Parmesan and Herb Potato Pancakes
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My hubby Vadim recreated these parmesan herb mashed potato cakes which turned out great! They work for breakfast, lunch or dinner and it’s a perfect use for left over mashed potatoes. Vadim cooked up mashed potatoes just to make these pancakes and he took all the photos; isn’t he wonderful? I married a good man. It will be so nice to know our son is getting homemade food while I’m working 12-hour shifts back-to-back.
Anyway, this recipe is so versatile; feel free to add to the recipe and let me know if you discover something awesome.
Ingredients for Parmesan Herb Potato Pancakes:
3 cups of mashed potatoes
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 Tbsp of flour divided
1 Tbsp of grated onion or green onion
1 Tbsp of fresh chopped parsley
Canola oil to saute
How to Make Potato Pancakes:
1. In a mixing bowl combine potatoes, cheese, egg, 3 Tbsp of flour, onion and parsley.
2. In a separate plate add 3 Tbsp of flour for dredging the pancakes. Fill an ice cream scoop or heaping Tbsp with the mixture, shape the pancakes in yours hands and dredge them in flour.
3. Add 3 Tbsp of canola oil to a non-stick skillet and saute them about 2-3 min on each side over medium/high heat or until golden brown. Add more oil if needed.
4. Remove mashed potato cakes to a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up excess oil. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
Parmesan Herb Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- 3 cups of mashed potatoes
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 6 Tbsp of flour divided
- 1 Tbsp of grated onion or green onion
- 1 Tbsp of fresh chopped parsley
- Canola oil to saute
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl combine potatoes, cheese, egg, 3 Tbsp of flour, onion and parsley.
- In a separate plate add 3 Tbsp of flour for dredging the pancakes. Fill an ice cream scoop or heaping tbsp with the mixture, shape the pancakes in yours hands and dredge them in flour.
- Add 3 Tbsp of canola oil to a non-stick skillet and saute them about 2-3 min on each side over medium/high heat or until golden brown. Add more oil if needed.
- Remove mashed potato cakes to a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up excess oil. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
As usual Natasha you knocked it out of the park! My Irish husband absolutely loved it!! I did use cheddar instead of Parmesan because I didn’t have Parmesan on hand, it was still amazing ❤️
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Made these for breakfast for my wife and I. Wow! No leftovers. Best potato recipe I ever found. Thanks. These are awesome
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review
Best potato pancakes ever! I made these for my wife and I, gorged ourselves. No leftovers. Love them, thanks!
Aren’t they so good!! I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe Gene.
I made these 3 days ago. They are delicious! Since there are just 2 of us, I froze half the recipe for later. They reheated in the oven beautifully.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing that with me Sue!
Very good and easy! Thank you
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Pam!
Hi Natasha – These are fabulous! Have you ever frozen them? Thanks
Hi Sue, I have not tried freezing them but I think it would work. If you’re making them the next day, it might be better to just refrigerate them overnight.
I used Mochiko, a Japanese rice flour for the flour in the recipe – it is gluten free and worked great. I also added some sugar to the sour cream (my grandmother always did that). The recipe was great and super easy – I did not have 3 cups of mashed potatoes – probably less than 2, used 1 egg, dried chives, onion powder and Parmesan cheese – love it and will make it again – probably skip the sour cream and use a fried egg with a runny yolk. Very easy to make and very tasty
Thank you for sharing those changes with us, Karen, & for that awesome review! We’re glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Hi Natasha,
I made these for the first time today for brunch. Had to cook them for much longer than your recipe called for, and the insides stayed kind of soft and mushy. Is that normal? Just wondering if my potatoes were too wet because I used Yukon gold instead of white or russet potatoes. They tasted great though. Didn’t have fresh herbs on hand, so used herbs de provence.
Hi there! That could be why was anything else changed besides the type of potatoes? 🙂
Russet and Idaho potatoes are gmo, so it’s good you didn’t use them. To take care of the extra moisture in the potato, after you drain them, put them back in the pan on low heat and let the moisture dry out. It takes about 2-3minutes.
Hi Natasha,
Thanks a lot for sharing these recipes. They’re wonderful. Hope you’re enjoying your time arranging stuff at your new home these days. May you and your family be blessed with love and happiness..!
I’ve a question on this recipe: can I use Cheddar instead of Parmesan?
Thank you for this awesome review! I haven’t tried this with cheddar but it may work. If you experiment please let me know how you like it!
Sure, will do.. :o)
Daughter was gluten free. Morning after Thanksgiving, eggs I suggested potato pancakes, with leeks and a little almond flour and an egg. She and her husband thought they were fabulous. Old recipe from my mother to use up leftover potatoes (never any cheese).
Yum, I’m happy to hear that Nan! Thanks for sharing!
This looks great! Can olive oil be used instead of canola? Thank you
Hi Shannon, yes that should work fine. I probably wouldn’t use extra virgin though since it doesn’t have a very high smoke point and will add flavors that might not meld well.
This is an old depression recipe back then you made something new out of your leftovers. Mom fixed us these back in the 1950, so that tell you it a recipe to keep!
It’s definitely a classic!
My mom made these frequently. My father loved mashed potatoes. I think she used cracker crumbs instead of bread .
Trying this because I don’t have a grater
Please let me know what you think of the recipe Barb!
Everyone loved these! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!!
My dear old Mum used to make these for me when I was a child. Delicious!
By way of variety she sometimes left out the cheese, and crumbled and mixed in some corned beef instead.
Also delicious!
Thanks for sharing Dave! Glad you love them. 🙂
Very tasty! I also served with some bacon crambs on top. Большое спасибо за рецепт.
You are very welcome Mila and thank you for the great review 😁.
Can I substitute flour and use just add water pancake mix.
Hi haven’t tried that before but it may work. If you test it, let me know how you like it 🙂
Do you think i can mix everything up the night before and next morning just dredge them in flour and saute?
Melanie, that would work just fine, enjoy 😀.
hi natasha, everytime i make these, the potatoes fall apart when i try dredging them in flour. is it because i need to add more flour into the potatoes?
Hi Yana, it sounds like your mashed potatoes are probably more moist to begin with. I would add a little more flour to the pancakes to thicken up the mixture.
Made this recipe and Loved it! the second time I had a bit of raw cauliflower and one parsnip that I needed to use up so I ground them up in my little Ninja – looked like small rice grains and added them to the recipe. It was really good too. Thank for posting this recipe!
Sheila, thank you for the nice review on the pancakes. My husband just made them today for breakfast since we had some leftover mashed potatoes 😋.
OH I made them already twice and they turned out sooooo delicious. Thanks for sharing. One thing that I have added to this recipe is feta cheese “presidents” ended up delicious.
Definitely, I recommend to everyone to try this recipe. Quick, Easy, and Delicious.
Thank you again for such a nice review and for recommending this recipe 😀.
Made these for lunch and they were amazeballs! 🙂
Awesome!! I’m so happy you loved the recipe 🙂
Awesome. Added left over prime rib horseradish and a runny fried egg on top. I want to make mashed potatoes just so I can do this again.
Wow that sounds gourmet! Thanks for sharing that with me. What a great idea for toppings!
Have you ever tried crushing up durkee fried onions and breading them with that?
I haven’t, but it sounds like a great combination. I might have to try that 😀.
Nice blog, love the great photos. Well written recipe and easy to implement. Like the idea of freezing extra p’cakes for future use.
Don’t forget to season!
Thank you so much 🙂
Great recipe! Made this with a spinach salad on the side and it went down very well with the family! Will make again 🙂 Thanks!
Oh yes, also I didn’t add the cheese (because my husband ate a whole wheel of brie the day before 😐 ) so instead I added 2 eggs instead of 1 and it worked out fabulously!
Amber, thank you for the nice review and great job on improvising 😁.
hi natasha! do you know if it’ll work to form the little patties and freeze them? then saute them next day?
I have not tried freezing them but I think it would work. If you’re making them the next day, it might be better to just refrigerate them overnight.
Can these be frozen?
I haven’t tried freezing them, but I think it could work well. You probably want to put parchment, wax paper or plastic wrap between them so they don’t stick to each other.
Hi, natasha, have you tried using mozzarella instead of parmesan?
Mozzarella will work well. I have mixed it in before because we are a mozzarella loving fam 🙂
Hello Natasha!!
I Love this Rceipe!!! I made this today for breakfast they are so good!!
I cook a lot from your website and I would never change it for any other ones!!!
You are simply the best. May God Bless You and Your Famliy!!
With all my love to you Helen!
Helen thank you so much for your sweet comment. It is incredibly encouraging. What a great way to start my day! God bless you Helen 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Made these today and my family and I loved them. I dredged half of them in flour and the rest in Panko bread crumbs and we like the crunch of the Panko ones better. Might try adding some minced garlic next time.
Thanks for the yummy recipe!
I love that idea! mmmm crunch potato pancakes. You’re a genius! 🙂
Thank you so much for your blog. I make mashed potatoes with cream in them and wonder if these leftovers can be used for your beautiful potato pancakes? Or must one use only plain mashed potato???
You can use your leftover potatoes, that’s what I usually do :).
I was born in Hungary and potato pancakes were a big part of my growing up. It was the same recipe of potato, flour, eggs, and water that my mom used for the boiled tennis ball sized potato dumplings that we cut up and drenched with vadas (like a sweet/sour stroganoff) made from pref. venison, or beef if hunting season was unsuccessful and no roadkill was available either–poor family and all. Hahaha not really. My mom didn’t make her potato pancakes that often though, and once I moved out from home and then got married, fast forward to 4 kids ages 6 and under, I’ve not made them ever.
So I was totally jazzed to find this recipe. However, I was short on time ‘cuz my peeps were hungry for breakfast NOW, so I made up a box of loaded baked instant potato, and followed the recipe from there-kind of. I added minced onions since that also helped facilitate the time factor, a teaspoon of salt, an extra egg since the whole box of instant mash came to 4 cups instead of 3, which meant that I also needed more flour than what the recipe called for, but I got a consistency that was just right and resulted in soft and yummy pancakes.
My husband and I and the two oldest, boys, had them topped with jalapeno jelly. Our next child, Yudita, had them plain, and Hope, the youngest at 18 months, doesn’t get a say in such matters yet. 🙂 Then we tried them with strawberry jam. (In Hungary we usually had our potato pancakes with apricot jam.) Needless to say, we got up from the table feeling so warm and happy and content that I almost wondered if perhaps next should come a deep session of repentance. lol
Thanks for the great blog!
Lol, I can just imagine that scene. How perfect and it sounds like these pancakes brought your family together! Pancakes have a way of doing that! Great job on the improv! I love your ideas!!
Thank you for sharing your recipes. I think you should put together a show, film it and send it to a tv food or news station. You are very pretty and people would like watching you and knowing about your countries culture and food.
Thank you again, Mimi
Mimi you are so sweet. Thank you for such a nice compliment. I’ll make sure to send your comment to them when I do put together my video. 😉
These were fantastic! My only complaint is they got gobbled up way too fast!!! Thanks for the great recipe!
That’s a good complaint! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed the pancakes.
This was a great way to use up the excess potatoes mixture left over from the per ogives I made yesterday. You always have great recipes.
I love auto correct 🙁 that was perogies I made lol.
Thank you Mark, happy to help :).
mine came out tasting very oily.
They shouldn’t be oily. I would just use less oil in the pan next time. With a good non-stick pan, you hardly need any oil. Also, preheat the pan well before adding the pancakes. This keeps them from soaking in any oil.
hi natasha, Today morning I made this pancakes.taste wonderful.I think all your recipes are kids friendly.my son was very happy with these pancakes.love russian foods.next time i’ll try it with add some chicken or sausages.thank you.
Let me know how it tastes with meat in it. I’m so curious now! I’m just happy your son enjoyed the pancakes 🙂
I love your cooking emails, I just turn on my tablet go to your site and I can just about find the recipe I am looking for, thank you, keep up the good work
Thank you for the reply, made this for lunch and it was satisfying
Do you ever use evoo for sautéing pancakes? Or is canola oil a preference. I’m always curious what oil is best, sunflower, evoo or canola? Thanks
Evoo can scorch much faster than the other oil. If you would like to use olive oil, use regular or extra light. Hope this answers your question :).
I love potato pancakes but never made them with mash. It must be a bit like bubble and squeak!
I had to google that. I’ve never heard of bubble and squeak! Sounds interesting.
Hi Natasha! Thank you for your recipes. You should seriously create an iphone app;) Anyway, quick question. Will it be okay if I add shredded cooked chicken into these?
I bet that would taste good, why not :).
trying these tonight,,,, actualy made mashed potato just for this, they look good, let you know!!!!
I hope you like them :).
Just made this recipe! They taste wonderful!! I added extra parmesan cheese only cuz I can’t stop myself, love the stuff! Great recipe, super easy! Thanks Natasha!
I don’t blame you about the extra cheese. I have the same problem with portion control when it comes to cheese. lol.
Hey Natasha! I had about 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes left over from the potato filled piroshki I made (also from your site), and these were wonderful! Both of the kids loved them, and my 5 yr. old son says I should always make these when we have mashed potatoes left over…lol. 🙂 So thanks for another great recipe!
Great, I’m glad your family loves them, you are very welcome :D.
Made these last night. Did not use leftover mashed potatoes, fixed mashed potatoes just for this recipe. Absolutely wonderful. Conned my wife into the messy part of forming the pancakes, and that made things especially easy. Glad I found your blog.
Work smart, not hard :). I’m glad you like the recipe.
can you use a deep fryer for these potato pancakes?
I haven’t experimented with deep fryer, but that should work just fine :).
I love the backhanded dig at how hubby has time to cook at home while you’re the one working the 12 hour shifts! Yes, you are one lucky woman.
I am so blessed to have him. He is a great cook and an awesome Dad 🙂
I made these today. Very yummy. thanks for the recipe. I used mozzarella cheese because I never have Parmesan on hand. I think any cheese will work here.
You are right about the cheese Alena :). I’m glad that you like them.
I have a great recipe for Latkes (which we all LOVE!!!) but was l was looking for something to use up a bunch of leftover mashed potatoes and found this!!!
They look great!
I only have 1 1/2 cups of potatoes though. 🙁 I think I’ll try them for lunch (it’s just our daughter & me then) but since it’s AWFULLY hard to use half an egg…I guess I’ll use egg beaters! I hope that works (don’t see why it wouldn’t).
Can’t wait to try them!!! Thanks!
They still will work out great, have a great lunch 🙂
so yummy!!! i just made them and my mom said they are GREAT! will totally use again for leftover mashed potatoes((:
Oh yay!! I love to impress my mama with a recipe. It’s the best feeling 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I really enjoy your website! i had a quick question about your mashed potato pancakes recipe. Would i be able to use a different cheese since i dont have parmesan, or will that not work out?
You can use different cheese, it should work just fine 🙂
Hey, Do you think it would be ok if I used easy to make flaked potatoes for this recipe???
I think it would be too runny for this recipe, but correct me if I’m wrong. I think regular mashed potatoes are best.
Oh my goodness!!!! Just followed this recipe??? and it was like a party in my mouth!!! Delicious!!!! Thank you!!!!
Your comment made me smile, thank you very much 🙂
good like potato cakes.:)
Hi Natasha!
Thank you for posting these recipes my cousin just told me about it. I made these ponchiki from left over potatoes and my family loves it. Thank you again.
Tanya welcome to the site!! Isn’t it so easy and a great way to use up those leftover potatoes. My Mama-in-law is a genius! 🙂
Thank, awesome website!
Dear Natasha, Thank you for your awesome and delicious recipes! I lose this recipe! I kind of changed it around though because I didn’t have any mashed potatoe, so I grated some raw potatoe and followed you recipe, and it turned out delicious! My family devoured it. Thanks! Oh by the way do you have anything like this but with fetta cheese (tvorog)?
Thank you Nadia! I’m glad you like the site and the recipes 🙂 I have a recipe for farmers cheese (tvorog) pancakes: https://natashaskitchen.com/2012/02/16/ukrainian-syrniki-recipe/
Thank you for a wonderful recipe! I’m participating in a blogging challenge called Around the World in 12 Dishes and I used this recipe for our Russian recipe. My kids loved it! Here’s the post: http://www.creativefamilyfun.net/2012/05/around-world-in-12-dishes-russia.html. Thank you so much Natasha!
What a wonderful post! I enjoyed reading your blog today! I’m so glad you liked the recipe 🙂
These look delicious! Next time we have leftover mashed potatoes, I know exactly what I’m doing with them. Hell, I may make mashed potatoes just so I can make these!!
That’s what we did! We like them so much we make potatoes just for this 😉
Love these! Made them today. Told Philip is was pancakes and he ate one (he does not eat mashed potatoes at all)….thanks for sharing!
Awesome!!! That’s so cute. All I have to tell David is there’s cheese in them! He doesn’t eat mashed potatoes either.
Delicious Natasha!! We are eating them right now. Thanks for another wonderful recipe. My husband is Russian and really enjoys the tastes from home I create from your website.
That’s awesome!! I’ll take one of those 🙂 I’m glad you and your hubby enjoy the recipes!
Made these! So Yummy and definitely EASY. =)
Family visited and I made too much mashed potatoes….next day I made this recipe and kids loved them! Thanks for the recipe.
You are very welcome. Glad you all enjoyed them 🙂
My two youngest sons are Russian/German and Russian/Kazakh as we were lucky enough to adopt them from Kazakhstan. I am always looking for fun recipes that are Russian to share with the children. I am thrilled to find your blog and will share with my Kazakh/adopt loop. Thank you so much. Monica
You are very welcome. I hope they find the flavors familiar 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I enjoy reading your blog. You are such an inspiration for me, sometimes I fear that one day you will close down the blog (!!!!) and I didn’t save your recipes :-).
I love Russian- inspired food. Kind request for you : can you please, one day, tell us how do you cook Kasha (buckwheat) as a side dish?! And what else you make with it?
Thanks so much,
Adi
I usually make buckwheat exactly the same way that I make rice (maybe a tiny bit more water). The best buckwheat is found at Russian stores; I’ve found the ones in our local Winco get too mushy. I just add salt and butter and cook it in the rice maker. I love buckwheat; and I guess I should experiment more with it. That would be a fun thing to post. Thanks for the idea!
Those look delicious! I love anything with potatoes:) This is a great idea to use up leftover mashed potatoes. The picture looks great – so mouthwatering.
Thanks Olga!
It’s great to be back and you’re welcome, Natasha. By the way, can sweet potatoes work on this recipe? I wonder if they work too.
I haven’t tried making this recipe with sweet potatoes yet, but I like the idea :).
I like to add pan fried onion+ mushroom.
Oh my gosh. Yumm!! Thanks Tanya!
Hi Natasha,thanks for the recipe,these are so easy to make and so delicious,love them and so does my husband,thank you
Oh you are very welcome! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed them 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Love your recipes. I use them all the time. Do you know any cabbage (kaposta) filled peraski?? My hubby loves those but I have never made any. I want to though. Thanks.
It’s on my to-do list, but I have to get creative since I don’t have a specific recipe; just a general idea of what to do. I’ll probably be experimenting with it once I’m done with nursing school. My grandmother used to make them with cabbage.
Natasha, they look very delicious!!!
I dip/roll mine in bread crumbs. My kid’s favorite. 🙂
Inessa, do you mix anything different into your potatoes?
No, mine is about the same.