These crispy potato latkes have a secret – the potatoes for the latkes are shredded with a spiralizer! Make delicious potato latkes, no food processor or grater necessary!
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Hanukkah is coming, and you know what that means: latkes! and donuts! and all the unhealthy greasy food!
Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the Jews over the Syrian-Greeks, and the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days instead of one day in the Temple after reconquering it from the Greeks.
And so, since we Jews celebrate anything with food, we commemorate the miracle of the oil by eating fried, oily foods. Totally makes sense, right?
So latkes and donuts became traditional holiday fare, and no one can stop you from eating donuts for breakfast for eight days straight.
(Well yes, technically they can try to stop you, but you can just ignore the naysayers. You don’t need that negativity in your life.)
I’m sure many of you are thinking,
What are latkes?
Latkes are fried potato pancakes. Take some potatoes, grate them up, add egg, onion, flour, spices, and fry. Sounds simple, right?
The basic recipe is pretty simple. I mean, potatoes, eggs, spices, there’s really not much to it.
The problem is the whole “grate potatoes” thing. Grating potatoes by hand takes a year, and who has patience to take out a food processor, use it for a few minutes, then wash the entire thing and put it away? It’s almost more trouble than it’s worth.
That’s why we’ll be taking a shortcut and using a spiralizer to grate the potatoes. Yup, we’ll be making latkes without a food processor or grater. But I’m getting ahead of myself, here…
When are latkes eaten?
See above. Latkes are eaten at Hanukkah, which is usually sometime in December.
Why are latkes a traditional Hanukkah food?
Again, see above. Hanukkah celebrates the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks who had defiled the Temple. After their victory, the Jews wanted to kindle the lights in the Temple, but they were only able to find one jar of pure oil. Miraculously, that oil lasted for eight days, until more pure oil was made.
To celebrate the miracle of the oil, oily/fried foods are eaten on Hanukkah. Latkes are fried in oil. See the connection here?
How many latkes can you get out of one potato?
My recipe calls for five large potatoes, and it makes approximately 30 small latkes. That means six small latkes per one large potato. (Aren’t we good at the math stuff here?)
How many latkes do you need per person?
Well, that really depends on if you are serving your latkes as an appetizer/side or as a main. If your latkes are only a side dish accompanying your Hanukkah feast, you would only need one or two latkes per person. If you want to serve latkes as a main dish, you would need a lot more than that. This recipe serves my family of four pretty well as a full meal, so that should give you some idea of how much you need per person.
What are latkes served with?
Traditionally, latkes are served with applesauce. Why are latkes served with applesauce? Don’t ask me, because I think that’s kind of nasty… Another option is to serve them with sour cream, which tastes so much better, in my opinion (and since I’m the one writing this blog post, my opinion is the only one that matters.)
How do you use your spiralizer to make potato latkes?
Now we are finally getting to the fun part. I just discovered I can use my spiralizer to help make potato latkes, and I just had to share my discovery with the world.
As you probably know, unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, a spiralizer is a tool that grates vegetables into long, thin, spiral strings. It is commonly used to make carb-free “zoodles” (aka zucchini noodles.)
Now you may be thinking, if a spiralizer makes long spiral strings, how does that help make potato latkes? For latkes you need short shreds of potato, not long curly-whirly potatoes!
But here’s the trick:
Make a few long, thin cuts along the length of the potato, around an inch apart. Now when you spiralize the potato, the spiral strands will be cut short by your horizontal cuts, and mini spiral shreds of potato will come out! Neat!
I’m going to be honest here, it takes a few tries to get this right. If you cut too deeply into the potato, it will fall apart when you try to spiralize it. If you make your cuts too far apart, then the spiralized pieces will come out too large and you will have to cut them. But after a few tries you’ll get the hang of it, and it’s definitely worth it!
(Not in the mood of playing around with cutting your potato up? You can also just use your spiralizer like regular to spiralize the potatoes, and then use kitchen shears to cut the spirals into little pieces. It’s an extra step, but still easier than grating the potatoes.)
Spiralizing the onion is a bit more tricky. You can do it, but little onion shreds keep on getting stuck in the spiralizer blades, and you have to stop and clean them out. (But be careful! Those blades are sharp! I cut myself when making my latkes, and didn’t even realize until I saw blood in the bowl of potatoes… #BestFoodBloggerEver) It might be easier to just grate the onion by hand, but that’s really up to you.
Pick up your own spiralizer on Amazon here! This is the exact model spiralizer I have, and I absolutely love it!
What are the steps to make potato latkes?
Step 1: Spiralize the potatoes and spiralize or grate the onions.
See above for how to use your spiralizer to make small shreds of potatoes instead of long spirals.
Put the spiralized potatoes and onions in a colander set over a mixing bowl to let any excess liquid drip out.
If you want, you can put the grated potatoes and onions in a dish towel and squeeze out the excess moisture, but I’ve never bothered.
Step two: Add flour, eggs, salt, and pepper
This step is pretty self explanatory. Mix all the ingredients in your mixing bowl (after dumping out the liquid that drained from the potatoes.)
Step three: Fry the latkes
Use a fork to scoop out small scoops of latke batter. I like using a fork because it lets any excess liquid drip off into the bowl. Plop the batter into your frying pan of hot oil, and use the fork to shape it into a circle and squish it flat.
Fry until dark brown on both sides, and then serve with applesauce (ew) or sour cream (yum.)
And there you have it! Deliciously crispy potato pancakes for your family to enjoy this Hanukkah!
Enjoyed this recipe? Then why not try some more…
Slow Cooker Shredded Beef
Unstuffed Cabbage
Israeli Chicken Shawarma
Caramel Cheesecake
One Bowl Brownies
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oil
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Spiralizer Potato Latkes
Use your spiralizer to quickly and easily grate the potatoes for these delicious potato latkes!
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Ingredients
- 5 large potatoes
- 1 onion
- 1/3 cup flour
- 2 eggs
- salt and pepper, to taste
- oil, as needed to fry
Instructions
- Use your spiralizer to shred the potatoes and onions. See the post above for detailed instructions on how to do this. Use kitchen shears to cut the spiralized strands into smaller pieces, if necessary.
- Mix the shredded potatoes and onions with flour, egg, salt, and pepper. If the potatoes you used are extremely large and your batter looks dry, add another egg.
- Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat. Use a fork to scoop out small scoops of latke batter and place them in the pan. Squish the latkes down with the fork, and reshape if necessary.
- Fry for a few minutes until brown, then flip and fry on the other side.
- Drain fried latkes on paper towels, and serve with applesauce or sour cream.
Recommended Products
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Mealthy 5-Blade Spiralizer | Vegetable Slicer with Durable Stainless Steel Blades | Kitchen Cooking Tool | Spiral Zoodle Maker with Catch & Store Container | Includes iOS & Android Recipe & Video App -
Kitchen Scissors - Heavy Duty Utility Come Apart Shears For Poultry, Chicken, Meat, Food, Vegetables - 9.25 Inch Long - Black And Red Handle
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 74Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 28mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information calculated by a third-party nutrition calculator and is not guaranteed to be accurate.
I love potatoes! They are so versatile and now I can add another method of preparing them to my list. Looking forward to making some of these.
I love latkes! I only discovered them last year but love making them as a starter for Yule as you can make them look like suns, fitting the theme perfectly.
These look AMAZING! And using a spiralizer is such a great idea! I usually use a dicer, but that makes the potato pieces a little too “juicy,” and hard to fry up. This is a great alternative. Thanks!