Enjoy this golden potato latkes recipe – a favorite Hanukkah food ofmine and my families!
If you scroll to the end, you’ll find a FREE printable coloring page based on this recipe so that if you cook it for a crowd, you can actually send the recipe home.
Latkes, or potato pancakes, are a yummy, crispy, greasy fried food that Jews dream of year round but mainly only eat on Hanukkah.
Yeah, it’s a massive calorie splurge, but totally worth it! I expect to gain back the ten post-baby pounds I lost just on latkes this Hanukkah (kidding…) Seriously, latkes are possibly my favorite food, and while we mainly make them on Hanukkah, we do make a very similar potato kugel recipe year round.
The potato kugel is baked, but of course the fried latkes are that much better…
Thereason we eat these golden potato latkes:
For those of you looking for some background into the tradition oflatkes, the excuse is simple. When the Jews regained access to the temple, they went to light the Menorah (candelabra) which was lit daily. However, there was only enough of the special olive oil, to last for one day, and it would take eight days to get more. Miraculously, the oil lit for eight days.
The resulting tradition? Eat fried foods of course! Latkes, or levivotin Hebrew are the most common variety. Latkes is the Yiddish term. In Israel, sufganiyot – or fried, often jelly-filled donuts – are even more popular.
The reason we make these with potatoes is probably simply because a lot of Ashkenazic Jewish tradition is based on what our grandparents did while living in Europe. They ate lots of potatoes as it was cheap and they didn’t have that much money…
About the Golden Potato Latkes recipe:
This recipe makes a lot of latkes.The latkes are best eaten fresh. They are high in calories (though I don’t have a good count) as they need a decent amount of oil to fry, so eat a few and share!
If you don’t want to fry so much, fry what you want and then turn the rest into kugel by baking it in loaf pans. For such a size batch, I’d usually put about a cup of oil, so do it proportionately. For example, if you fry half the batch, add half a cup oil and bake the rest.
Naturally, my grandparents would make these golden potato latkes in small quantities, grating the ingredients using a box grater… But since we’ve got all the perks of living in the generation we do, we make it in bulk, for parties, using a food processor. I simply wouldn’t be able to without!
Note: ingredient amounts vary from recipe to recipe. Even the printable version of this golden potato latkes recipe includes a different amount of eggs – simply because I’ve done it both ways in the past… it’s really not a science. My grandparents didn’t even HAVE a recipe to work with… but the idea is here for you to replicate!
Instructions:
Grate the potatoes, zucchini, and onion in a food processor.
Combine the ingredients, with the eggs and spices in a large mixing bowl. Mix well (hands work best).
Heat a few tablespoons of oil at a time.
Add your grated mush to the pan, forming circles a few inches in diameter.
Fry on one side until golden.
Flip and fry the second side.
When the second side is golden, remove and place on a (paper) towel lined plate to absorb any oil that drips.
Eat these golden potato latkes fresh and enjoy!
If you see that you’re not going to finish all of these golden potato latkes batter/mixture at once, simply remove excess liquid (a little bit of liquid is good but a lot tends to drain out) and pour it into a loaf pan or two. Bake at 400 until golden on top.
New! Get the Hanukkah coloring page packet! You can find it in my Etsy shop, or on Gumroad, or purchase it here:
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.
Russet potatoes: Russet potatoes, or baking potatoes, are high in starch and have a dry, mealy texture. This type of potato is best for latkes because the dryness of the potato is partially responsible for that desirable, crispy texture. Yellow onion: Yellow onion adds a savory flavor to the latkes.
These potato pancakes (called latkes) are meant to symbolize the miracle of Hanukkah, when the oil of the menorah in the ransacked Second Temple of Jerusalem was able to stay aflame for eight days even though there was only enough oil for one day. The symbolism comes in the form of the oil in which latkes are fried.
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.
The word comes from the Yiddish latke, itself from the East Slavic oladka, a diminutive of oladya 'small fried pancake', which in turn is from Hellenistic Greek ἐλάδιον eládion, '(olive) oil', diminutive of Ancient Greek ἔλαιον élaion, 'oil'.
Or, you can grate the potatoes hours ahead and store them submerged in water in the refrigerator. Drain them well and make the batter up to two hours ahead.
Their smooth, yellow skin often gets them confused with regular yellow potatoes, BUT they are not the same. Yukon golds are a hybrid of white potatoes and yellow potatoes. This means they have qualities of all-purpose and waxy potatoes.
Vegetable oil or canola oil is usually best, because of its high smoking point. Latkes were traditionally made with schmaltz, or chicken fat, so if you have access to it, you should certainly add it in, because it does contribute to the flavor.
Only certain types of mammals, birds and fish meeting specific criteria are kosher; the consumption of the flesh of any animals that do not meet these criteria, such as pork, frogs, and shellfish, is forbidden except for locusts, which are the only kosher invertebrate.
Night 2: Make a feast to last you through the week—with latkes and applesauce, jelly doughnuts (we can't guarantee these will last much longer than tomorrow at breakfast), and brisket.
It's said that the fried treats are a good fit for a holiday focused on oil, commemorating the miracle of one night of oil lasting for eight. The most stereotypical sufganiyot, after all, are fried balls of yeast dough filled with strawberry jelly and dusted heavily with powdered sugar.
“Onions can help block oxidation by coating some of the potato cells” Don Odiorne VP of Foodservice said. That's why some cooks alternate adding potatoes and onion to the mixture rather than doing all the potatoes first.
Get That Moisture Out. Using a kitchen towel or paper towel, wring out as much moisture as possible. If you don't drain the moisture, they won't crisp as easily and that may be why your potato pancakes are gummy.
(Basically, olive oil can't be heated as hot as other oils without breaking down, which makes food taste burned). If you're frying with olive oil, keep the temperature low as latkes can burn and turn bitter, according to Salamon.
Potato pancakes are associated with almost every European cuisine and are referred to as a variety of names including latkes (Jewish culture), kartoffelpuffer (Germany), bramborak (Slovakia and Czech Republic), draniki (Austria), tattifish (England) and rosti (Switzerland) (“Potato Pancake Background”, n.d).
📣 Easy way to remember: you grate potatoes for latkes, you shred them for hashbrowns. 🥔 Also, you won't find a recipe better then my Papa Leo's, I promise.
Latkes are very similar to the rösti, but also incorporate egg and flour into the pancakes, and are pan-fried in canola oil instead of clarified butter.
Introduction: My name is Terrell Hackett, I am a gleaming, brainy, courageous, helpful, healthy, cooperative, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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