Meat Stuffed Potato Pancakes (Draniki)

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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,..

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

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.

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

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

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).

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.

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.

Meat Stuffed Potato Pancakes (Draniki)

4.97 from 27 votes

Author: Natasha Kravchuk

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.

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Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Total Time: 45 minutes mins

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

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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.

• Full Nutrition Label
• Nutrition Disclosure

Course: Breakfast, Side Dish

Cuisine: Russian

Keyword: Stuffed Potato Pancakes

Skill Level: Medium

Cost to Make: $$