.
Some tips for the crispiest, easiest potato pancakes:
- For best texture, use a thick cut grater to shred potatoes
- Use a food processor to grate your potatoes (if you have one), it's quicker and you'll save your finger tips
- Squeeze most of the moisture from the grated potato before making the batter (the same goes for any moisture-rich veggie add-ins too)
- Stir the "batter" well to help develop the gluten in the flour which helps the cakes bind together without egg
- The latkes are at their crispiest immediately after cooking, but reheating them in a pan over medium heat (without oil) will heat them thoroughly and crisp 'em up again
This recipe is an excellent place to use up any odds and ends from your fridge. Fresh herbs, onion, carrot, zucchini, and any other veggies that aren't too moist (or that you can squeeze the moisture from) would be good options. We enjoyed these crispy cakes a couple of ways, topped with a dollop of homemade tzatziki and a sprinkle of green onion (that's how we served it for these photos), with ketchup and sriracha, and with vegan cheese and fresh dill mixed into the "batter". I'm most excited to try these "breakfast style", topped with tofu scramble, veggies, and tempeh bacon. You can customize and top these crispy cakes however you like! Enjoy 😀
This post is sponsored by The Little Potato Company.
We love them for their commitment to simple, healthy whole foods like their delicious Creamer potatoes. Thanks for supporting the brands that support I Love Vegan!
Learn more about why we love Little Potatoes at www.littlepotatoes.com
Vegan Potato Latkes
- Yield: 4 latkes 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Side dish
- Cuisine: Vegan
Description
Easy crispy fried egg-free potato pancakes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups packed, grated, and drained potato (half of a 1.5 lb bag of The Little Potato Company's Baby Boomers)
- ⅓ cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp sliced green onion
- 3 tbsp unsweetened nondairy milk
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- black pepper, to taste
- vegetable oil, for frying (canola, olive, or coconut all work well)
- optional: 2 tablespoon fresh, chopped dill
- optional: ¼ cup vegan cheese shreds
Instructions
- Grate potatoes and squeeze out as much moisture as you can using paper towel.
- Combine 2 cups grated potato, flour, green onion, almond milk, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and black pepper (optional: add dill and vegan cheese.) Mix well to develop the gluten in the flour (which helps with binding.)
- In a frying pan, preheat a generous amount of vegetable oil over medium heat.
- Spoon ¼-1/3 cup of potato mixture into the pan. Use a spatula or pancake flipper to flatten the patty to about ¼" thick. Fry until golden brown, flip, and fry the other side. Drain excess oil on paper towel if necessary.
- Serve with your favourite toppings (we used sliced green onion, tzatziki, and black pepper.)
JH
Potato latkes are traditionally made with matzo meal - not flour! 'so they can be eaten over Pesach.
Brenda
I am wondering if it will work if I bake vegan potato latkes in the oven. Will it work?
Michael
I made these with yuca instead of potatoes and substituted the all purpose flour for almond flour…. They came out fantastic. The whole family loved them
Thanks
★★★★★
Marissa
Do the potatoes need to be peeled?
bert gunn
no. i do not peel them. i also just used pancake mix for the flour. did not need cornstarch or baking soda.
Gail Germanson
I'm not vegan so why couldn't I just use regular milk? We use skim milk so I'd use that. Not Jewish either but I love latkes!
Suzie
no reason to use milk or not. if you don’t use plant drink then it’s just not vegan is all
Mary Braden
If I have no milk, could I leave the potato unsqueezed and add just enough water to hold the mixture together?
Beth
Made a triple batch and very delicious! Absolutely the best I’ve ever made- vegan or not! I put everything in a large colander, placed inside a large bowl, as I cooked, and it did continue to release some liquid. This technique appeared to work perfectly. Would love to try with sweet potatoes and other veggies!
★★★★★
Lily
Hey! Thank you for sharing! I love the recipe. Just wondering if these are raw or cooked potatoes you start with? Can't wait to try them out!
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks for checking out this recipe! You start with raw potatoes 🙂
Ellen
These were so good! I was skeptical that they would stick together with no egg substitute, but it worked like a charm. I'm not sure if I used too much milk or didn't squeeze enough water out of the potatoes, but my batter was a bit liquid-y so I just squeezed some of the liquid out before throwing them in the pan. I doubled the recipe for me and my hungry boyfriend. Will be keeping this one!
★★★★★
Patricia G Dempsey
These were perfect, and I'm not even a huge fan of potatoes. Made them for my daughter, we both loved them. Plain yogurt / ketchup on the side. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes here. You are appreciated. (^_^) Peace & Love
★★★★★
Ken
Easy to make if you have a food processor. I used Russets to good effect. Using about 1/2 the salt still had enough flavoring.
Excellent result without egg, although center was more like a dough than potato strings like on the outside and edges. Once the oil is hot enough, about 3-4 min on first side and 2-3 minutes on the second side. A hit with the family. I am keeping the recipe.
★★★★
Alexandra
Excellent! Just made these tonight - super easy and delicious!!! Thanks 🙂
★★★★★
STACEY HALIO
This recipe looks deicious....Using an air fryer, how long and at what temperature do you suggest?
Carina
Could you Blake these?
Emily A. Boyd
Love this recipe. I used only 1 t salt and it was too salty. So next time I'll only use 1/2 t salt. But other than that....great recipe.
Cheryl
Mmmm...mmm...mouth watering 🙆 Could eat these right now!
★★★★★
Carol
Have you tried making these yummy-looking latkes with a gluten-free flour? I wonder about potato starch. I have to stay away from.refined wheat . Thank you.
Akela Bloom
Just made these, double the recipe, for 2 adults and 2 kids. Omg! It was sooo delicious and yummm! All gone. The best recipe for vegan potato pancakes and I have tried many. Even my picky 6 year old loved it.
Just pleat don't ever use canola oil, it is so bad for the body, causing full body inflammation and so much more havoc. Coconut oil all the way.
Kim
No. Coconut oil is awful for heart health. Don't want to use canola? Then stick to olive oil. Anything solid at room temp (bacon grease anyone?!) is awful for the heart. The "s" oils (safflower, sunflower) are also less healthy than even canola oil. There are some good studies out there from legit medical resources breaking the evilness of canola oil.
Rhonda
Olive oil turns into a trans fat when heated. Probably the healthiest oil would be peanut or avocado.
Jelle
Nailed it perfectly, so crispy on the outside and still feels like eating a pancake!
★★★★★
Tessa
I added kimchi + avocado on top for a korean twist, turned out amazing!!
Zelda Reben
Amazing!
★★★★★
Ana
I really want to like the recipe but they taste like salt cakes. I think you could do with 1/4 of the salt. Was there a typo in the recipe?
★
Sarah
Yum! Just made these for lunch. I used 1 sweet potato & 2 large potatoes, which yielded about 12 2-inch latkes. I had to add more cornstarch since they were falling apart when frying. Also, using a silicone spatula works best. They were crispy on the outside & soft on the inside and we’re great dipped in a chive aioli. The frying part took a looooong time so you need some patience for his recipe. Would make again!
★★★★
Brittany
Yay! Thanks so much Sarah. I'll have to try these with sweet potato, it sounds great! Frying can definitely take a while since you have to do it in batches (same thing for pancakes for me). If you get the heat and timing balanced it might go a little quicker.
Geert Aerts
Thanks so much! Delicious with apple sauce! Too salty, though.
Brittany
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Debbie
Matzah meal in place has of the flour binds wells and gives extra texture . Thanks for the recipe
Brittany
Ah, thanks so much! That's a great tip 🙂
Tammy
These were the best latkes I've ever made. I have made latkes for years for Hanukkah, but this year my son watched the movie "Game Changers" and is eating vegan, they were amazing everyone loved them!!! Thank you! I'm keeping this recipe in my file!
Brittany
That's so great Tammy! I'm glad you enjoyed them 🙂 Thank you for giving the recipe a try and taking the time to leave a comment afterwards. I really appreciate it.
Sammie S
I made this last night for the first night of Chanukah. It was delicious. My mom was like I never heard of making them without eggs! But she and everybody loved them. I shredded 1/2 of an onion with the potatoes. Yum!
Thank you for this recipe!
★★★★★
Brittany
That's so great! I'm really glad they were such a hit. Thank your for trying the recipe and leaving a comment, I really appreciate it 🙂
Melissa
Thanks for this recipe! I made some modifications based on what I had and they still turned out great. My husband, who has never had latkes, really enjoyed them too. In fact he asked for them the next night as well. I used Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free flour because I eat gluten-free. Because i was concerned about the potatoes sticking together, I used Bob's Red Mill egg replacement because my flour doesn't have gluten. It worked. Also, I used regular sweet onions in place of the green onions and fried them in lard. I did add some dried dill as well.
Cori
Lard?!! not vegan not kosher not healthy. did you know that sows sing to their babes when they nurse them, just like we do.
Joe
Hi,
I tried these yesterday and they came out delicious, they where so good that even our picky son enjoyed them.
I did not have Corn startch and even without it they were a hit.
I ended up making them 2” wide 1/2” thick and it worked very well.
Thank you!
Nina Javez
Could I use bigger potatoes possibly? I only have medium russets
★★★★★
Brittany
Sure! Just stick to the weighted amount and be sure to peel the potatoes!
ELSA BEATRIZ HERRMANN
Hi... I never ventured to make this.. But the way they look I want to make them this weekend!
Can I use chickpea flour instead of AP
Brittany
Hi there! I haven't tried it myself but I can see it working. Let me know how it works if you give it a go!
Scitt
I've never made latkes using milk (dairy or otherwise), but always with eggs. If you want to make it vegan, use aquafaba instead; I'd say 3 tablespoons for every 2 potatoes (standard russet sized).
William Mueller
Thanks for the suggestion, Scitt! Aquafaba could be great for making these as well. 🙂
Cheryl
Speaking of apple sauce---does anybody have a vegan recipe for Spaezle ??
Thanks
Sarah
Love this! But Latkes are not "Jewish pancakes," they originate from many European and Eastern cultures! 🙂
★★★★★
June
And where do you think Jews came from? Europe!
Dana
The Jewish people are from Israel, which is in the continent of Asia, not Europe.
Jessica
Oh boy...
★★★★★
D
Dana,
Most Jewish people emigrated from eastern Europe before Israel was even a state.
eva silverman
Yes, many cultures have a variation on Latkes, but LATKES (aka, not potato pancakes) are Jewish. They are made traditionally because Eastern European Jews often survived on solely potatoes and onions, and they are cooked with lots of oil, because it is tradition to fry things in oil to celebrate Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday.
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks for your input Eva!
Sandra
Then they aren’t latkes.....
Aria Caden
Now this recipe is new to me! This is such a great idea. I must try this soon.
★★★★★
friendlytoanimals
Hi there. Is there any reason I can't make this batter the day before I fry them up?
Brittany
The potatoes will probably discolour if you prep the batter the day before. If I were you I'd just prep all the dry ingredients in one bowl and make sure you have everything ready to go for the day you want to make them. I wouldn't prepare the batter until I was ready to fry them.
Cheryl
Oh my, these look so tasty 🙆
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks Cheryl!
Gab
Easy to make. Cooked up nice and crispy. Used chives instead of green onion as that's what I had and added a tiny bit of onion and garlic powder. Topped them with chopped cherry tomato, avocado, garlic and chives with a dash of balsamic vinegar. Absolutely delicious!
★★★★★
Brittany
Ah, that's so great to hear! Your topping selection sounds divine 🙂 Thank you for commenting, I really appreciate it!! 😀
Sandra
You may feel like experimenting but you would be missing the point. True potato latkes are best without the embellishments. The simpler the better.
Ess mine kinder. (Eat my children)
eldritch reality
canola oil SUCKS you should never even mention it ;D
im going to try to whip these up in a bit ^_^ tysm
★★★
Brittany
I hope you like them! And you certainly don't need to make these with canola oil 😛
Kim
Actually, although canola oil is processed it's still a healthier "heart health" option than any of the oils that start with an "s" (sunflower, safflower as well as grape seed or others like that.) Coconut oil is the worst for your heart health. There are many studies out there condemning canola oil, but there are also legit health studies from places like Harvard, etc, saying why it isn't the evil demon it's made out to be.
Kate
> Serve with your favourite toppings (we used sliced green onion, tzatziki, and black pepper.)
Nah, apple sauce. Apple sauce!!
Do more Ashkenazi cuisine; I' really in need of a vegan kugel I can trust!
Brittany
Okay, okay, I'll try applesauce next - I promise! 😀 And a vegan kugel recipe would be a interesting challenge, I'll see what I can do! Thanks for commenting Kate!