15 Min Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes

If you’ve made a lot of mashed potatoes for your holiday dinner party and need a delicious way to use up leftovers, this mashed potato pancakes recipe is your answer! These crispy potato pancakes are easy to make with any leftover mashed potatoes you have on hand. Add in fresh herbs, a sprinkle of your favorite cheese (feta for me), an egg and flour for binding, and mix. Next, shape the mashed potato and herb mixture into disks and shallow fry them in some good extra virgin olive oil. If you have a crowd to feed for breakfast, these tasty mashed potato pancakes are great next to a quick strata, egg scramble or sheet pan baked eggs. Heck, I’ve added them to my mean Mediterranean breakfast board for the holidays — everyone loves food on a board! You can also serve them as a side for dinner, after all, they are potatoes!

Ingredients for Making Mashed Potato Pancakes

Leftover mashed potatoes are the star ingredient in this recipe. From there, you can add your favorite cheeses and herbs, and a binding agent to bring the mixture together. Here is what you need to make these savory leftover potato pancakes:

Chilled mashed potatoes. I used roasted garlic mashed potatoes, but any mashed potatoes will work. You can even try them with my savory mashed sweet potatoes. Cheese. I like feta cheese here, but you could use goat cheese, gouda, Parmesan, Pecorino Romano. Almost any cheese will work, but make sure it is crumbled or grated cheese, depending on the kind used. Scallions or chives. I use scallions, both white and green parts for lots of flavor, but chopped chives will work here too. Fresh herbs. A good handful of chopped parsley or, if you like, you can also add a little fresh thyme or rosemary. Egg and flour. Both of these are needed to help bind the potato mixture so it won’t fall apart when fried. Breadcrumbs. This is optional, but I like to lightly coat the pancake patties in breadcrumbs for an extra crispy crust. Extra virgin olive oil for shallow-frying will give you a nice golden crust on these savory patties.

How to Make Potato Pancakes from Mashed Potatoes

Like my Spaghetti Pie recipe, these potato pancakes are a great way to breath new life into leftovers. These are a breeze to make, since the mashed potatoes are already fully cooked, and you don’t need to worry about peeling and shredding raw potatoes to make potato pancakes. All you need is just 10 minutes! Here is how:

Make the leftover mashed potato pancake mixture: Combine about 3 cups chilled mashed potatoes with a good sprinkle of feta cheese (or cheese of your choice from the list above). Add chopped scallions, a handful of fresh parsley, one egg, and about 3 tablespoon of flour. Use a wooden spoon to mix until everything is well incorporated. Form into small patties and coat with breadcrumbs: Take handfuls of the mashed potato mixture and form them into small discs. It helps to use a measuring cup so the patties are the same size. I used a 1/3 cup to measure my potato mixture. Lightly coat each patty with breadcrumbs on both sides. Fry the potato pancakes: Coat the bottom of a large non-stick skillet with a 1/4 inch depth of extra virgin olive oil and set the heat to medium-high. When the oil begins to shimmer arrange the potato pancakes in the pan in one single layer. You may have to do this in batches. Cook on one side for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn over and cook on the other side for another couple minutes or so until crispy and golden brown on both sides.

More potato recipes

Browse more Mediterranean Recipes Olive oil will give you the perfect crust on your potato pancakes! This exquisite extra virgin olive oil made from Arbequina olives, which are native to northern Spain, is mild and slightly fruity tasting with an acidity level of 0.16%. It’s great for everyday recipes including these delicious pancakes!