Loaded Vegetarian Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes
My family loves mashed potatoes and I rarely make them, cause you know, they're a starch and not all that healthy but recently I made a huge pot for a big family dinner and I guess I overestimated the mashed potato love because we were left with 2 very large Tupperware containers of said spuds! And both of our boys are back in college now! What to do?!! Then I remembered seeing lots of recipes for loaded potato cakes on Pinterest (I'm sort of addicted to it now--my daughter and I "pin" in the car on long hockey trips--you can follow me if you like) and my mashed potato surplus was solved and very tastily too!!
My husband went wild over these, so I made several batches throughout the week. They're super easy and versatile too. You can sub in any kind of veggies or cheese you like. Here I used scallions and cheddar cheese, but they'd also be great with chopped red pepper, leftover corn, sauteed mushrooms and any kind of cheese that you have on hand that melts well. You could even add a few shakes of hot sauce into the mix to liven things up! Plus, they're only fried in vegetable cooking spray, so there's no grease involved.
Basically it's like making a vegetarian meatloaf--you toss all the ingredients in a large bowl and then mash them together so that everything gets well combined and the potatoes loose their clumpiness, so that you can form little patties.
Then all you do is fry them for a few minutes on each side so that a nice crispy crust forms on both sides of the cake.
You can serve them as is or with some sour cream or ketchup. They sort of taste like a cross between potato pancakes, hash browns and potato knishes--total comfort food, absolutely delish!
And while they may have started as sorry overlooked potatoes, there were no leftovers this time around!
Loaded Vegetarian Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes
Makes enough for 4 as a side dish or appetizer
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 10 minutes
This recipe doubles really well and you don't have to be exact about the proportions either. Feel free to add in any veggies or cheese you like.
Ingredients
- About 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
- 1/2 cup scallions, roughly chopped
- 1/2-3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
- 1 large egg (I think this would work well with two egg whites if you don't want to use a yolk)
- 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Nonstick vegetable cooking spray
- Sour cream, ketchup, salsa, ranch dressing, etc. for dipping purposes (optional)
The Recipe
1. Place the potatoes, scallions, cheese, egg, flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl and using your hands, mash everything together, the way you would if making a meatloaf. Make sure to break up any potato clumps. Form 10-12 patties out of the mixture and transfer to a plate.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, spray with nonstick vegetable cooking spray and place 4-5 patties in the pan. Try not to overcrowd, or it will be hard to flip them. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until the underside is golden brown. Flip over and cook for another 3-4 minutes so that the second side, forms a golden brown crust as well. Transfer to a plate and repeat process with the remaining patties.
3. Serve immediately as is or with a variety of dipping sauces. Or allow to come to room temperature before serving. They're really good either way.
4. Leftover cakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and eaten cold or reheated in the oven.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen. I tweaked the ingredients and proportions a bit.
