Jewish Crispy Potato Pancakes (Latkes)

Potato pancakes on plate and platter with apple sauce

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4.50 from 8 votes

Jewish Crispy Potato Pancakes (Latkes)

The best potato pancakes: crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. Make more Latkes than you think you'll need!

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Total Time55

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: Jewish

Servings: People

Author: Katie Workman

Cost: $5

Ingredients

5 pounds russet baking potatoes (peeled)
3 large eggs
1 large onion (finely minced)
2 tablespoons matzoh meal or flour (optional)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Olive oil (1 to ½ cups)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter (optional, but recommended unless you want the pancakes to be kosher and are serving meat)
Applesauce and sour cream (to serve; sour cream is not kosher if meat is also served)

Instructions

Using a food processor or a handheld grater, grate the potatoes on the large-holed blade, or side of the grater. Place the grated potatoes into a large bowl and let them sit while they release their liquid.
In another large bowl, mix the eggs and minced onion. With your hands, grab handfuls of the grated potato and squeeze over the bowl with all the potatoes in it, squeezing out as much liquid as possible back into the bowl. Transfer the squeezed potatoes into the bowl with the eggs. Repeat until all of the potatoes have been squeezed and transferred.
Stick your finger into the liquid left in the other bowl. You’ll feel a firm layer of potato starch at the bottom. What you need to do is carefully pour off the liquid and then scrape up all that valuable starch from the bottom of the bowl and mix it well with the egg and potato mixture (best to use your hands). This natural starch helps bind together the potatoes. If there is only a tablespoon or two of the starch, you’ll also want to blend in the matzoh meal or flour.
Add salt and pepper (be liberal; the pancakes will be quite bland without enough seasoning).
In a large skillet (or use two large skillets to make the cooking go faster), heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a teaspoon or so of butter over medium heat until the butter has melted and the fat is hot. Swirl the pan, and then add spoonfuls of the potato mixture — as big or small as you wish — and gently press them into round, flat shapes in the pan.
Cook until golden brown and crisp for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side. You’ll need to keep a close eye on the heat: Too low, and they won’t brown properly; too high, and the oil will start smoking. Adjust it as needed.
Drain briefly on paper towels and transfer to a serving platter. Repeat until all of the potato mixture is used up, adding more oil and bits of butter as you need it (periodically, you may want to dump out the pan, give it a quick wipe, and start over if you’re finding that the oil is getting kind of dark and that too many bits of charred potato and onion are floating around).
The potatoes will continue to release liquid as they sit; as you get to the bottom of the bowl, just give the potato mixture a quick squeeze before putting it in the hot pan to avoid splattering. And, they will also start turning darker as they sit, but when you cook them up, it won’t be very noticeable.
Serve warm with applesauce and sour cream.

Notes

Latke Cooking Tips

Make sure your potatoes are squeezed until they are very dry. If there is too much moisture in the potato pancakes, they will fall apart. After you have squeezed the liquid out of the potato pancakes, the natural starch from the potatoes will settle to the bottom of the bowl. Pour off the water that has risen to the top, and scrap the settled dense starch from the bottom of the bowl. Add that to the bowl with the grated dried potatoes, egg, and onion. This will serve as a thickener for the pancakes.
Because of the way the heat is dispensed from the burner, you may notice that the potato pancakes on the outside of the pan cook faster than the inside (true of all kinds of pancakes). When you flip them, you may want to shuffle them around a bit so they cook more evenly, or just know that the middle one will take a bit longer.
Use the back of the spatula to press down on the pancakes so the bottoms of the pancakes get more contact with the hot pan.
Add more oil and bits of butter as you need it to cook the pancakes. Periodically, you may want to dump out the pan, give it a quick wipe, and start over if you’re finding that the oil is getting kind of dark and that too many bits of charred potato and onion are floating around.
The potatoes will continue to release liquid as they sit. As you get to the bottom of the bowl, just give the potato mixture a quick squeeze before putting it in the hot pan to avoid splattering. They will also start turning darker as they sit, but when you cook them up, it won’t be very noticeable.
If you're feeling a little fancy schmancy, you might serve these up with some cheap caviar, smoked salmon, or gravlax, and maybe swap out the sour cream for crème fraiche.

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