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 Cakes
- 🥣 Main Ingredients: Flour, Cold mashed potatoes, Eggs
- ⭐ Why You'll Love It: You’ll love these mashed potato cakes because they turn humble leftovers into a side dish that honestly tastes better than the original meal. They solve the "soggy potato" problem by creating a salty, golden crust that shatters when you bite into it, giving way to a center that stays light and fluffy.
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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.
Just like my mom made and her mom, and her mom and her mom……:) Loved ’em. My girlfriend’s mother added chopped parsley to hers and they
were good but not any better than mom’s.
Always make extra mashed potatoes so I can make potatoe cakes. I don’t add the onion, just use egg and flour. So good fried up crispy.
This brought back some lovely memories. Not only was this the exact recipe my mother used but it was one of the first things she taught me to cook. From the time I was 10 yrs old these were my job any time we had left over mashed potatoes. My sons loved them but I’m not sure if anyone ever liked them as much as me and my little brother did! 🙂 Thanks so much for this post!
Mama used to use half flour and half cornmeal. Made for a crispier outer crust. She would fix these along with salmon patties and usually pinto beans. us kids would drown them with ketchup or chili sauce.
Christy,
These look great! I love potato cakes. BTW, do you know how to hypnotize chickens? My mom was a Kansas farm girl; my grandmother taught my mother how to hypnotize chickens. Take a chicken, lay its head on the ground, take your finger and draw a line across its head, down its beak and out in the dirt. The chicken will lay there a short time, then get up and stagger around for a bit. Mom used to get in trouble for hypnotizing all the chickens she could get her hands on!
Thanks for the post!
Denise in Dallas
The only potato cakes I ever had were made by grandma ” Gertie”. She called them “tater patties” and she did add the onion. I normally dont have a lot of mashed potatoes left over but I happened to have some from yesterday’s Sunday dinner. I am definitely gonna make these tonight!
My mother always used leftover mashed potatoes this way or made cream of potato soup in the winter. Now I make them for my kids. The oldest eats them with syrup and the two youngest like ketchup.
I have never met another Reed spelled this way it was always Reid. My maden name is Reed (dont guess we are related 🙂 these look just like the ones my grandma reed makes ( must be a Reed thing 🙂 I have never tryed to make them myself but they look pretty easy Love all your receipes.
My Mama’s middle name is Reid…an old handed down family name. My sister’s name is Roxanna Reid. We have quite a few “Reeds” in our county.