Irish Potato Pancakes Recipe – How to make the best ever quick and easy traditional and authentic 2 ingredient Crispy Boxty Pancakes with fried leftover mashed potatoes. St Patrick’s Day Food Ideas for breakfast or dinner.
Irish Potato Pancakes
Since living in Ireland over the past 5 years, I’ve enjoyed a range of Irish potato pancakes. Some homemade, some out at restaurants and some store bought. I’ve honestly been a fan of every variety – I mean, how can you go wrong with a cake of fried potatoes?!
Boxty, as it’s called here in Ireland, is often served as a side with a full Irish breakfast, but there’s nothing stopping you from enjoying a portion as a side dish with a hearty breakfast for dinner meal.
Here’s a look at a video of a full Northern Ireland breakfast fry up known as an Ulter Fry – you can see it’s really a fully loaded plate of Irish food goodies. Hit play below or click here to watch on YouTube.
How To Make Irish Boxty Pancakes
These pancakes are really quick to throw together. You’ll need leftover mashed potatoes as the main ingredient.
Whenever I make mash, I always add extra so I can indulge in pancakes the next day.
Fill a large bowl with leftover mash, then mix in an egg until you have a creamy pancakes batter.
There are plenty of simple ingredients that can be added to make pancakes to suit your tastes and go beyond the core 2 ingredients.
Here are some ideas to add to your traditional recipe:
- In addition to mashed pototoes, you can add grated raw potatoes as a great way to incorporate even more potato goodness into the pancake batter
- All Purpose Flour, to bind
- Salt, black pepper and other seasonings or fresh herbs
- Melted butter
- Quarter cup of buttermilk or milk
Heat oil or butter over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. It’s really important that the pan is very hot so that the pancakes cook perfectly. Drop 1 to 2 tablespoons of potato batter per pancake into the preheated frying pan.
Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and then flip the pancakes until completely cooked through, golden and crisp on both sides.
You can enjoy your traditional Irish potato pancake as is or topped with butter, sour cream and green onions or served with a big breakfast on St. Patrick’s Day including a fried egg or two, bacon, sausage, soda bread and white or black pudding.
Irish Potato Pancakes Recipe
- Leftover Mashed Potatoes
- 1 Egg
- Heat a large skillet or frying pan over medium heat to high heat on the stove top and add plenty of butter or olive oil to start heating.
- Place the leftover mashed potatoes in a small bowl.
- Add the egg and mix until you have a smooth, creamy mixture. You can add salt, pepper, any other seasoning or ingredients to your mixture now.
- Once the frying pan is very hot and the butter or oil is melted and heated too, drop a tablespoon or more of the potato mixture per pancake into the hot pan.
- Allow the thick batter to set on the first side then flip and cook until cooked through and golden brown on the second side, adding a little butter between batches.
- Move to a plate or paper towels to absorb any excess moisture, and serve with butter, sour cream or with a traditional Irish breakfast and enjoy.
More Easy Traditional Irish Recipes
Disclosure – this post contains affiliate links.
