Masala Herb

Global Food & Travel

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • TRAVEL
  • Contact
  • New? Start HERE!

German Potato Pancakes – Kartoffelpuffer

September 14, 2018 by Helene Dsouza 7 Comments

3138shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
Helene Dsouza
Easy shredded and crispy fried German Potato Pancakes aka Kartoffelpuffer. Make these pancakes and serve as a side dish or snack with a delicious dip. See serving suggestions in the post.
Total Time: 40 minutes
4.8 from 5 votes
Jump to Recipe
German Potato Pancakes - Kartoffelpuffer

German Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) are savory shredded potatoes shaped into a flattened small dumpling-like pancake.

Those are then simply fried and usually served as a side dish with a meat main course.

My easy Kartoffelpuffer are vegan, prepared without eggs.

To make the German potato pancakes is rather easy, so I invite you to try them out and give you some ideas about how we use them in Austria and Germany.

German Potato Pancakes - Kartoffelpuffer

What are German Potato Pancakes?

German Potato Pancakes are prepared with shredded potatoes, seasoning and flour is mixed in, and sometimes an egg as well so that they don’t fall apart during the cooking process.

The potato cakes are common in many central and east European countries and honestly can’t be limited to Germany only.

In fact, Potato pancakes are a traditional side dish/snack in Poland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine, Russia Norway, Sweden, Finland, just to name a few.

That is why it’s difficult to tell the place of origin for the potato pancakes.

Only the seasoning, the cooking process, and servings suggestions will be different but that’s not limited to country borders.

The Potato pancakes differ between regions and valleys.

That is why the humble German potato pancakes are known in different names across the German-speaking countries.

Some of the German potato pancake names include Reiberdatschi, Kartoffelpuffer, Härdöpfelchüechli, Erdäpfelpuffer, Kartoffellaibchen, Reibekuchen, Kardofflkiachla, Baggerla, Rievkooche, Datsch, Erbelkrebbel, etc.

In Tyrol (Austria) and neighboring Bavaria (Germany), we call them Reiberdatschi or Erdäpfelpuffer.

In these areas potatoes are known as Erdäpfel, in high German, they call potatoes Kartoffeln.

Other countries will have many more names, such as latkes.

Potato pancakes are super common!

German Potato Pancakes - Kartoffelpuffer

Latkes VS Potato Pancakes

Latkes are potato pancakes, but the Jewish version.

The only difference between latkes and potato pancakes might be the kosher salt and most probably the seasoning.

I have not seen or tasted latkes in the Austrian/German Alps, but I did try the Israeli version with Hummus as it was commonly prepared and sold in places in India.

They kind of taste and look the same.

Latkes are often while associated with potatoes, however, latkes can be prepared with other vegetables too such as carrots.

German Potato Pancakes - Kartoffelpuffer

German Potato Pancakes Ingredients

My German Potato Pancake recipe includes simple ingredients, which you should have in your pantry right now.

Pick firm to semi-firm potatoes because you don’t want the potato pancakes to get mushy (if you want to work with mash potatoes to prepare the cakes, see below for variations).

If they get too mushy, and the consistency is off, you will have a harder time frying them into shape.

The seasoning is rather simple and includes salt, black pepper, and nutmeg.

Don’t leave out the nutmeg, it’s essential.

To bind the pancakes, flour is added.

I didn’t use egg in this recipe to make it vegan.

How to make shredded German Potato Pancakes?

The quickest way to prepare these german shredded potato pancakes is to use an easy to clean food processor with a shredding option.

If you use that, you will barely take 10 mins prepping time to prepare the potato pancake mass.

I’m doing it the old laborious way with a hand shredder (kind of used to it by now), you can, of course, go that way too with a boxed grater.

That way you can work out your arms too! 😀

I like to use a non-stick PFOA-free Pan because I’m not the biggest fryer out there.

You can use a stainless steel pan too if you prefer that.

Potato Pancake variation

Besides shredded German Potato Pancakes, you can also simply use mash potato.

As long as the mashed potato can stay in shape, you can form and fry them the same way you would with the shredded german potato pancakes.

You can add grated cheese too or some shredded carrots as a twist to your potato pancakes.

What to serve with potato pancakes?

You can serve these german potato pancakes as a side dish with main course meals, as a stand-alone vegetarian meal with other veg side dishes or as a crispy filling snack with a hearty dip.

Serve the potato pancakes with…

  1. Sauerkraut, Knödel, and Sausage
  2. Pork roast
  3. Obatzda cheese dip as a snack
  4. Applesauce
  5. Sauteed Mushrooms or mushroom cream sauce and a steak

German Potato Pancakes - Kartoffelpuffer

More Austro-German Side Dishes:

  • German Potato Fries
  • Bavarian Potato Salad
  • Homemade Spaetzle

Dear Reader, how are you planning to serve the German Potato Pancakes?

Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comment section further below!

PIN to save for later!

German Potato Pancakes - Kartoffelpuffer
Italian seasoning spices

So you love SPICES and HERBS?


GET 5 FREE SEASONING LESSONS

Type in your email address below.

Including free access to the

Seasoning Members only Club!


SUCCESS!

Check your Inbox for the first email

Here are some more freebies

  • 🎟️ SEASONING CLUB FB Member Access
  • 📱 Recipes from around the World E-Book
  • 🌿Spice, Herb, Seasoning Cheat Sheet
  • 🍯 Printable Jam Labels
  • 🏞️No-Nonsense Travel Checklist
German Potato Pancakes - Kartoffelpuffer

German Potato Pancakes – Kartoffelpuffer Recipe

Easy shredded and crispy fried German Potato Pancakes aka Kartoffelpuffer. Make these pancakes and serve as a side dish or snack with a delicious dip. See serving suggestions in the post.
4.8 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: German
Keyword: budget, pancake, potato, vegan
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 8 pieces
Calories: 50kcal
Recipe by: Helene Dsouza

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups Potato medium-sized, shredded
  • 1 Onion medium-sized, shredded
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
  • 1/8 Teaspoon Nutmeg grated
  • 2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
  • Oil to fry about 1/8 for each batch
  • Chives chopped, garnish
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

  • Wash and peel your potatoes. Shred them and collect in a bowl.
  • Peel Onion and shred as well.
  • Add salt, black pepper, flour and nutmeg to your shredded potato and onion.
  • Mix in all the ingredients.
  • Heat up a pan with the oil. Keep on medium to high heat.
  • With clean hands, take some of the potato pancake mass and form to a firm ball. Then press on a surface to flatten a bit.
  • When the oil is hot, place the pancakes into the pan.
  • Fry the German potato pancakes on both sides golden.
  • Take out from the pan into a serving dish. With a kitchen towel, tap excess oil away.
  • Serve warm with cut fresh chives as a side dish or as a snack with a dip.

Notes

  1. Use a hard to semi-hard potato variety. Those give the best results.
  2. Make sure there is sufficient oil so that the potato pancakes are fried crispy and evenly. Less oil will result in pancakes getting burned on one side and not being properly cooked in other places.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
German Potato Pancakes – Kartoffelpuffer Recipe
Amount Per Serving (68 g)
Calories 50
% Daily Value*
Sodium 152mg6%
Potassium 291mg8%
Carbohydrates 10g3%
Fiber 1g4%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin C 8.5mg10%
Calcium 23mg2%
Iron 2.3mg13%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Made this? Get featured!Mention @real.masalaherb or tag #masalaherb!

This post may contain affiliate links that point to things or services that I recommend. This may include Amazon, getyourguide and booking.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

3138shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email

about masalaherb
Get to know me & Paul…

MasalaHerb.com as seen on

Comments

  1. bella says

    June 22, 2020 at 8:02 pm

    5 stars
    tasted amazing!!

    Reply
    • Helene Dsouza says

      July 2, 2020 at 3:19 pm

      lovely! did you serve it with a sauce?

      Reply
  2. Janet Fajardo says

    May 10, 2020 at 11:54 pm

    5 stars
    Turned out amazing!! With some lemon German Pancakes.

    Reply
    • Helene Dsouza says

      May 10, 2020 at 11:55 pm

      Awesome, thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  3. Lynn Holzerland says

    November 25, 2019 at 6:41 am

    5 stars
    I really appreciate your time with your family recipe and we can make dinner tonight Luvyalots Lynn Holzerland from Waubay South Dakota. USA

    Reply
    • Helene Dsouza says

      November 25, 2019 at 11:29 am

      Hi Lynn, thanks for your lovely comment! Greetings back from Tyrol Austria. 🙂

      Reply
  4. mjskitchen says

    September 17, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    Didn’t realize that German Pancakes and Latkes were virtually the same thing. I love latkes so I know I’d love your German Pancakes. Love the crispiness you’ve got on the outside. Great looking pancakes.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

Home
About
As seen in
Work with me
Contact
Free Newsletter
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies.

Masala Herb is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress