Crispy Potato Kugel

Name: Crispy Potato Kugel
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Cuisine: jewish
Ingredients: 4 pounds russet potatoes (about 5 to 7 potatoes), peeled; 1 large yellow onion; 6 large eggs; 10 tablespoons chicken fat, melted, or use vegetable oil; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1/3 cup finely chopped chives, for serving; Flaky sea salt, for serving

By Alison Roman

Updated April 7, 2025

Crispy Potato Kugel — Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Rating: 4(1,806)
Comments: Read comments

At its core, kugel is a casserole. It comes in both savory and sweet varieties, often made with egg noodles and vaguely sweetened. This version, made with potatoes, is decidedly salty and savory, with onions in the mixture and chives to finish. It can best be described as something between a Spanish tortilla and a giant latke; the potatoes are shredded, not sliced, there are eggs but no flour, and it’s got crispy edges and a creamy interior. Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it? The most annoying parts of this kugel are also the most important: grating the potatoes (I use a box grater, but you can use a food processor with the shredding blade) and wringing out their moisture. For that, I use my hands and a colander or strainer to save a kitchen towel or a cheesecloth, but you can use those, if you like. Traditionally made in a casserole-style baking dish, this kugel starts off in a cast-iron skillet, but a stainless-steel skillet would do the job, and honestly so would a baking dish, just know you may be sacrificing that crunchy underside.

Featured in: Alison Roman’s Seder Table

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings

4pounds russet potatoes (about 5 to 7 potatoes), peeled
1large yellow onion
6large eggs
10tablespoons chicken fat, melted, or use vegetable oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅓cup finely chopped chives, for serving
Flaky sea salt, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Using a box grater or the shredding attachment on the food processor, grate the potatoes and onion into a colander fitted inside a large bowl (or in the sink).
Step 2
Using your hands and working with a bit at a time, squeeze as much water from the potatoes and onions as humanly possible and transfer the dry potatoes to a large bowl (you can use that same bowl, just make sure it’s drained and dry). For added insurance, you can also do this with cheesecloth or a porous kitchen towel, if you like.
Step 3
Add eggs and 6 tablespoons chicken fat to the potatoes, and season with salt and plenty of pepper, mixing well. Heat another 2 tablespoons fat in a 9- or 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high. (This recipe will work in a 9- or 10-inch skillet, but the kugel will be slightly taller in a 9-inch.) Delicately place the potato mixture into the skillet, taking care not to pack it in tightly. (You want to keep the kugel light and airy.)
Step 4
Cook the potatoes, rotating the skillet occasionally to promote even browning, until it’s golden brown on the edges and up the sides, 10 to 12 minutes.
Step 5
Drizzle the top of the potatoes with the remaining 2 tablespoons fat and place in the oven. Bake until the top of the kugel is deeply golden brown, the edges are wispy and crispy, and the potatoes are completely and totally tender and cooked through, 45 to 50 minutes.
Step 6
Remove from oven and top with more pepper, chives and flaky sea salt. Slice and serve warm.

Tip

If you don’t have chicken fat and are not keeping kosher, melted butter is great substitute, otherwise, olive oil or a neutral oil like grapeseed or canola will do the trick. But given the limited ingredient list on this recipe, you really do need the rest (potatoes, onion, egg).

Ratings

4 out of 5

1,806 user ratings

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Comments

Jenny Wolkon5 years ago

Or....put the mixture in muffin tins...crust for everyone. A little trick Bubbie taught us.

New Yorker5 years ago

Preheat your cast iron pan with the oil in it as the oven heats. Pour potato mixture into pan and bake. No need for stove top and you can broil the top for the last few minutes if you want it more crispy, but the hot oven usually gets it crispy enough.

LKS5 years ago

For those of who for reasons of aging or disability cannot hold a cast iron pan any longer, if you heat up the oil in your Pyrex/glass baking pan in the oven and then carefully put the potato mixture in once the oil is piping hot, you will get a nice crusty bottom.

Nancy1 month ago

Made half recipe for myself -3 russets, medium onion, 3 eggs, cut the oil in half, used vegetable oil and canola. Grated on the large holes of box grater using a kitchen glove and kept onion separate so as not to wring the water and flavor out. Rung out the potatoes by hand and added one T matzo meal. In an 8 inch cast iron pan skillet that is 2 inches deep. Cooked on stove top for 10 minutes, rotating as instructed, the 45 minutes in the top third of oven. Perfect with sour cream and chives!

AnnaAL2 months ago

Epic failure. Totally mushy and bland inside. Decent crustiness, but this amount, followed recipe exactly, made a huge thick pie in our 9 inch cast iron skillet. Maybe half the amount would have been better. Needed to cook much, much longer too. Will never EVER be making this again.

Nancy2 months ago

There are so many other ways to cook potatoes and onion that need much less effort. This recipe is so plain. I had to slather mine with ketchup.

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