Mashed Potato Pancakes

8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Mashed Potato Pancakes are hot, buttery, and crispy with cheddar cheese, green onions, and garlic. Super easy to make on the stovetop!

This Potato Pancake recipe is the perfect way to use up leftover Mashed Potatoes. Mix the cold potatoes with flour, eggs, and a few other ingredients for a fresh potato dish that’s perfect for a snack, Appetizer, or Side

Mashed Potato Pancakes on serving platter

Recipes like this, that use up leftover dishes, are super popular. Sure, you could just pop cold mashed potatoes in the microwave to eat them again, but making a completely new dish is so much more satisfying. Once you’ve mixed the mashed potatoes with a handful of simple ingredients, you can fry them up to crispy perfection on your stovetop, and enjoy. 

These savory pancakes are a family favorite. They’re the perfect filling, and flavorful dish to serve on the side of your favorite comfort food meals. Little Potato Cakes taste amazing with hearty dishes like Roast Chicken, Pot Roast, or Chili

Delicious Potato Pancakes are also wonderfully versatile. You can serve them up with different toppings and dipping sauces to experiment with the flavor. Try adding a dollop of sour cream and topping that off with chives or caramelized onions. You could also serve them with shredded cheese, or hot sauce. Another classic way to enjoy this potato dish is to add apple sauce for a sweeter, more comforting flavor. 

Amazing Potato Side Dishes

Mashed Potato Pancakes collage

Frequently Asked Questions About Mashed Potato Pancakes

Why is flour mixed into the Potato Pancakes?

Flour is an important ingredient as it will provide a crispy texture on the outside of the Pancakes, but it will also help hold the Potatoes together once they are combined with the cheese, seasonings, and green onions.

Do you have to use green onions in Mashed Potato Pancakes?

Green onions will add some nice flavor to your Pancakes, but they aren’t required if you aren’t a fan of them. Another way to get onion flavor without adding any onions at all is to add onion powder. Many people who don’t even like onions at all, still enjoy the flavor that onion powder brings. Start with a teaspoon and see how you like it.

Key Ingredients

  • Mashed Potatoes: The base of the Mashed Potato Pancakes is made with 2 cups of cold, leftover mashed potatoes. The creamy potato mixture is easy to mix with the other ingredients and fry into the perfect side dish. 
  • Flour: Flour and an egg give the pancakes their delicious and crispy texture. 
  • Mix-Ins: For the amazing, savory flavor just mix in a few simple seasonings like minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Green onions also add some color and bold flavor. 
  • Cheese: Potatoes and cheese make an excellent pairing. Shredded cheddar cheese mixes right in with the other ingredients and adds an amazing, comforting, cheesy taste to the whole dish. 

How to Make Mashed Potato Pancakes

  • Potato Mixture: Add the mashed potatoes, egg, flour, garlic, salt, pepper, cheddar cheese, and green onions. Mix in a large, shallow bowl until the ingredients are all well combined. 
  • Cooking: Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Use a ½ cup measure or a large ice cream scoop to scoop the potato mixture into the pan. Use the back of your spoon to flatten the potato cakes so that they’re 1″ inch thick. Fry Potato Pancakes for 8-10 minutes on one side, then flip and cook on the other side until you have the perfect golden brown crispy crust.
  • Repeat: Remove the cooked Potato Pancakes and cook the next batch. You might need to add some more butter. If you have several batches to make, keep finished Pancakes warm in an oven set to 200-to-250 degrees F.
Mashed Potato Pancakes in frying pan

Variations

  • Cheesy Potatoes: You can add different kinds of cheese to go along with the cheddar. Parmesan, mozzarella, Swiss, provolone, Monterey Jack, or Pepper Jack cheese would be very tasty.
  • Vegetables: To add some extra texture, color, and flavor to the dish, try mixing in grated onion, carrot, or zucchini.
  • Seasonings: To experiment with the flavor, mix in fresh parsley, onion powder, rosemary, paprika, or cumin. You could also add a hint of heat with red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper. 
  • Bacon Pieces: Some people would argue that bacon makes anything better, even sweet baked goods. The argument holds up with Potato Pancakes. Mix bacon bits right into the potato mixture for some amazing, salty flavor. Cook up crispy bacon, then crumble it into small pieces to easily stir into the recipe. Serve a little over the top to really get your bacon-loving family and friends excited about these.
  • Sauces: Top Mashed Potato Pancakes with a drizzle of your favorite sauce for extra flavor and texture. Something spicy like Buffalo Sauce or Spicy Mayo would add a unique kick to the Pancakes. Other classic sauces to try are hollandaise, Ranch, or Fry Sauce.
Mashed Potato Pancakes stack on serving plate

Serving Ideas for Mashed Potato Pancakes

More Amazing Side Dishes

How to Store Mashed Potato Pancakes

  • Serve: Don’t leave Crispy Potato Pancakes at room temperature for more than 2 hours. 
  • Store: Once they’ve cooled, you can put them in an airtight container to store in the fridge for 2-3 days. 
  • Freeze: As long as they’re properly sealed, you can keep frozen Potato Pancakes for up to 3 months. 
Mashed Potato Pancakes stack on serving plate showing interior

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Mashed Potato Pancakes

Mashed Potato Pancakes are hot, buttery, and crispy with cheddar cheese, green onions, and garlic. Super easy to make on the stovetop!
Yield 8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 2 cups mashed potatoes , cold
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup cheddar cheese , shredded
  • 1/2 cup green onions , thinly sliced
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

  • In a large bowl add the mashed potatoes, egg, flour, garlic, salt, pepper, cheddar cheese, and green onions.
  • Mix until well combined.
  • Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large heavy skillet on medium-high heat.
  • Scoop ½ cup potions of the mixture into the pan.
  • Flatten the scoops into a 1" thick pancake shape.
  • Cook for 8-10 minutes, then flip and cook an addition 6-8 minutes until the second side is also golden brown.
  • Add more butter as needed when cooking (add more after you flip).
  • Cook the rest of the pancakes in a second batch (recipe should make 8-10).

Nutrition

Calories: 172kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 217mg | Potassium: 209mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 340IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 1mg
Mashed Potato Pancakes collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I feel like I always have leftover mashed potatoes- and this is by far my favorite way to repurpose them. The cheesy, garlicky flavors work so well and the crisp of the potato pancakes is just perfect.