How to Make Perfect, Simple, Crispy Latkes

Latkes, or potato pancakes, consist of potatoes, onions, baking powder, eggs, matzo meal, salt and pepper, and that’s it. It only takes seven ingredients to make something so delicious, plus you get to add on tasty toppings to customize your latkes to your liking.

One of my buddies from culinary school, who may be the best chef I know, always used to say that “simplicity is elegant,” and honestly, that’s exactly what this is. Latkes are the perfect recipe to start a tradition in your home, not only from a food standpoint, but it's also a chance to dig into the past and learn more about another culture you may not be familiar with. When it comes to food, it’s incredibly important to me to expose my family to as many ethnic foods as possible, and if it’s got a lot of history to it then even better!

When preparing latkes, you can either shred potatoes using a hand grater or run them through a food processor that has the grater attachment. It is incredibly important to rinse the starchiness off of the potatoes under cold water, and then dry them out as much as possible by squeezing them through a cheesecloth. Doing this helps to make it easy when forming them with the eggs and matzo meal. Other than that, it’s as simple as mixing together all of the ingredients and forming little patties.

I kept it pretty traditional with the toppings by adding on sour cream with some chopped chives and a fresh dill sprig, and then spooning some homemade applesauce to the others. I love them both equally because the flavor profiles are so different. You get a much more savory taste with the sour cream and herbs and then a touch of sweetness from the applesauce one. I suggest you make them and let me know which ones you like :)

Try these latkes with our recipe for Homemade Applesauce!