Oven Baked Latkes for Hanukkah

by Nicole Weston, Posted Dec 15th 2006 @ 12:02PM

Photo: Nicole Weston

Hanukkah is known as the "festival of lights" and is a holiday in which oil has a special meaning. To put it very, very briefly, Hanukkah celebrates a miraculous occurrence where one night's worth of oil burned for eight. There is a lot of oil used in foods that are served for this holiday and much of it is used for frying. The two most well-know Hanukkah staples are sufganiyah (jelly-filled donuts) and latkes, or potato pancakes. As good as these two foods are, health-conscious holiday revelers don't always want to completely blow their diet with a meal of entirely fried foods, nor do they want to restrict themselves to only a few bites of this holiday favorite.

Recognizing the health conscious, many people who host Hanukkah parties plan to serve baked latkes, as well as fried.

Baked latkes are often undercooked and not nearly as crispy as fried ones, but this recipe makes an excellent stand-in that is better than most. A minimal amount of oil is still used to grease the baking sheets, and the latkes turn out to be very crispy and very satisfying - with far less fat than ordinary latkes. They have a good potato flavor and, because they are thin, are not undercooked in the center.

Oven Baked Latkes
1-lb. russet potatoes (or Yukon Gold)
1 small, sweet onion
1 large egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 425F.
Wash and dry potatoes and remove the dry, outer skin from the onion (there is no need to peel the potatoes). Grate, perferable using a fairly large/coarse grater, potatoes and onion. Place mixture in a collanger or sieve and press down firmly with a paper towel to remove some of the excess moisture. Stir potato mixture and repeat.

Transfer potato mixture to a large bowl and stir in the egg. In a small bowl, mix together the baking powder, salt and flour, then stir that in as well.

Drop latke mixture in 2-3 tbsp measures, forming 2-3 inch pancakes that are about 1/4 inch thick (sightly thicker is ok), on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then turn the pancakes over, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Latkes should be deep gold on both sides when done, so add a minute or two to the baking time, if necessary.

The latkes can be served immediately, but will stay crisp a bit longer than their fried counterparts and can also be served at room temperature.

Makes about 16 latkes, enough for 4 as a side.

This recipe can easily be doubled to make more.

(note: I reduced the amount of salt called for in the recipe in light of recent comments, but feel free to reduce to 1/2 tsp if salt-sensitive)

Keep your potatoes from turning brown with this tip.

Get More Hanukkah Recipes and Tips from KitchenDaily:
Latke Recipes for Hanukkah
How to Make Latkes Video
A Festive Hanukkah Menu

Filed Under: Food Porn, Light Food, Feast Your Eyes, Ingredients, How To, Methods
Tags: baking, comfort food, cooking, december, dinner, food porn, FoodPorn, frying, hanukkah, health, healty, holiday, holidays, jewish, latke, latkes, light, light food, light life, nicole weston, oven, oven baked latkes, oven fried latkes, pancakes, potato, potato pancakes, potatoes, recipe, recipes, vegetables

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-18-2006 @1:36PM Susan said... Great texture, but definitely too salty. It didn't quite look right so I used 3 tsp for a double batch but it was still too much, lucky the applesauce balanced it out pretty well. Will make again though for sure.
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12-21-2006 @8:17AM Harlan said... Well, I tried to make these, and it was a baking disaster! They stuck to my (non-stick) baking pan, and would not scrape off to flip. I ended up scraping the non-stuck part off, and... pan frying them like traditional latkes! They were fine, but I should have just made a traditional recipe. Thumbs down on oven-baking latkes!
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12-21-2006 @8:19AM Nicole Weston said... Harlan - It doesn't sound like you greased your pan. You could also use parchment paper to line it, but nonstick baking sheets aren't usually as nonstick as they promise. Plus, the small amount of oil used helps these to brown, so it really is a necessary step in making these.
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12-21-2006 @10:53PM Matt OLeary said... I make latkes only once a year, on Christmas Day, therefore I make them as sinful as possible. After grating the potatoes I let them sit in a water bath so they don't brown prematurely. Instead of flour though, I shred some cheddar cheese and use that as the bonding agent in my latkes. Last Christmas I had three pans going with oil and about 6 or so per pan. I'm sure I made well over fifty for just my partner and myself, yet they still disappear within a few days. By far it's my favorite cooking experience and I'm excited for this year's latke run.

-Matthew.
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12-26-2006 @4:16PM Ryan said... There was WAY too much salt in these. 1 tsp would be plenty. I will probably use 1/2 tsp next time. A little sticky on the pan but they did brown nicely. Salt totally ruined them though.
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