These traditional Irish potato cakes are so easy to make and are a great way of using up leftover mashed potato this St Patricks Day. Plus they are dry fried in the frying pan, or on a griddle, making them healthier and more authentic than some fried potato cakes!!! Serve them for dinner with corned beef or for breakfast with smoked salmon. Or make small ones and serve as an appetizer with your St Pattys day feast.
What is more they freeze wonderfully and can be re-heated quickly, making them such a great easy prepare ahead side dish!
Do you always make too much mashed potato?
I know I do. And that is where this Irish potato cake recipe is great! It can be made with fresh potatoes or with leftover mashed potato.
Ideally you want to use mash that has had no butter or cream added to it.
That's right just plain mashed potato.
No butter, no milk, no cream....just potatoes cooked and then mashed.
The recipe calls for 2 cups of mashed potatoes, which is yielded from about 1 pound (500g) of raw potatoes.
For the perfect St Patrick's day, cook up a big batch of mashed potatoes, use some to make these Irish potato cakes for breakfast and then save the rest to serve with a Beef and Guinness Stew for dinner!
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What to serve with Potato Cakes?
The beauty of these Irish potato cakes is they are so versatile, you can serve them for dinner, lunch, breakfast or even as an appetizer!
What to Serve Potato Cakes with for Breakfast:
- Butter and jam
- Buttery scrambled egg
- Crispy bacon and a fried egg
- Crispy bacon and a drizzle of maple syrup
- Smashed avocado and a poached egg
- Replace the english muffin with a potato cake in this salmon and avocado recipe.
What to Serve Potato Cakes with for Brunch/Lunch
- Smoked salmon and a dollop of sour cream
- Smashed avocado, fresh tomato and mozzarella
- Piled high with garlic mushrooms
- Slices of pear, crumbled goats cheese and a drizzle of honey
- Roast beets and a dollop of sour cream/horseradish sauce
- Baked beans and grated cheese
- Dipped into this lentil soup or this spiced coconut and potato soup
What to Serve Potato Cakes with for Dinner
- Beef and Guinness Stew
- Corned beef and cabbage soup
- Dipped into a tomato stew
- Steak, garlic mushrooms and roasted tomatoes
- Chicken, kale and bean stew
- Beef pot roast or brisket.
- Use instead of corn bread and serve with a chili
What to Serve Potato Cakes with for an Appetizer
Use a cookie cutter to cut small disks out of your dough and serve as an appetizer or party snack:
- Sour cream and apple sauce
- Sliced rare beef and horseradish/dill pickle
- Marinara dipping sauce
- Cream cheese and topped with a roast bell pepper slice
- Tzatziki and a small slice of lamb
- Shrimp and old bay cocktail sauce
How to make Potato cakes with leftover mashed potato
These potato cakes use just 4 ingredients! And one of those is salt! Plus the whole thing takes well under 30 minutes! (So many exclamation marks there but I think this recipe warrants them!)
With very little work you can have one of the most delicious side dishes that the whole family will demolish.
The leftover mashed potato, flour, salt and baking powder are mixed together to form a rough dough. This is easy to do, there is no need for a food mixer, you can do it in a couple of minute just using your hands.
Once you have a rough dough all that is left is to divide the dough into two equal(ish) balls, placed on a well floured surface and flatten them out to form a disk.
The disk is cut into quarters ready to be cooked in a large skillet.
Potato Cake Recipe Tips
Start with cold mashed potato
Mashed potato solidifies as it cools, so if you try and use warm mashed potato you'll find the mixture is quite wet and hard to handle.
Use mashed potato that doesn't have lots of cream or butter in it
The recipe works best with mashed potato that is just potato. If you do have a very soft mashed potato you will need to add extra flour to the dough. This will still work but your potato cakes will take longer to cook through.
If you don't have leftover mashed potato don't worry
You can easily make some mash specifically for these potato cakes. The recipe calls for 2 cups of mashed potatoes, which is yielded from about 1 pound (500g) of raw potatoes. Just be sure to let the potato cool before you use it.
When you cook the potato cakes don't add oil
Traditional Irish Potato cakes aren't golden brown. They are a much darker almost dirty brown. This is because they don't have any fat in them.
These potato cakes freeze really well
After cooking, allow them to cool and then wrap individually, to make it easy to defrost and to prevent them from sticking together.
To reheat, allow them to defrost for 10-15 minutes and then reheat in the toaster.
Enjoy x
Why not pin this recipe for 4 ingredient easy Irish potato cakes. Pin it here.
Get the Recipe
Irish Potato Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potato - See note 1
- 1 ½ cups AP flour - plus extra for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, they should come together to form a soft dough. (see note 2 if your dough is too wet)
- Shape the dough into two roughly equal sized balls. Sprinkle your work surface generously with flour and use your hands (or a floured rolling pin) to flatten out a disk about 1cm thick.
- Cut the disk into 4 quarters.
- Use the excess flour from the board to give each potato cake a covering of flour, set to one side and repeat with the second ball of dough.
- Place a large frying pan or griddle pan over a medium heat. (don't add any oil)
- Dry fry the potato cakes for 4 minutes on one side until they are coloured (see note 3 )
- Carefully flip the potato cakes and cook for a further 4 minutes until heated through and dark brown in places.
Notes
- 2 cups of mashed potato works out at about 1 pound (500g) of raw potatoes boiled and mashed. If you are making mash specifically for this recipe don't add any butter or cream to your mash.
- Ideally you want to use mashed potatoes that haven't had butter and/or cream added to them. If you are using very wet/buttery mashed potatoes then you may need add extra flour to form a manageable dough.
- Because there is no oil in the frying pan, the potato cakes don't get a golden color to them, instead they get a darker dirtier look. This is exactly what you are looking for and is completely traditional and authentic.
To Freeze:
After cooking allow the potato cakes to cool fully and then freeze each cake individually wrapped in glad wrap. Once frozen, allow to defrost for 10 minutes and then heat them in the toaster.Nutrition
Nutrition is per serving
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Dawn Sorrenson says
Hi just discovered your potato cakes recipe, and they turned out delicious.
Very easy and healthy used to eat the bought ones years ago but I always make homemade options now without all the additives.
Dawn
Claire McEwen says
Thank you Dawn 🙂
Cx
DaveMac says
What is it with Americans? There are something like 25million people of Irish descent in the States and they still call it St Pattys. It's St Paddy's!
Claire McEwen says
I am Australian 🤷🏻♀️
And yes it might be St Paddy's but nearly everyone in the US says St Patty's and I want to appeal to the mass population within searches.
Cath says
Brilliant recipe - thank you for sharing this!
Claire McEwen says
You are welcome Cath 🙂
Cx
Susan says
Absolutely lovely made these the first time tonight - my dad was Irish and used to love these xxx
Lynn Thomas says
I have made potato cakes for many years. My grandmother from Ireland made them and showed my mother how to make them and then myself. Her mother and grandmother before her made them and all her sisters made them. We only used potatoes and flour and a bit of salt, never baking powder and once the dough was rolled out and cut into triangular wedges and harned in the dry fry pan, my grandmother would wrap them all in a clean linen tea towel and put them in the fridge.
She worked all day Thursdays making them, dozens and dozens and then on Friday friends and family in the neighbourhood would stop by coming from work or shopping and she would send some home with all of them for weekend breakfasts with eggs and bacon.
They were harned in a dry fry pan and then fried in bacon fat the day they were eaten, usually the bit of fat from the bacon for breakfast. I am teaching my grand daughter and grandson how to make them and by the way we never use a masher but always a potato ricer and the one that came from Ireland in 1916 sadly had to be thrown out it was so rusty. We always ate them too with homemade chili sauce made with tomatoes, green peppers and spices like cloves and cinnamon and also vinegar at the end of the summer. I have run into many people descended directly from Ireland who know about that chili sauce so it was an Irish thing I believe and has no relationship to hot chili sauces from Mexican food or other countries. It is not spicey hot.
Peter says
I do love them, but I use sweet potatoes and no baking powder, they are lovely.
June Clowes says
I've been trying to find this recipe for years and until now none have been right. Just like my mother used to
make! Thank you
Claire McEwen says
Oh that does make me smile!
I am so happy to help!
Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment 🙂
Cx
Sophie says
I know I'm a year late to the party, but I wanted to let you know that I really loved these potato cakes. (Although I have to laugh at the idea of "leftover" mashed potatoes. Never in my life have I ever had leftover potatoes of any kind.) Thanks so much for the recipe. I will definitely be making this again.
Kylie says
Fab recipe! So simple and effective, I was obsessed with the waburtons ones, not anymore! These are on another level, so soft and fluffy.
Claire McEwen says
Oh I am so pleased!!
These are my kids total favourite!!
Thank you for gaming the time to come back and comment 😄
Cx
Mr Robert D Williams says
Made potato cakes today loved them next time roll them a bit thinner
Claire McEwen says
So pleased you enjoyed them Robert 🙂
Cx
Mandy says
These were yummy. I added some grated cheddar and a bit of Parmesan to mine. The tips were very helpful too. Thank-you.
Claire McEwen says
Oh I am loving the adding on the cheese! YUM!
Julian Tomlinson says
I have been buying Potato Cakes for years, they are one of my favourite snacks. Today I have made them using this recipe. I will not be buying them again. The ones I made today are delicious and I will be making them frequently.
So easy and inexpensive. Knowing there are not additives is a bonus too.
Suzy says
Just made these at the recommendation of my daughter. They were delicious. We live in North Thailand so potato’s aren’t so easy to come by. So I used instant mashed potato and they came out delicious. A little taste of home. Thank you.
Brendan says
My partner moaned because I forgot to buy a loaf yesterday for her breakfast. I found a big bowl of left over mash and made your potato cakes with mushrooms on top. Absolutely gorgeous.
Claire McEwen says
Oh potato cakes and mushrooms sounds yum!
Cx
Alana says
These are SO MUCH BETTER than my favourite supermarket potato cakes. They have the same flavour but the texture is better and I'm chuffed that they are so low in fat. I am a convert- thank you for sharing this recipe!
Claire McEwen says
You are welcome Alana!
I am so pleased you enjoyed them! They are one of my kids favourites! And like you I love that they are low fat!!!
Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment 🙂
Cx
Ethna says
Made potato cakes last week during isolation. Will not be buying the commercial ones again. Delicious, inexpensive and very simple to make.
Claire McEwen says
Thank you so much for the comment Ethna, they are a fav in our house too!
So pleased you enjoyed them 🙂
Cx