Mashed Potato Pancakes - Recipe for Holiday Leftovers (2024)

FAQs

Why do my potato pancakes fall apart? ›

If the potato pancakes are falling apart while you're shaping them before you start cooking, they are either either too wet or they need more flour to hold them together. You can also mix the flour a little more the mix to develop gluten and then let it rest before cooking.

How Long You Can Keep Leftover Mashed Potatoes. Mashed potatoes should easily last three to five days in the fridge if stored correctly and within two hours of cooking. This means ensuring there isn't any moisture buildup under the lid that could encourage the growth of bacteria.

Potato pancakes, also known as latkes, are rather temperamental food in terms of reheating. You can reheat them successfully, but usually only within a few hours of originally cooking them. They reheat better from frozen than from being refrigerated for more than a day or two, so if you do not plan ... Recipes I Love!

Gluten, which is found in flour, keeps pancakes from falling apart. Gluten, a type of protein, forms a “spiderweb” within baked goods, giving them structure. As the starches gelatinize, and turn from a batter to bread, the gluten strands hold them in place.

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.

Don't leave leftovers or food you have prepared in the fridge for more than 3 days (less if it took long to cool down). Mashed potatoes kept in the fridge should be thrown away if not used after 72 hours.

Once cooked, potatoes last up to 4 days in the refrigerator and 1 year in the freezer, though the quality of cooked mashed potatoes suffers with freezing (4, 5).

– Always serve latkes hot and fresh if possible.

When ready to reheat, place in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes (7 if using a convection oven) until heated through just prior to serving. A convection oven setting will produce a more crispy result.

Get the Tips. As you are peeling potatoes, immediately submerge them, either whole or in chunks, in acidulated (a few drops of lemon or vinegar) water to prevent oxidation or they will quickly start to turn brown/gray.

Method 2: Make Your Pancakes Ahead

To really preserve the just-made taste of homemade pancakes, it's a good idea to make a batch and freeze them until ready to enjoy. Come breakfast time, place the pancakes in a single layer baking sheet covered with foil. Bake in 350°F oven for 10 minutes or until heated through.

What holiday do you eat potato pancakes? ›

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).

A latke is a small pancake usually made with grated potatoes. Latkes are traditionally eaten during Hanukkah. Most latkes are crispy little potato pancakes that are served with apple sauce or sour cream during the eight days of Hanukkah.

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.

Overcooking: Potatoes can become mushy and fall apart if they are overcooked. To avoid this, it's important to boil them for just the right amount of time, usually around 10-15 minutes, or until they are tender but still firm.

Gently Boil

Once the water reaches a boil, carefully add the potatoes and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Boiling the potatoes too vigorously can cause them to break apart.

Most often, then, the solution to evenly cooked potatoes is cooking them twice: First, boil, steam, or steam-roast (a fancy term for cooking them with water in the oven) until they're mostly tender but not fall-apart finished. Second, brown the outsides and finish cooking the interiors on the stovetop or in the oven.

Your Latkes Fall Apart

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. Flour works too, but it sticks together and makes for denser latkes.