Mashed potato pancakes are an easy and tasty way to repurpose leftover mashed potatoes. Perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, they taste great on their own or dressed up with sour cream and chives! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes
Now that the Thanksgiving rush is over, we can finally relax and enjoy one of my favorite post-holiday traditions: leftovers! Around here, we like to repurpose our leftovers into different meals like leftover turkey chili, turkey pot pie, turkey chowder, and new this year, mashed potato pancakes!
To be honest, this recipe is actually anything but new in my family. My dad used to make these after the holidays when leftover mashed potatoes were in abundance, and we LOVED them (with a side of his sausage stuffing, of course). They are cheesy, crispy, and fluffy, and honestly, sometimes I even look forward to them more than regular mashed potatoes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Taste: like mashed potatoes, but even better. They get a boost of flavor from the add-ins and the seared exterior.
- Easy: You don’t even need to reheat your potatoes! Simply add your flavorings, form into patties, and cook until golden.
- Texture: crispy on the outside with fluffy interiors and pockets of gooey cheese.
- Versatile: can be served any time of day. We especially enjoy them at holiday brunches, but they also work nicely as an appetizer similar to mozzarella sticks or jalapeno poppers.
What You Need
Just a few simple ingredients! Keep scrolling for the full recipe and ingredient list.
- Mashed potatoes. Any leftover mashed potatoes will work (I’ve even used my garlic mashed potatoes). We especially love using leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving to make these. Important note: your mashed potatoes should be COLD when you make these. Do not reheat them or let them get too warm, they’ll just fall apart.
- Cheese. Use your favorite! I like sharp cheddar, but a mild cheddar or Colby Jack are both tasty. I prefer to shred my own cheese, but that’s not mandatory with this recipe like it is with my macaroni and cheese.
- Spices. Even though mashed potatoes usually have seasoning added to them, I like to add extra seasoning like garlic and onion powder to give these potato pancakes even more flavor. Feel free to leave these out if your mashed potatoes are already well-seasoned, but because we’re also adding egg and flour the added seasonings help.
- Binding agents. Including one egg and just a few tablespoons of flour. These help our pancakes hold their shape.
- Toppings. Sour cream and chives or scallions (or even bacon!) are all great toppings.
SAM’S TIP: The less flour you add, the better; however, it is very important for you to be able to pick up the pancakes and flip them over while cooking without them falling apart. Two tablespoons of flour is a safe amount to add, but if your mashed potatoes are already super thick, you might not even need to add any.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Mashed Potato Pancakes
- Stir together the mashed potatoes, cheese, egg, flour, spices, and salt until well combined.
- Scoop by ¼ cup portions and drop onto a floured baking sheet. Dust the tops of each scoop with flour and flatten into ¾” thick discs.
- Cook: heat your pan until the oil shimmers (make sure you add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan or your pancakes will stick and fall apart), then add a few pancakes. Cook until golden brown on both sides and heated through; if you’re not sure whether they are done or not, the centers should be 165F if you check them with a thermometer.
- Transfer to a paper towel lined plate or wire rack to drain while you cook your remaining pancakes. Serve warm–we like to add sour cream and chives, but they are tasty on their own too!
SAM’S TIP: You pancakes will be soggy if your oil isn’t hot enough. Make sure it shimmers before you add your pancakes, and always let it come back to temperature between batches!
Frequently Asked Questions
Honestly, any time of day! They make a great breakfast option alongside scrambled eggs or quiche (ooh, or dip them in sausage gravy!). Or serve them as a side or appetizer with lunch or dinner–they’d make a great alternative to fries with smash burgers or sloppy joes!
Believe it or not, you can make potato candy with leftover mashed potatoes! Just note that you don’t want to use mashed potatoes made with butter or flavorings for this–they must be plain. This is also how I make my Easter egg candy!
If you aren’t a candy person, you can also use leftover mashed potatoes to make potato buns. Again, just make sure they don’t have any added ingredients though.
Your pancakes will fall apart if your potatoes are too warm or if you didn’t add enough flour. Make sure you are able to handle your potato pancakes without them falling apart before adding them to the oil; if you can’t, you need to add more flour.
Potato lovers, I really can’t wait to hear how you like these!
Enjoy!
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Mashed Potato Pancakes (with leftover mashed potatoes)
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Servings: 8 pancakes
Calories: 135kcal
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Instructions
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Combine mashed potatoes, cheese, egg, 2 Tablespoons flour, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir until well combined.
2 cups (443 g) cold leftover mashed potatoes, ¾ cups (84 g) shredded cheddar cheese, 1 (15 g) large egg, 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, ¼ teaspoon table salt
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Dust a baking sheet with flour, scoop potatoes by ¼ cup scoop, and drop onto the pan. Dust the tops of each potato mound generously with flour, then flatten to about ¾” (2cm) to create pancakes.
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Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium/high heat until it shimmers. Oil should coat the entire bottom of the pan, if you use too little the pancakes will burn and if you use too much the pancakes could be greasy.
2 Tablespoons oil
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Once oil is heated, carefully add potato pancakes to the frying pan (I do this in batches, spacing the pancakes about 2”/5cm apart) and cook until golden brown on one side. Flip the pancake and cook until golden brown on both sides. Cook until heated through (you can use an instant read thermometer to ensure the pancakes are heated to at least 165F).
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Remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack or a paper towel lined plate. Enjoy while warm, topping with whatever you like (we love sour cream and chives!).
Preferred toppings
Notes
Mashed potatoes
Use your favorite leftover mashed potatoes. Any variety will work, but note that more wet/moist mashed potatoes will likely need a bit more flour to hold their shape. Don’t use mashed potatoes while they’re still warm!
Storing
While these could technically be stored and re-warmed, they’re really best enjoyed the same day they are made.
Nutrition
Serving: 1pancake | Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 153mg | Potassium: 269mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 137IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 86mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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