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These mashed potato fritters are crisp fried on the outside, soft velvety mashed potatoes on the inside! Loaded up with cheese, jalapeño and bacon, they’re the perfect use for any leftover mashed potatoes you have!
Do you have leftover mashed potatoes? You can really load these potato fritters up with anything/everything you have on hand. The end result is crisp, fried potatoes on the outside, silky smooth potatoes on the inside. Buttery. Flavorful. These are a tradition in our house the day after any large holiday meal!
Ingredients to make Potato Fritters:
- Mashed potatoes: using leftovers is perfect for this recipe! If you have leftover mashed potatoes on hand just use those (if you need, this is my FAVORITE way to make Mashed Potatoes!). You can always make a fresh batch of potatoes also. They do need to be homemade potatoes, instant potatoes just don’t hold up well to this recipe. If your potatoes are really fresh and ultra creamy you may need to add more flour to have them hold their shape for cooking.
- Eggs: this helps hold the shape
- Flour: adds a bit of thickness to the potato fritters.
- Flavor Add-Ins: For this particular version in the photos I used bacon, green onion, cheddar cheese and diced jalapeno. I do recommend sautéing the jalapeño before adding in, unless you enjoy biting into fresh jalapeño. The potato cakes don’t cook long enough to soften any veggies.
How to make Potato Fritters:
- Combine the mashed potatoes, egg, and flour. Stir to combine. This is the base of the recipe. The texture should be smooth, but sturdy. It will hold it’s shape when you form it into the patties. If the potatoes are ultra creamy, you may need to add a bit more flour. If your potatoes seem lacking in flavor or salt, you may need to add some salt to this recipe. This recipe is assuming the potatoes are seasoned.
- Saute any veggies being added. The potato cakes won’t cook long enough to soften the veggies, so they should all be sauted. Then before adding to the potato mixture, pat the veggies dry to remove any excess moisture.
- Stir in add ins. There’s so many options for flavor add-ins with this recipe. I have several ideas listed below. Just be sure to dice up anything you’re adding such as meats. Grate the cheeses. And dice up and saute the veggies.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Scoop up the potato mixture, using a large spoon or a large cookie scoop. Then shape the potatoes into a pancake type shape about 1/2 inch thick.
- Carefully add potato cakes to the large skillet in the melted butter and cook for 2-3 minutes until the bottom is nicely golden. Then carefully flip the potato cake and cook the other side another 2-3 minutes.
- After cooking, remove the potato cakes and place on a paper towel to catch any excess grease. Continue until all potato mixture has been cooked.
- Serve warm, topped with sour cream if desired.
Favorite Flavor Combinations:
- Ham/Bacon and cheese
- Leftover stuffing and turkey– just add in all the leftovers!
- Garlic and herb- load up with some fresh parsley, chives, thyme, rosemary..whatever you have on hand. Add in some fresh grated parmesan to make them cheesy!
- Veggie- load up with bell peppers, mushrooms, onions. Whatever you want. Just dice it up, saute it and add to the mixture.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy:
Leftover Mashed Potato Fritters
These Mashed Potato Fritters are crisp fried on the outside, soft velvety mashed potatoes on the inside! Loaded up with cheese, jalapeño and bacon, these potato fritters are always a hit!
Ingredients
- 3 cups mashed potatoes
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 green onions diced
- 3 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
- 1 jalapeno de-seeded and diced
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Instructions
- Combine the mashed potatoes, egg and flour in a large mixing bowl. Stir to mix.
- Saute the jalapeño in a small pan over medium heat coated with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. Remove from the pan and place on a paper towel, pat dry to remove any excess grease.
- Add in the flavor add ins to the potato mixture. The diced green onion, crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and jalapeño. Stir to combine.
- Using a large cookie scoop, scoop the potato mixture up and using hands, shape into a pancake shape about 1/2 inch thick.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add the butter and cook until the butter is melted.
- Carefully add the potato cakes to the skillet in the butter, cook for 2-3 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown. Carefully flip the potato pancakes to cook the other side. Continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes until golden brown on the other side.
- Remove the potato cakes and place on a paper towel to help soak up any extra grease.
- Serve the potato cakes warm.
Equipment
Notes
- Nutrition facts is not counting all ingredients added to the mashed potatoes.
- If potatoes are ultra creamy, add more flour to get a texture that holds its shape.
- Recipe assumes that the mashed potatoes being used are seasoned. If potatoes are not seasoned, add salt to taste.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 79kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 79mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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