Vegan Latkes
Published Dec. 20, 2024
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- ½cup all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2large russet potatoes (about 1 pound), scrubbed and cut lengthwise into quarters
- 1large onion (8 ounces), peeled and cut into quarters
- Safflower, olive, avocado or grapeseed oil, for frying
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Preparation
- Step 1
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder and pepper.
- Step 2
Using a food processor with a coarse grating disk, grate the potatoes and onion.
- Step 3
Transfer the mixture to a clean dish towel and, working over a medium bowl, squeeze and wring out as much of the liquid as you can. (See Tip.) Working quickly, transfer grated potatoes to the bowl with the flour mixture and stir to combine.
- Step 4
In a large skillet over medium-high heat (or use two skillets on two burners), pour in about ⅛ inch of the oil. Once the oil is hot, use the palm of your hands to pack 1 tablespoon of the potato mixture into a patty. Drop the patty in the hot oil, using a spatula to flatten them into disks. Do this in batches so you don’t crowd the patties in the pan. When the edges of the latkes are brown and crispy, about 3 to 5 minutes, flip. Cook until the second side is deeply browned, another 3 to 5 minutes. If the latkes start to look too brown, lower the heat. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and sprinkle with salt while still warm. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture, adding more oil as needed.
- For slightly crisper latkes, save the liquid after squeezing the potatoes. Let it sit for 15 minutes so the starch can sink to the bottom of the bowl. Pour out the clear liquid on top of the starch. Add the starchy liquid to the bowl with the potatoes, tossing well.
Private Notes
Comments
One tweak -- use besan (aka gram flower) instead of all-purpose flour. Besan is a kind of flour made from chickpeas, available from some supermarkets and most South Asian markets. In addition to making the recipe gluten free, it also fries better than flour. Besan is used in many Indian recipes, including fried dishes like pekora. Even though I like to eat eggs and glutinous breads, I find this makes a better latke than any egg/flour-based recipe I've tried.
Made these tonight using besan (chickpea flour) in place of the all-purpose flour to keep these gluten-free. And to go a step further, we also made the non-vegan version (Melissa’s recipe too — almost identical to these but w/egg). This vegan version was considered just as good, albeit slight different, than the traditional. One person who ate both said the vegan latkes were hands down the better version. No reason to use an egg ever again. LOVED these!!!!
Could these be done in an air fryer? Any suggestions for time/temp?
I would suggest shredding the potatoes into cold water and then rinsing and drying in a salad spinner. Easier to separate the starch that way as well. Will try besan, good idea! Didn't use baking powder and didn't miss it.
Rave reviews from family I thought they tasted faintly of baking powder. Very easy to make, cook quickly and are very crisp on outside, tender on inside.
These were wonderful! Based on other commenters’ suggestions, I used a mix of chickpea flour & potato starch in place of the flour. When adding to the hot oil, I packed a 1/4 cup measuring cup with the potato mixture, and turned it out into the pan, flattening it with a spatula. Cleaning up the edges and adding more oil as needed while cooking, I didn’t have any problems keeping them together. Definitely will make these again, now that I know I don’t need to use egg!
Advertisement