QUICK & EASY VEGAN POTATO CAKES

You only need a handful of staple ingredients to make these quick, easy & budget friendly vegan potato cakes. Crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, all the family (especially the little ones) will fall in love with them. Serve for breakfast or as a side dish.

How are you doing, my friends? The second week of Coronavirus lockdown is coming to an end and I’m so grateful we’ve made it through… The Universe is making us see everything from a different perspective now and although it’s a very challenging and difficult time for everyone, I see it as an opportunity to go back to our roots, to what’s really important and evaluate our lives like we’ve never done before. It’s time to pause, re-connect, go deep within and find peace and strength within ourselves. How are you coping from your side?

Being in lockdown and not being able to get certain ingredients in the shops as easily as we’re used to, it’s yet another good opportunity to go back to basics with your cooking and these budget-friendly potato cakes certainly fit the bill.  

These delicious vegan potato cakes come out best when using mashed potato only (without adding any extra cream, butter or all the other goodness you might use in your usual mashed potato recipe). However, you CAN use mashed potato leftover from your dinner – just be mindful about extra moisture in your mash, which you’ll have to counterbalance by adding extra flour to make the potato hot cakes firmer. Otherwise you’re risking them to be one big slushy mess in your frying pan.   

WHAT INGREDIENTS DO I NEED TO MAKE POTATO CAKES?

You’ll need just a handful of ingredients to make these delicious vegan potato cakes:

• Potatoes – cooked, drained and mashed. Ensure you don’t add any extra moisture to your mashed potato (otherwise you’ll have to adjust the amount of flour).
• Fresh herbs. I used coriander, as that’s all I could find in the supermarket. Chives, spring onions and parsley also work really well.
• Nutritional yeast flakes for a savoury ‘cheesy’ flavour. I’ve also tried using vegan grated cheese and it worked really well (just skip the milk if you’re using cheese).
• Flour. I used wholemeal spelt flour but you can use ordinary plain flour or replace it with gluten free flour to make them free from gluten.
• Almond milk or any other milk of your choice (skip the milk if you’re using grated cheese).
• Coconut oil, or any other oil of choice, for frying. You have to be quite generous with oil in this recipe, as you need to allow the potato cakes to crisp up whilst frying.

HELPFUL TIPS

There are some ESSENTIAL things to bear in mind to get your potato cakes looking and tasting their best:

• A good non-stick frying pan is a must. Make sure to use a good quality frying pan, otherwise your potato cakes will stick to the pan and you won’t be able to flip them (and the mission will be failed!)
• A flat spatula can make all the difference when flipping the potato cakes. Use a good one.
• Once you’ve shaped up the potato cakes, sprinkle them with a little flour on the top side to stop them sticking to the pan once you’ve flipped them.
• When placing the potato cakes into a frying pan, make sure the oil in the pan is hot to allow the potato cakes to crisp up and get that golden colour.
• Once cooked, drain the potato cakes on the kitchen towel to get rid of excess oil.

As always, if you make this quick & easy vegan potato cakes recipe, I’d love to hear your feedback. Be sure to pop your comments in the comment section below and tag me @fit.foodie.nutter on Instagram or Fit Foodie Nutter on Facebook, so I can see all of your mouth-watering masterpieces.

LOOKING FOR MORE EASY VEGAN BREAKFAST RECIPES?

Check out some of the readers’ favourite recipes below:

• Granola breakfast pizza
• Easy vegan French toast
• Vegan peanut butter & banana pancakes
• 15 minute ‘cheesy’ vegan polenta 
• The ultimate orange crepes

Sending you and your families all the positive vibes. Stay healthy and look after yourselves.

Healthfully yours,

Tania x

QUICK & EASY POTATO CAKES (VEGAN)

Tania Pilcher | Fit Foodie Nutter

You only need a handful of staple ingredients to make these super easy yet delicious & budget friendly potato cakes. Crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, all the family (especially the little ones) will fall in love with them. Serve for breakfast or as a side dish.

4.17 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Course Breakfast, Side Dish

Cuisine British

Servings 6 potato cakes

Equipment

• Non-stick frying pan
• Spatula

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 650 g white potatoes 2.75 cups
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander or parsley or chives
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 35 g 1/4 cup wholemeal spelt flour
• 1-2 tbsp almond milk
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Coconut oil for frying

Instructions

 

• Boil the potatoes and cook until well done. Drain well to ensure you remove all cooking water & mash until smooth. Season with salt & pepper and allow to cool completely.
• Using the same pan, or a separate mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients apart from milk (cooled mashed potato, chopped coriander, nutritional yeast flakes, flour and salt & pepper) and mix until well combined. Add almond milk, a tablespoon at a time, to get the mixture to bind. Be careful not to add too much milk, otherwise the potato cakes will have too much moisture in them and won’t hold their shape that well.
• Scoop up potato cake mixture (allow roughly ¼ cup per cake) and roll in a ball with your hands. Place the potato ball on a flat surface (plate or board) lined with parchment paper and liberally sprinkled with flour. Gently flatten the potato ball with your fingers or the bottom of a glass (dust the bottom of the glass with flour to stop it from sticking to the potato cakes). Once you’ve rolled and flattened all potato cakes, sprinkle the tops of the cakes with flour, so they don’t stick to the frying pan once you’ve flipped them.
• Heat up a good quality non-sticking frying pan (*see the blog post for tips) and add a generous amount of coconut oil (around 1tbsp per cake, depending on your frying pan). When the oil is hot, gently transfer the potato cake from the parchment paper into the hot pan (I find it easier to do with hands but you can also use a good spatula for this). Cook the potato cakes for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. Make sure you allow enough time for the potato cake to crisp up before turning it over.
• Once cooked, place the potato cake on a kitchen paper towel to drain the excess oil.
• Serve hot with vegan cream cheese or yoghurt and a generous sprinkle of herbs and/or microgreens. They will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days – just pop them in the oven/microwave for a few minutes to reheat. You can also freeze them in a well-sealed freezer bag – they’ll keep for up to 6 months.

Keyword potato cakes, potato pancakes, savoury pancakes, vegan potato cakes

Making this? I’d love to see!Tag your snaps @Fit.Foodie.Nutter and #fitfoodienutter