Chef John's Classic Potato Pancakes

These are great potato pancakes aka Latkas. I used 4 large russet potatoes, about 2 pounds. Water and starch are the enemy of crispy potatoes - here are a couple of tips. Peel and place the potatoes in cold water. I grate the potatoes and onion using the grater attachment on the food processor. Then back into cold water in the basket of a salad spinner. Rinse well and change the water a few times to remove the starch. Once the water is almost clear, let soak completely covered in cold water in the basket of the salad spinner. Whisk the eggs, flour, salt pepper together. Drain the potatoes and spin them dry, empty the water out of the salad spinner bowl - shake the potatoes and spin them again. Mix the dried potatoes with the egg mixture - it will appear as if there is not quite enough egg mixture but don't worry, there is plenty. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to scoop the potatoes out and into the hot oil. Do NOT move the patties until the edges are crispy. Flip and continue cooking over medium heat until golden brown. Heat you oven to 170 degrees and place the potato pancakes on a paper towel lined sheet pan in the warm oven to hold while you make the next batch. If you don't have a salad spinner, Chef John's method of squeezing and drying with paper towels works OK or use a clean thin cotton dish towel and wring them out with that.

and if all else fails, grab your waffle iron and a bag of tater tots. Spray with Pam, lay them out and close the waffle iron. Cook about 10 min. Amazing, crunchy and pretty too.....

Fantastic recipe. Put in the proper time & effort to squeeze as much of the moisture out as you can - you will be super impressed with the results! 5 stars.

3/15: very good followed exactly except much less onion. 12/16 update: 5 lbs yukon gold, so doubled the other ingredients except onion. use shredding blade of cuisinart. soak shreds in water 30 min, wring dry with salad spinner and paper towels. I added some matzo meal because they weren't staying together well.

My family recipe for potato pancakes/latkes uses the potato starch. I use a clean dish towel and put half of the onion potato mixture in it and twist the towel over a bowl of cold water. After squeezing all of the water out over the bowl you will note a layer of white starch has settled to the bottom on the cold water. Carefully pour the water off and add the starch layer back into the onion/potato mixture. This pure starch will act as a binder to hold the mixture together during the frying process of the pancakes. Chef John makes the point of instructing you to remove as much water as possible and that it the key to light crispy pancakes. To not remove the water results in soggy latkes that are gut bombs.

Thanks Chef John. So happy to see an authentic recipe for potato pancakes. My Polish mom made these every Friday for dinner and I make them at least once a month for my family. Wonderfully crisp, tender and flavorful pancakes; try them topped with applesauce and or sour cream with chives. Just make lots and lots.

I'm a 63 yr. old novice cook . I followed the recipe exactly to the best of my very limited ability and it turned out great. My grandmother made these a lot when I was a kid and these were as good as I remember hers to be. Thanks John. I've used several of your recipes and you've helped me gain a lot of confidence in cooking.

That's how it's done! Follow these simple instructions for perfect potato pancakes every time.

though very tasty these are just way way way to greasy... I used a lot of kitchen paper to soak up the oil and it still was too greasy to eat! I don't know if I did something wrong or not...

Funny, but I have been making this for years. I never had a recipe, just eyeballed everything and substituted sometimes biscuit mix for flour and once in awhile pancake mix. One time I had no flour and none of my usual subs so I opened a box of yellow cake mix and even that was great.

Very easy and delicious recipe. Everybody loves it! I didn't put cayenne pepper into mine because my family doesn't like spicy at all. We had it with salmon. Yumyum!

I tried this recipe because it is from Chef John, thank you very much it was great! Crispy on the outside and throughly cooked from the inside, the only thing I added was little bit of cheese for taste prefrence, I will be making it again!

This turned out great for my first try at potato pancakes! I used a method recommended in another recipe to squeeze the water out after soaking: put a handful at a time in the middle of a clean dish towel, wrap it up and squeeze the heck out of it. I topped mine with some goat cheese whipped up with dill weed. Yum!

I made it just like the recipe. the family and I liked it,very good

When making this recipe, be sure to squeeze out all the moisture or else your pancakes will be soggy. I would also recommend more seasoning, because to me this was a little plain. Overall, this recipe was pretty good except for the seasoning.

Followed the recipe precisely, and the results were more than satisfactory. Will definitely make again. (By popular demand!)

I've been making potato pancakes all my life and non of them have ever turned out as delicious and perfect as these. I grate the onion and potatoes in the food processor though!

Wow! These are seriously so yummy! They remind me of the shredded hash browns you can get at a restaurant! Albiet frying them in oil probably isn't the healthiest, they are a great weekend breakfast treat! Once done, I added a few cut green onions and a dollop of sour cream on top! My mouth is watering as I type this!

My husband loves them!

I was skeptical at first considering the use of water and then wringing with cheesecloth; However, these were THE BEST latkes ever! My family went crazy over them! We’re a bit non-traditional here, so I added Old Bay seasoning to the mix and, POW! What an awesome flavor! Thank you for a great recipe!

Very good. Made lots.

Added garlic. And cooked in Crisco shortening. Very light n crispy. Nice job Chef John !

OK, I made this before russets. This time I used gold potatoes, much less starch, and still tasty.

Excellent and easy recipe. Super crispy, moist inside, held together without fallout, and superb flavor!

Best potato pancakes I ever made. No changes. Topped some with sour cream and some with cottage cheese. Thanks Chef John.

I have made these for years, but always used some fine breadcrumbs instead of flour. That's just the way I learned, but I did try it this way. Every bit as good! I take the wet mixture, though, and put it into a dishtowel, roll it, and then twist the heck out of it! Potatoes come out nice and dry...Thanks for a great recipe, and keep up your fantastic work...I love this site!

Great Taste. Followed the recipe exactly . Very good. will definitely make again.

This was very easy to prepare and taste very good. Tip: use a dish towel to squeeze all the liquid out.

I fixed them to night and are they good. I like the shredded potatoes.

My guys loved this! They asked why I hadn't made this before? Well, I usually do mashed or baked potatoes, which are much easier, but I had time and wanted to do something different with them. Granted, all my guys put ketchup on them, but they were still wonderful. Will definitely become a "staple" in our house! Thanks, Chef John!

Great recipe. I added some cranberry-raspberry sauce to the mix and it tasted great.

Unbelievably terrific. I used Cheesecloth to squeeze out the water. Really worked well!

Good seasoning. I wasn't sure how many potatoes made 2 1/4 lbs., so I just "winged it". Turned out I had two med sz. bowls of potato shreds so I made the flour egg mixture and eye-balled it. Ended up making a second flour egg mixture for the second bowl. Turned out yummy. I have not had a bad recipe from Chef John yet...

Made it exactly as directed. Topped with smoked salmon, sour cream and dill! Next time I'll top it with the same, but add a egg on top of the salmon! Yummy!

Pretty good.

These were easy and delicious. I had a hard time grating the onion s just ended up dicing it and everything was great

This was a good recipe except that I personally would add in more flavor. I would also make sure that the potato is completely dried to ensure that the pancakes are crispy.

When making this recipe, be sure to squeeze out all the moisture or else your pancakes will be soggy. I would also recommend more seasoning, because to me this was a little plain. Overall, this recipe was pretty good except for the seasoning.

Chef John would probably not be happy with me, but I used frozen potatoes that I thawed. Because of this I used an extra egg and added more seasoning (per the video). I also added onion powder to the seasoning. The pancakes came out delicious. It's really worth watching the video to get the frying technique down. Served topped with lox, greek yogurt and dill.