Crispy Potato Pancake in 15 Minutes

I vividly remember always having too many potatoes in my college kitchen. I think it was because my roommates and I had bought a ginormous sack of potatoes from Costco and we didn’t know what to do with them all. We must have wanted Mr. Potato Head to have some buddies to hang out with.

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I had to figure out what to do with these potatoes before they got moldy. Hash browns sounded like the easiest thing to make. These crispy potato pancakes are a slight twist on hash browns — imagine it as a huge hash brown frisbee. You can spice them up with grated onion, chopped green onions, cumin, garlic powder, paprika, or fresh parsley… anything goes well with potatoes! Eat the pancake by itself, or serve it in place of rice or pasta. It’s super delicious and a great way to use up some potatoes! You can also make smaller pancakes and serve something nice on top — maybe some avocado slices, sour cream, or a single cocktail shrimp.

Here’s what you need:

Russet potato (better than any other kind of potato for this dish) and a white or yellow onion….unless you prefer chopped green onions. Also grab some basic ingredients like olive oil, water, salt, and pepper!

Grab a peeler and remove the potato skin.

The potato will have a little dirt on it, so go ahead and rinse it under water!

Grab a grater or a box grater. Grate the potatoes on the large holes of the grater.

Nice. Now if you want to grate some white onion in there, be my guest.

I prefer green onion, so I’ll chop some up.

Mix together the potato and onion in a bowl.  If you let the grated potatoes sit out too long, they start to oxidize and turn a little ugly, so work quickly!

Heat up a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil and a pat of butter.

Grab a handful of potato mixture and plop it into the pan.

Use a spatula to spread it out into a pancake shape. Press down to compress the ingredients. Allow the bottom to brown for about 2 minutes.

Drizzle in a little bit of water… the potatoes will cook quicker if they have some steamy action.

After you add water, cover the pan with a lid or aluminum foil. Allow the bottom to brown and crisp up for about 5 minutes.

After the bottom has browned, loosen the pancake from the pan with a spatula.

Go all the way around to loosen the pancake!

Now slide the pancake onto a plate whose diameter is larger than the pan.

We’ve gotta cook the top side, so let’s fliperoo the pancake.

Place the pan upside down over the plate…. and place one hand under the plate.

Flip it over! Ta-da.

If you want, you can also make mini pancakes.

They look like latkes, but don’t be fooled. They’re just shreds of potatoes without flour, egg, etc.

If you’re worried the pancake will stick, add a little oil around the edges of the pan. Luckily for me, there’s still enough grease on the pan so I won’t bother. Cook the bottom side for about 4-5 minutes, until the potato pancake is thoroughly cooked, soft, and tender. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top.

Slide onto a plate. Looks nomlicious. Repeat steps until all of potato mixture is used up.

Serve a simple salad on top and eat immediately. Enjoy!

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Crispy Potato Pancake in 15 Minutes

Total time: 15 minutes
Prep: 3 min
Cook: 12 min
Yield: Varies
Level: Easy

Ingredients:
1 russet potato, peeled
1/4 white onion or 2 green onions chopped
Olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Water
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Grate the peeled potato on the large holes of a grater. If using white onion, grate onion as well. You can use chopped green onions if you prefer them instead of grated onion. In a bowl, mix together grated potatoes and onion.

In a nonstick pan over medium-high heat, add in 2 teaspoons olive oil and melt butter. Grab a large handful of the potato mix, and sprinkle mixture into pan to form a large potato pancake shape.* Press down on pancake with a spatula to compress ingredients together. Allow pancake to crisp on bottom for about 2 minutes. Then drizzle in about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of water into pan and cover with lid or foil to allow potato to steam and cook.

After 5 minutes, potato pancake should be golden brown on bottom. Loosen bottom of cake with spatula and slide pancake onto a large plate. Place the pan upside down over the plate. Working carefully, place one hand on the bottom of the plate and flip the pancake over so that the uncooked side is now on the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking the cake on the second side, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle the cake with salt and pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.

*You can also form smaller potato cakes by making small mounds of potato on the pan. Follow cooking directions above.

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