Crispy Mashed Potato Cakes
These Mashed Potato Cakes are my favorite way to transform leftover mashed potatoes into a crispy, golden side dish in just 20 minutes. Using cold mashed potatoes, an egg, and a touch of flour, this old-fashioned recipe creates a patty that is crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They’ll simply melt in your mouth!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Crispy Mashed Potato Cakes
- Ready In: 20 minutes
- Serves: 10 potato cakes
- Main Ingredients: cold leftover mashed potatoes, egg, flour, finely diced onions
- Why You'll Love It: These Mashed Potato Cakes are my favorite way to breathe new life into leftovers. Instead of just reheating a bowl of potatoes, you’re turning them into something with a salty, golden-brown crust and a center that stays incredibly fluffy. It’s a simple, three-ingredient trick that takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.
The Best Way to Use Leftover Mashed Potatoes
We’ve all been there: staring at a container of leftover mashed potatoes after a big Sunday dinner or Thanksgiving feast. While you could just reheat them in the microwave, I highly recommend transforming them into a serving of these flavorful mashed potato cakes.
I love making these because they remind me of the simple, resourceful cooking my grandmother used to do. It’s a “handy dandy” way to make sure nothing goes to waste while putting something on the table that’s crispy on the outside but tender on the inside! Honestly, these might be in contention to be the family favorite, right alongside our Easy Roasted Potatoes!
Now to the good stuff!
Recipe Ingredients
- Flour (either self-rising or all-purpose flour; whatever you have on hand)
- Cold mashed potatoes (don’t use instant. Trust me).
- Eggs
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Recipe Notes
- If you can’t resist the addition of cheese, add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese or shredded cheddar cheese to this potato cakes recipe.
- Add some seasoning to your crispy potato cakes with dried herbs, like thyme, parsley, basil, or rosemary. Alternatively, opt for spices like or .
- If you want to sneak some veggies into these potato cakes, add some mashed cauliflower, chopped spinach, or finely shredded carrots.
- The flour and egg act as a binder to keep these together. But you can also refrigerate the batter before frying to ensure they don’t fall apart.
- There are several variations on this potato cakes recipe if you want to change things up! For example, add diced pepperoni and mozzarella cheese to your batter to make pizza potato cakes. You could also add leftover taco meat, cheese, and diced bell pepper for taco cakes. If you’re feeling Greek-inspired, opt for sundried tomatoes and feta cheese.
How to Make Mashed Potato Cakes
1. Mix the Base
To your mashed potatoes, add egg and mix them up really well. Then add flour. Stir it up really well with a fork until well blended like this. It will be very thick and sticky.
You can also add some finely diced onion or green onion at this point as well.
2. Prep the Skillet
Heat just a little bit of butter or oil (about two tablespoons of either , it doesn’t take much) in the bottom of a large skillet and place it over medium heat for two to three minutes, or until hot.
This is important because if you don’t heat your oil first, your potato cakes will be greasy.
3. Scoop and Flatten
Drop heaping spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil. Use the back of an oiled spoon to gently press down on each scoop, shaping them into patties about 1/4-inch thick.
4. Fry to Golden Perfection
Fry the cakes until the bottoms are deeply golden and crispy. Carefully flip them over and brown the other side. This usually takes about 3–5 minutes per side.
Once they are golden on both sides, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate to drain any excess oil. Serve them while they’re hot and crispy!
Storage
If you have leftovers, they store well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To get that crunch back, I highly recommend using an air fryer or a skillet over low heat. The microwave will make them soft, but a quick toast in the air fryer at 350°F for a few minutes will make them taste just-fried again. You can also freeze these for up to 3 months; just wrap them individually in foil first!
How To Serve Mashed Potato Cakes
Serve your potato cakes with turkey leftovers over the holidays or as a side alongside main dishes like meatloaf, roasted chicken, or beef brisket any time of the year. You can even serve them with bacon and eggs for breakfast or as an appetizer with apple sauce or sour cream for dipping. The choice is yours!
Ingredients
- 2 cups cold leftover mashed potatoes
- 1 whole egg
- 1/4 cup flour all-purpose or self-rising
- 2 tbsp finely diced onions optional
Instructions
- Mix the egg into the mashed potatoes with a fork until well blended. Add the flour and onions (if using onions) and mix well. The mixture will be very stiff.
- Pour approximately 2 tablespoons of oil into a cast-iron skillet and heat over medium heat.
- Scoop out heaping tablespoons of mixture into the hot oil. Dip the back of a spoon into the oil and then the mashed potato mixture to flatten to about a 1/4-inch thick. By dipping the back of the spoon into the oil, the spoon will not stick to the potatoes, making flattening them much easier.
- Fry until golden brown and then flip and continue to brown the potato patty on the other side.
- Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to serve.
This is how I make my potato cakes too 🙂 We loved mashed potatoes and I always make a big batch so we can have potato cakes later!
Oh yeah, sometimes I put them on a greased pan, brush them with beaten egg, and then bake them for 15 or 20 minutes. That’s the lazy way to do it and I’m all for being lazy.
I made these today for dinner. I added bacon left over from breakfast….oh my goodness they were good. Like you say anything with bacon has to be good…right! 🙂
We would have mashed potatos for supper and then eggs, bacon and potato cakes (instead of hash browns) for breakfast the next morning. Sometimes, Mom would crumble up some of the bacon into the potato mixture and then just fry them up right in the bacon grease. YUM!
I just got a little misty! My mom used to make these all the time and they were my dad’s favorite. One time she dropped them in oil to deep fry instead of the frying pan. They puffed up and were delicious! From that point on, they were potato puffs! Miss you Daddy. Thanks Christy for bringing back a wonderful memory!
My Mama and Grandmother made these, and they were the best things ever was! I have tried and tried to make them and they just never are anything like my Mamas or Grandmothers. Never saw a recipe for them Mama and Grandmother just stirred them up and that was that! I will be making mashed taters tonight and plan to set some aside to make your Mamas potato cakes.
I have made these a lot,but I used” season all” in mine,this gives them a little bit of Texas tang,and some time use” Louisiana Cajun Seasoning” they are yummy,if you like the seasoning in them!!
Yummy! I will have to try that Ann, thank you so much for sharing!!
Oh my heart is so happy!! My mom used to make these and we all loved them, my mom passed away in 1994 and there was never a recipe. I’m going to make these ASAP!!! She always had bacon grease so I think she may have used bacon grease or butter. So yummy. Thank you so much!!! My mom was from the South too!
I grew up eating these. They are best with lumpy mashed potatoes. Great for breakfast. Thanks for reminding me how wonderful these simple “tater cakes” are.
Well, Christy, I didn’t open this post for awhile…no one makes potato pancakes like I do so I wasn’t real interested in the recipe…figured it was some variation of those shredded potato things! But I always scan through your posts before I delete…and…I nearly fell off my chair! Oh my goodness, Christy! It is exactly the way my gramma made them and how I still make them. Exactly (though I tend to use more flour)!! I’ve never even known anyone who ever heard of them this way! There’s been a few clues along the way (starting with your dried fried apple pies done just the way gramma did them) but I am now definitely convinced that we come from the same family!