Lazy Potato Pancakes

(from Ryan77’s recipe box)

Source: Joanne Fluke

Categories: Breakfast

Ingredients

  • 31/2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup grated onion or 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon season salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons cracker crumbs
  • ⅛ cup butter for frying
  • ⅛ cup good olive oil for frying
  • Toppings - Sour Cream, applesauce, fruit sauce

Directions

  1. Place the frozen hash browns in the bowl of a food processor. Use the steel blade, and process with an on-and-off motion until the potatoes are finely chopped.

  2. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat them with a fork or a wire whip until they’re fluffy.

  3. Stir in the grated onion (or the onion powder if you decided to use that), and the salt and pepper.

  4. Mix in the cracker crumbs

  5. Let the mixture sit on the counter for at least two minutes to give the crumbs time to swell as they soak up the liquid.

  6. If you used a food processor, dump the potatoes on a cutting board. Blot them with a paper towel to get rid of any moisture. Then add them to the mixture in the bowl, and stir them in.

  7. If the mixture in your bowl looks watery, add another Tablespoon of cracker crumbs to thicken it. Wait for the cracker crumbs to swell up, and then stir again. If it’s still too watery, add another Tablespoon of cracker crumbs. The resulting mixture should be thick, like cottage cheese.

  8. Place the ¼ stick of butter and the ⅛ cup of olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan. Turn the burner on medium-high heat.

  9. Once all the oil and butter are hot, use a quarter-cup measure to drop in the batter. Don’t try to get all of the batter out of the measuring cup. Your goal is to make ⅛ cup pancakes, and if you don’t scrape out the batter, that’s approximately what you’ll get.

  10. Keep the pancakes about two inches apart, and cover the bottom of the frying pan with them. Flatten them very slightly with a spatula so the potatoes spread out and don’t hump up in the middle.

  11. Fry the pancakes until they’re lightly browned on the bottom. That should take 2 to 3 minutes. You can tell by lifting one up with spatula and peeking, but if it’s not brown and you have to do it again, choose another pancake to lift.

  12. Once the bottoms of the pancakes are brown, flip them over with your spatula and fry them another 2 to 3 minutes, or until the other side is brown.

  13. Lift out the pancakes and drain them on paper towels. Serve hot off the stove if you can, or keep the pancakes warm by placing them in a pan in a warm oven in single layers between sheets of aluminum foil.

  14. Serve with your choice of sour cream, applesauce, or a fruit sauce.

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