Mashed potatoes, leftover or not, simply seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic (SPG), formed into potato pancakes and fried hot and fast on a griddle or in a skillet. Indeed, Potato Pancakes from Mashed Potatoes just might be my favorite breakfast food and I’m a breakfast food junkie! Look for the Pro Tips below, of which there are four that will help you make the perfect mashed potato cakes.

Quick aside, we LOVE breakfast at CookinFools.com and strongly suggest that you give these Cinnamon Roll Pancakes a look!

Back to the recipe at hand…

As a child, we had mashed potato pancakes a handful of times. We didn’t have mashed potatoes very often where there was enough left over to make these the following day. This it had to be after a big holiday meal with mashed potatoes.

That was then.

This is now.

Now my local grocery store carries about 10 different brands and varieties of pre-packaged mashed potatoes as well as the ones they make in their pre-cooked case (along with the fried chicken and green beans):

Fortunately, these premade ones are all you need.

Pro Tip #1 ~ Drain off the liquid that collects on the top of the premade mashed potato packages. The enemy of browning is liquid

Potato Pancakes from Mashed Potatoes Ingredients:

24 ounces premade mashed potatoes
SPG Seasoning (Salt, Pepper and Garlic seasoning) although any beef seasoning will work,
Bacon grease, substitute beef tallow, vegetable oil, or butter

Optional Equipment:

1 pair of nitrile gloves
Wax paper, cut into 4 inch squares

As mentioned above, drain the liquid off the top of the mashed potatoes:

Then grab those nitrile gloves.

Trust me here. Premade or leftover mashed potatoes are really sticky and messy.

Therefore the gloves will save a ton of clean up time.

I use these gloves from Clean Space Project which are the best gloves I’ve ever used. Additionally. they give money from every sale to charity.

Win and win!

Partition the Mashed Potatoes into Patties

Initially, pat out six, 4 ounce patties, and place each one on a small square of wax paper

Although, you could easily go with twelve, 2 ounce patties or eight, 3 ounce patties.

This is personal preference.

I like thick, meaty potato pancakes.

After the patties are laid out, give them a good dusting of the SPG seasoning (or whatever beef seasoning you prefer) but only on the top.

We’ll get the other side when the potato pancakes from mashed potatoes hit the grill.

Prepare the Cook Surface:

For a skillet or counter top griddle, simple crank the cooking surface to 375F (+/- 25F). I’m a big fan of cooking some bacon first and then frying the potato cakes in the resulting bacon grease.

For this cook, which I fed 20 breakfast-to-order, I started with 2 pounds of bacon (and a pound of sausage):

No Flat Top Grill, No Problem
If you don’t have a dedicated flat top grill, you can quite easily do this on a gas grill or even a charcoal cooker. Check below the recipe card to see a $40 option that will allow you to do this on just about any grill (as well as smash burgers)

Although the goal is a thin coating of bacon grease, not a puddle.

Pour the rest off, or in this case push to the side with a straight edge spatula, and place the potato pancakes from mashed potatoes seasoned side down and then season the other side:

For this recipe, I used DB180 General Purpose Seasoning. HUGE fan of that stuff.

Pro Tip #2 ~ place the mashed potato pancakes about an inch apart to allow for even browning and room to maneuver them with a spatula

Here’s what the seasoning looks like inside on a counter top griddle:

These will take some practice:
It takes some time to figure out when it is the optimum time to flip. I like to see if I can use my flat edge spatula and rotate them 90-180 degrees without the pancake coming apart. That’s a good sign the potato pancakes are close to being ready to flip. It’s also a good time to life up one side enough to peak under to see if it is browned all the way across.

Additionally, here are a couple pictures of the nicely browned mashed potato pancakes:

Plus a close up of that one above:

In the Kitchen

Subsequently, let’s move inside to some pics I took of the process on a counter top griddle.

As mentioned above. the trickiest part is timing the flip.

When the outer edge shows some browning, the middle will not have browned over yet:

Thus, if you see browning around the edge, we are only part of the way through the first sear.

Keep in mind that these will take longer than a burger patty take to brown.

With some practice, the potato cakes will look like these:

Pro Tip #3 ~ Don’t make the potato pancakes much larger than your spatula. The edges can break off if they are
Pro Tip #4 ~ Undoubtedly, you will flip one of these and the mashed potato cake will slide off the spatula and land on it’s side and crumple. Simply smash it flat and brown on both sides again.

My wife and kids love their potato pancakes extra salty so I give them an extra dusting after I flip them as I know some of the seasoning will be lost during the cooking process:

Repeat browning on the other side.

FAQ
Why should I drain the liquid from premade mashed potatoes before forming the patties?
Drain the liquid that collects on the top of the premade mashed potato packages because liquid is the enemy of browning and can prevent the pancakes from developing a good crust.
How should I cook and flip the mashed potato pancakes for best browning?
Crank the surface to 375F (±25F) and fry the patties about an inch apart. Place seasoned side down first, then season the tops, and flip when the outer edge browns and the middle starts to brown. Don’t rush the flip; wait until you can rotate the pancake a bit with a spatula and peek underneath to check browning.
What if I don’t have a flat top grill or griddle—how can I cook these pancakes?
If you don’t have a flat top grill, you can cook them on a gas grill, charcoal cooker, or use a cast iron setup and bacon fat or another fat to grease the surface. A simple skillet or a counter top griddle works, and you can even convert a grill into a flat top by using appropriate fat sparingly and keeping the pancakes spaced for even browning.

Finally, serve the Potato Pancakes from Mashed Potatoes with a side of your favorite breakfast meat, in this case steak:

I highly recommend a couple sunny side up eggs placed right on top of potato pancakes, although this is completely optional:

Indeed, it hurts my soul that I broke two of those yolks.

Here’s a better effort cooked inside:

Allowing that yolk to mix in with the potato cakes is absolutely heaven to me:

Potato Pancakes from Mashed Potatoes Summary:

The potato pancakes have a subtle crisp exterior, a warm, soft interior and everything is wonderfully salty with a hint of garlic and pepper. So simple, so easy. I honestly can’t profess my love for these any more than I already have. Give these a try, seriously.

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Potato Pancakes Recipe Card:

Potato Pancakes from Mashed Potatoes

Potato Pancakes from Mashed Potatoes simply seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic, formed into potato pancakes and fried hot and fast on a griddle or a skillet

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 30

Servings: 4 People

Course: Breakfast, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method Video

Ingredients

24 ounces Leftover mashed potatoes Substitute premade mashed potatoes
Salt, pepper, garlic seasoning SPG seasoning
Bacon fat Substitute beef tallow, vegetable oil, or butter

Method

Spark up the cook surface to 375F. Add cooking fat (bacon grease, beef tallow, vegetable oil and butter are all acceptable) to the unit. The unit can be a skillet on the stove, counter top griddle or a flat top grill outside.
While the cooker comes up to temp, pat out mashed potato pancakes into 2-4 ounce patties and season the tops with the salt, pepper, garlic seasoning.
When the griddle comes up to temp, lay the potato cakes down, seasoned side down, on the 375F cook surface an inch or so apart to allow for even browning and room to maneuver them with a spatula. Hit the tops with that SPG seasoning
Once the outer edge is browned, allow them to brown some more as the middle browns well after the outer edge. When the potato cake can be rotated 90-180 degrees with a spatula it is a good indication they care close to flip. Use this time to peek under the potato cake to check the browning
Flip the potato cakes and allow them to brown on the other side. Once they have a nice even, brown flavor crust on both sides, remove from the griddle and plate. Top with sunny side up egg (optional)

Video

Furthermore, here’s how to turn any grill into a flat top griddle. This trick can also be used on a stove top, but be certain to be careful with the fat used to grease the griddle as there is no lip around the edge. Tap this link to see the cast iron griddle (sold as a pizza stone). Use the fat extremely sparingly: