These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

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These are classic old world classic potato pancakes well loved by Slavic people. We call them draniki or deruny and they are super yummy for breakfast, lunch or even dinner. These potato pancakes are made by grating raw potatoes into the batter – weird but so good! They are a favorite in our house.

This is my Mom’s recipe and the pancakes are amazing as is but this time we added a tasty meat filling (inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Olga). The filling takes these classic potato pancakes over the top. You can get creative and sub pretty much any ground meat  for the filling; beef, chicken, turkey,..

These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Watch How to Make Stuffed Potato Pancakes – Draniki:

Ingredients for Stuffed Potato Pancakes (Draniki):

1 1/2 lbs (5 medium) potatoes (we used yukon gold), peeled
1 medium onion, peeled and divided (use 3/4 for potatoes and 1/4 for meat filling)
1 large egg
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sour cream
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or taste
Cooking oil (we use extra light olive oil)

1/2 lb ground pork
1 Tbsp reserved grated onion (see above)
1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper, or to taste

These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

How to Make Stuffed Potato Pancakes (Draniki)

1. Into a large bowl, grate potatoes on the star grater. It should be the consistency of applesauce. Use a spoon to skim off 1 Tbsp excess potato water that floats to the top.

Note: If grating by hand, protect your fingers and use safety gloves like these. Grating is the most annoying step so once you get through it, you’re golden! We’ve made these by dicing potatoes and blending in our blender or using a good food processor like this one and they tasted great, but the texture was not as authentic as grating by hand.

Meat Stuffed Potato Pancakes-2 

2. Grate onion into the same bowl (reserving 1 Tbsp grated onion for the meat mixture). The onion will keep potatoes from browning.

Meat Stuffed Potato Pancakes-3

3. Add 1 egg, 3 Tbsp flour, 1 Tbsp sour cream, 1 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper and stir well.

Meat Stuffed Potato Pancakes-9

4. Mix together ground pork, 1 Tbsp reserved grated onion, 1/4 tsp salt and black pepper to taste. Form into 16 skinny patties and place them on a clean surface (I put them on a cutting board lined with plastic wrap).

Meat Stuffed Potato Pancakes-10

5. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and add 2-3 Tbsp oil. Once oil is hot, add 1 Tbsp of the mixture at a time into the skillet, flattening it out. Top with a thin meat patty and cover the meat with another Tablespoon of potato batter. Saute until potatoes are golden brown then flip and continue sautéing until golden brown and cooked through (about 4 min per side). Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate and server warm with sour cream.

These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Tip: if liquid starts to rise to the top of the potato batter, give it a quick stir – this will prevent excessive splatter when the batter goes into the skillet.

These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Natasha's Kitchen Cookbook

Meat Stuffed Potato Pancakes (Draniki)

4.97 from 27 votes
Author: Natasha Kravchuk
These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
These are classic old world classic potato pancakes. They are made by grating raw potatoes into the batter - weird but so good! You can get creative and sub pretty much any ground meat.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 16 stuffed pancakes
  • 1 1/2 lbs 5 medium potatoes (we used yukon gold), peeled
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and divided (use 3/4 for potatoes and 1/4 for meat filling)
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp sour cream
  • 1 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 1/8 tsp black pepper, or taste
  • Cooking oil, we use light olive oil
  • 1/2 lb ground pork
  • 1 Tbsp reserved grated onion, see above
  • 1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper, or to taste

Instructions

  • Into a large bowl, grate potatoes on the star grater*. It should be the consistency of applesauce. Use a spoon to skim off any excess potato liquid that floats to the top. Note: If grating by hand, protect your fingers and use safety gloves.
  • Grate onion into the same bowl (reserving 1 Tbsp grated onion for meat mixture). Onion keeps potatoes from browning.
  • Add 1 egg, 3 Tbsp flour, 1 Tbsp sour cream, 1 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper and stir well.
  • Mix together ground pork, 1 Tbsp reserved grated onion, 1/4 tsp salt and black pepper to taste. Form into 16 skinny patties and place them on a clean surface.
  • Heat large non-stick skillet over medium heat and add 2-3 Tbsp oil. Once oil is hot, add 1 Tbsp of potato mixture at a time into the skillet, flattening it out. Top with a thin meat patty and cover the meat with another Tablespoon of potato batter. Saute until potatoes are golden brown then flip and continue sautéing until golden brown and cooked through (about 4 min per side). Repeat with remaining batter**, adding more oil as needed. Remove to paper-towel lined plate and serve with sour cream.

Notes

*Shortcut: dice potatoes and puree in a blender or food processor - tastes great but the texture is not as authentic as grating by hand.
**If liquid starts to rise to the top of the potato batter between cooking batches, stir it to prevent splatter while cooking.
Course: Breakfast, Side Dish
Cuisine: Russian
Keyword: Stuffed Potato Pancakes
Skill Level: Medium
Cost to Make: $$

If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen

 

These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

These are classic old world potato pancakes with a surprise inside! Mom always made these draniki growing up. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.

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Comments

  • Elaine
    August 14, 2022

    I had a few slices of cooked roast beef leftover. I put them in the food processor with a little gravy and onion and garlic and used that for the meat layer. They were delicious. Had people fighting over the leftovers. Just a little creativity.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      August 14, 2022

      That’s a nice one, I’m sure that was great!

      Reply

  • Sarah
    March 20, 2022

    This recipe is great! It’s authentic and easy. The pancakes come out just like in the picture. My family loved them.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      March 20, 2022

      That’s awesome! I’m happy to know that your family loved this recipe, Sarah.

      Reply

  • Sherri
    September 13, 2021

    Hi Natasha! Would these work with sweet potatoes instead?!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      September 13, 2021

      Hi Sherri, I haven’t tried this with sweet potatoes to advise. If you happen to try that, please let me know how you like that.

      Reply

  • LEA WERNER
    May 23, 2021

    Hi …..we have an ‘international dinner group’ and next month is our ‘Russian’ dinner. I’d love to make these potato pancakes. I can make meat ones for mostof the group but do you have a suggestion for making some for non-meat eaters?

    Reply

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