Crispy Pumpkin Potato Pancakes

Here’s a delicious fall twist on a traditional German recipe. These Crispy Pumpkin Potato Pancakes are sweeter than regular potato pancakes. However, they are just as easy to make. Much easier than saying “pumpkin potato pancakes” three times fast. 

Tips for making these:

My German husband likes to remind me, that the trick to making the tastiest potato pancakes is the temperature of the oil. The hotter the oil, the crispier the potato pancakes. The other tip I have will cut the recipe’s prep time down significantly. Peel both the pumpkin and potatoes. Cut them into rough chunks and place them in a food processor to shred. This will save you time and exertion. Not to mention possible bloody knuckles from grating them. 

However, make sure when processing each, you pulse the processor instead of straight processing. Do not shred the pumpkin and potato to a pulp. No one likes pulpy potato pancakes! Also, the resulting mixture will be extremely hard to work with due to overprocessing. If you do find the mixture too liquidy, blot with a paper towel before adding to the rest of the ingredients.

Crispy Pumpkin Potato Pancakes are perfect when served with sour cream and/or apple sauce. Season the sour cream with salt, pepper, and a bit of ground nutmeg to amp up the flavor. This recipe uses a pie pumpkin. However, feel free to substitute kabocha or butternut squash. I also used a sweet onion which I highly recommend. It works well with the pumpkin to bring out the sweetness. 

Just a note on size. Instead of making large, plate-sized pancakes, I made these smaller. Therefore, the recipe yields around 16 pancakes. for the larger version, the recipe will serve 8. 

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Crispy Pumpkin Potato Pancakes

Course Brunch, Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine American, German, Jewish

Keyword Potato Pancakes

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 16 pancakes

Author Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Ingredients

• 2 lb. Potatoes
• 1 lb pumpkin
• 1 large sweet onion
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• vegetable oil
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Rinse and peel the potatoes. Grate the peeled potatoes into a bowl.
2. Peel the pumpkin and grate into the bowl.
3. Peel the onion and dice into small pieces. Mix the potatoes, pumpkin, and onion together.
4. Mix in the eggs and sprinkle in the flour.
5. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and combine thoroughly.
6. Divide the mixture into 16 portions and flatten into pancakes. If the mixture is not holding together, mix in more flour, one tablespoon at a time.
7. Squeeze the liquid out of each pancake.
8. Heat a layer of the clarified butter in a large skillet. Place a platter by the stove.
9. Add the pumpkin potato pancakes to the pan. If bits of the pancake scatter around the pan, use a spatula to scrape everything back into a pancake shape and flatten with the spatula. You may have to do this a few times to keep the shape.
10. Fry the potato pancakes on both sides until golden.
11. Remove the pumpkin potato pancake from the pan and place on a platter. You can use the spatula but if the pancake seems too delicate, slide it onto the platter directly from the pan.
12. Season the sour cream with salt, freshly ground pepper and ground nutmeg.
13. Serve the pumpkin potato pancakes with the seasoned sour cream and apple sauce.

Like these Crispy Pumpkin Potato Pancakes? Also, try some of these other delicious recipes:

SAVORY ASPARAGUS PARMESAN PANCAKES

MINI PANCAKE BERRY SKEWERS

HAVARTI STUFFED SPINACH PANCAKES