Make Ahead Latkes (2024)

FAQs

Can latkes be prepared ahead of time? ›

There are a few ways around all this. First, you can do what I did and marry a man who will fry the latkes while you host the party. Or, you can grate the potatoes hours ahead and store them submerged in water in the refrigerator. Drain them well and make the batter up to two hours ahead.

– Always serve latkes hot and fresh if possible.

When ready to reheat, place in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes (7 if using a convection oven) until heated through just prior to serving. A convection oven setting will produce a more crispy result.

Pre-Mix: Prep latke batter and keep in a sealable container in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. 4. Pre-Fry: Day of: Fry and keep at room temp.

To keep a consistent deep golden brown on all the latkes while cooking, adjust the heat to maintain the oil temperature and avoid the latkes browning too quickly. After frying, place latkes on a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack and transfer to a 200°F oven to keep warm until ready to serve.

A: When shredding the potatoes be sure to add some acidity (such as a teaspoon of white wine vinegar or concentrated lemon juice to the water. This is one dish where doing the prep work the night before can ruin the meal. When peeled potatoes are exposed to air, oxidation turns the potatoes gray.

Your Latkes Aren't Crisp Enough

You might also be crowding your latkes when you cook them — you want to use a large pan and make sure your latkes don't touch when they're cooking (otherwise they'll steam instead of crisping up). Additionally, your oil might not be hot enough.

Vegetable oil or canola oil is usually best, because of its high smoking point. Latkes were traditionally made with schmaltz, or chicken fat, so if you have access to it, you should certainly add it in, because it does contribute to the flavor.

Latkes also aren't hash browns. Hash browns are all about crispy, burnished crust, with just enough potato-y center to gain a third dimension and a little give. A latke's interior should be plump and slightly cakey, but yielding, with recognizably rustic strands of potato intertwined with onion.

The potato pancake is much simpler, with nothing but raw grated potatoes, egg, and all-purpose flour. The latke, on the other hand, adds baking powder, matzo meal, and even a splash of milk, according to Cooktoria. Surprisingly, the potato pancake has a longer preparation time due to the simplicity of its batter.

Potato latkes are crispiest straight from the pan, but you can prep the ingredients the day before. Shred the potatoes up to 24 hours in advance and store them, submerged in water, in the fridge. Drain them, make the batter, and fry them up to two hours in advance.

How to keep latkes from turning brown? ›

When peeled, potatoes begin immediately to oxidizeand turn brown. One of the tricks to reduce discoloration is squeezing out all of the potato water (See tip #7). Another trick is grinding the potatoes with onions; they help keep the potato mixture white. More onions are added later for flavor.

New York Times food writer Kim Severson pan-fries her latkes and then freezes them, in a single layer, on a plastic wrapped baking sheet. When the hungry crowd arrives, she bakes them in a 425° F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until hot and crispy.

A quick return to the air fryer for 3-4 minutes will bring leftover latkes back to a lovely, crisp state. Reheating on a baking sheet in a 350° F oven for 4-5 minutes will have an equally crispy and delicious result. Serve your latkes alongside these other Hanukkah recipes.

The Best Way to Reheat a Baked Potato

The skin crisps up beautifully, and the interior gets hot and fluffy. Plus, you can reheat a whole rack of baked potatoes in one go. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place potato on a baking sheet or directly on the oven rack, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.

Prep your veg the night before

Peel potatoes, carrots, parsnips and any other veg you're having and leave them in pans of cold water overnight. This will save you a lot of faff and additional mess on Christmas morning.

Storing and Freezing Latkes

Latkes will keep in the fridge for 5 days. Just wrap them in foil and reheat in one layer on a rimmed baking sheet, uncovered, in a 375°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Latkes will freeze well for one month, wrapped in foil and tucked inside a ziptop freezer bag.

Corey Williams is a food writer for MyRecipes and Allrecipes. She has a decade of journalism experience. If you're here, you'll probably be glad to know that yes, you can peel and cut potatoes the day before you plan to serve them — and that it's super easy!

Cool baked potatoes completely, place them in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag and refrigerate them. The USDA says they can be safely refrigerated for 3 to 4 days. Like all foods that have been cooked and cooled, potatoes should be reheated to at least 165 degrees F.