A simple, no-fuss dish–cottage potatoes are top of the list when it comes to easy-to-make comfort food. They’re great at the end of a busy day, or in the morning as breakfast. Golden and crispy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside, they’re the perfect potato dish.

You can use it as a main course, or prepare it as a side–either way, everyone is sure to love it!

Cottage potatoes were named so because when the potato is sliced, the rounds resemble shingles on a roof or cottage. They can be prepared a million different ways, and you can use whatever toppings you enjoy. In this recipe, I’ve included some of my go-to flavors–cheddar cheese, bacon, and green onion.

These three are the holy trinity for me when it comes to potatoes.

Can you really go wrong with cheese and bacon!?!

I have lots of recipes that include these star ingredients, such as:

Cornbread Tamale Bites with Jalapeno, Bacon, and Cheese

Jalapeno Bacon Mac and Cheese–a little bit spicy and a whole lot of delicious on your plate!

But I also have lots of great potato recipes too. After all, it is a kitchen staple, and thanks to its natural versatility, it can be used in so many ways. 

Potatoes are a staple… and for good reason. They can be cooked in hundreds of different ways!

And as such, they are often found on the table at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This potato pancake recipe is no different! It can be enjoyed whenever you feel like it– morning, noon, or night. They can be served with sour cream, grape jelly, and apple sauce for breakfast, mustard or fried eggs for brunch, or corned beef and cabbage for dinner!

Use them as a side dish for chicken, beef, or pork, or simply top them with cheese for a great anytime treat!

OMG, i didn’t want to forget to tell you. These freeze well, so make plenty! I’ve made 5 lbs of potatoes, and everyone just loves seeing a gigantic batch being made!

If you grew up eating potato pancakes, these may remind you of your grandma’s potato latkes recipe, though there are some differences between latkes and potato pancakes, even though the resulting flavor is very similar.

So what’s the difference? Let’s discuss…

Both latkes and potato pancakes use eggs as one of their main ingredients. But latkes, most closely associated with Hanukkah, often include baking powder, matzo meal, and even milk. Additionally, latkes use a shredded potato. 

 On the other hand, potato pancakes, whose origins are a bit unclear but can be traced back to a popular street food in Germany during the 1870s, do not use matzo, milk, or baking powder. And depending on the recipe, the potatoes may be shredded or mashed. Using already mashed potatoes creates a creamier pancake, like my mashed potato pancake.

This recipe, however, uses shredded potatoes for a shredded potato pancake -combined with the seasonings, it makes a delicious, crunchy, and golden brown pancake. 

Whether making latkes or potato pancakes, you’ll want them to come out crisp, no one likes a soggy potato.

Luckily, I have a few tips that will ensure a crispy finish.

Keep in mind:

• Use russet potatoes. This variation has a high starch content, which helps the individual shreds hold together nicely, and a higher starch content means crispier potatoes. 
• Rinse and dry your potatoes. A little starch is good, a lot can actually work against you. Russet potato work best here. When you’re done shredding them ( I use a food processor) pile them into a clean dish towel and wring them out to remove any excess liquid. 
• Don’t overcrowd the pan. If you do, you will essentially steam your potato pancakes. 
• Make sure your oil is at 375. Any less and you won’t get that nice crisp, golden brown potato. Higher heat is needed to create the “crust”.
• Add additional flour if there is a puddle of liquid as you cook each batch, potatoes can render more liquid as they rest and a little more flour will help them bind and fry up crispier.

With that, let’s get down to it!

To begin, in a food processor with the grating attachment added, grate the potatoes and then add in the onion. Or use a box-style grater or similar to shred potatoes. I prefer the food processor with the grater attachment.

For easier handling, you can cut the potatoes into smaller pieces before you put them in the food processor. 

Place the potatoes into a thin cloth dish towel (like a potato sack towel) and wring out the liquid until fairly dry. This will release extra liquid and ensure they’ll be extra crispy after being fried.

Next, in a medium bowl, mix the grated potato and onion until fully combined.

Add 3 eggs. For vegan potato latkes or potato pancakes, use an egg replacement. Then add in your flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and any additional seasonings desired.

Mix all ingredients together well with a fork or spatula.

Cook the potato pancakes/latkes in oil with a cast iron skillet, Dutch oven, or a deep fryer.

Heat your skillet with oil about 1″ deep to 375°F. 

Scoop 3 tablespoons of mixture and pat down into a disk shape, transfer to your preheated skillet, and fry until crisp and golden on one side. Flip over carefully to cook fully. It takes about 3 minutes per side.

A note:  I like to add a splatter screen to avoid oil getting on everything, but also to help regulate the oil temperature. You can also use a lid. Cover unused burners with aluminum foil for easy cleanup. When your potato pancakes are finished cooking, they should have an internal temperature of 165°F.

Drain each batch on paper towels and sprinkle with additional salt if desired.

Serve potato pancakes/latkes with

• sour cream and diced green onions
• apple sauce
• mustard
• grape jelly
• try your favorite dipping sauce like ranch, sriracha mayo, or ketchup. 

That’s it! They are so delicious, and they require very few ingredients–they’re a great go-to in a pinch!

And if you’re hungry for more potato recipes, I have a lot to offer on my blog. The potato is so versatile, and I almost always have some in my house, so I’ve created lots of ways to enjoy the spud. You can find more great ideas HERE!

Don’t miss:

• Loaded Baked Potato Soup
• Potato Salad
• Colcannon
• Zuppa Toscana

 I don’t have a food processor. What can I use instead?

A hand grater works as well-though it’s a bit more laborious, you could also buy pre-shredded potatoes in a pinch!

What kind of oil is best for frying?

You can usually use whatever you have on hand, but ideally, you want to use an oil that is best used with high heat, like canola, vegetable, or even avocado oil.

What kind of towels should I use to ring out the potatoes?

A lint-free type is best. I suggest using something like a simple potato sack towel like these.

How many potatoes will I need?

Great question, 5-6 medium potatoes 2 1/2-3 lbs yield 12-15 potato pancakes, and 5 lbs of potatoes yield 25+ potato pancakes.

Handy items to use when making potato pancakes?

I make sure I have a spatula and tongs so I can easily flip and move them when cooking and to transfer them to a tray to hold until they’ll all finished cooking (you can keep them warm in a 200* oven until you’re ready to serve.

How to keep the mess to a minimum when frying foods?

Covering the burners you’re not using with foil, will help with easy cleanup.

What do these go best served with?

Serve with sour cream, grape jelly, apple sauce, mustard, fried eggs, corned beef, and cabbage, top with cheese, and so many great options!

I pack up leftovers in individual containers and add in some condiments like ketchup, sour cream, and salt and pepper.

Enjoy leftovers with a fried egg for breakfast!

How well do these reheat?

They reheat well, I even microwave them and they still maintain a great flavor and crispness, just don’t overheat them, if they steam, they’ll get soggy. You can reheat them in a skillet or oven as well. 

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Potato Pancakes

These crispy potato pancakes are a perfect meal on their own or serve alongside chicken or beef. They are great served with sour cream, apple sauce, mustard, grape jelly, ranch, or ketchup.

Course Main Dish, Side Dish

Cuisine American, German, Jewish, Polish

Keyword potato

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 6 minutes minutes

Total Time 16 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author Diane Schmidt - createdbydiane.com

Cost $5

Ingredients

• 5-6 medium potatoes washed, no need to peel unless you want to
• ½ white onion
• ½-1 cup all-purpose flour add additional flour as needed if potatoes are wet after the mixture is mixed
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½-1 teaspoon salt
• ¼-½ teaspoon black pepper
• Additional seasonings if desired paprika hot sauce,
• Enough oil canola vegetable, or avocado oil for 1/4 “ thick in a frying pan (add oil as needed)

Instructions

• In a food processor with the grating attachment added, grate the potatoes and then add in the onion. If you want the potato pieces smaller you can cut the potatoes before you put them in the food processor.
• Place the potatoes into a cloth thin dish towel, like a potato sack towel, and wring out the liquid until fairly dry.
• In a medium bowl mix the grated potato and onion.
• Add 3 eggs, flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and any additional seasons desired.
• Mix all ingredients together well with a fork or spatula.
• In the skillet with heated oil 350-375° scoop 3 tablespoons of mixture and pat down into a disk shape, fry until crisp on one side then flip over carefully to cook fully. You can add a lid or spatter screen. The internal temperature of cooked potatoes at 165°.
• Adding a lid allows the temperature of the oil to keep at a nice temperature, regulate it with the temperature control and it will help reduce splatters or use a splatter screen.
• Fry in batches for about 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
• Until all the mixture is cooked.
• Draining each batch on paper towels.
• Add any additional salt if desired.
• Serve with sour cream and diced green onions, applesauce, mustard, grape jelly, or your favorite dipping sauce like ranch or ketchup.

Notes

To help keep the potatoes with as little moisture as possible, I have found that if I place the mixture in a colander in a bowl as I'm portioning it into the pan, it still releases liquid.
Add additional flour if needed so it's sticky by not wet, it'll help with a crispier potato and won't spatter as much either.

The post Potato Latkes-Pancakes first appeared on Created by Diane.

Lo mein means stirred noodles, and oh are they delicious.

One of my all-time favorite Chinese take out foods is lo mein. The noodles, the sauce. It’s irresistible!

This recipe is so easy you can make it any time you get a hankering for Chinese take out and it’s not oily as take out can be.

If you love noodles, you might want my Noodle Ebook, just sayin’

One of my all time favorite noodle dishes is Peanut Noodles, delicious hot or cold!

Benefits of a dry rub:

The meat will brown and crisp and quickly as there is no liquid to cook off first.

It’s not traditional, but it just may win you over!

You can leave the meat in large pieces if it’s thin; if it’s thicker, it’ll be best to cut it small so it’ll cook quickly and evenly. If you are cooking it in a cast-iron skillet, small pieces work well. On the grill, large pieces are easier to handle.

• Cooking on a grill, slice the meat so it’s thin but into larger pieces.
• Cooking in a skillet, you can cut the pieces small; they’ll cook quickly, and heat the skillet really well, so the meat will brown nicely. Don’t overcrowd the pan; it’s better to cook in two or more small batches than to have the pan overcrowded. *The meat will steam, and will not have the nice browning that adds great flavor. A cast-iron skillet works well for this.

Small pieces work well when fitting them into a taco.

the best cut of meat for carne asada

• skirt steak
• flank steak
• flap meat
• tri-tip 

Lean tender meat, thin so it’ll cook quickly and easily.

If you feel the meat is thicker than you’d like, there are a couple of options.

First, pound it; this will make the meat thinner and more tender. You can filet it by cutting it thinner so large pieces cook quickly and evenly.

When we’re camping, I often make roasted corn and serve it all with some beans, refried beans, or black beans with some taco seasoning added.

I usually bring some tortillas for tacos, to use for scrambled egg burritos for breakfast, and to heat up and add some butter, cinnamon, and sugar for a fun treat.

If it’s not really hot, I also like to bring mini chocolate chips and heat the tortilla, add a little butter, place the chocolate chips on the tortilla, and fold them over and allow the chocolate to melt, just another yummy sweet treat that takes minutes to make.

Be sure to check out my Grilled Apple Tacos for more fun!

I like carne asada tacos just like they serve at taco shops with white onion, cilantro, and cotija cheese.

The options are endless, pile on the toppings you’d like, avocado/guacamole, hot sauce, add in some diced tomatoes, corn, beans…

Make sure your tortilla is big enough to hold your toppings, or go big and wrap it up like a burrito!

Great side dishes to serve:

• Simple Mexican Rice, 
• Mexican Corn Macaroni Salad
• Corn and Black Bean Salsa
• Cornbread Tamale Bites
• Elote (Mexican Corn)
• Vegetarian taco option try this (A fun vegetarian option)
• Salsa (red), Salsa Verde (green) don’t forget the chips!
• pickled jalapenos…great to add to tacos, nachos, scrambled burritos, and more!

If you’re looking for a super quick marinade with minimal ingredients, use some fresh garlic and Worcestershire sauce to marinate the meat; it’ll be absorbed by the meat quickly, so no need to let it sit, but you certainly can. Add some sliced onions and grill, or cook in a hot cast-iron skillet so it browns nicely. It’s great to have options, quick, easy recipes are essential!

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Carne Asada Dry Rub

A simple and delicious marinade to make perfect Mexican Style Carne Asada at home, for dinner, parties, nachos,

Course Beef, Main Dish

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8 -10 servings

Author Diane Schmidt - createdbydiane.com

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef skirt steak, flank steak, flap meat or tri-tip
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2-1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2-1 teaspoon salt
• If you want the marinade wet add the juice of 2 limes
• If you prefer a simplified flavor for meat leave out the chili powder
• Another simple marinade is using 2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire and 2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic

Instructions

• This dry rub can be put on the meat before cooking or you can allow it to marinate for 30 minutes to a few hours or overnight.
• Mix all the seasonings and apply it to the meat and rub it so that completely coats the meat.
• You can leave the meat in large thin pieces, or cut it into strips, or dice it into 1-inch pieces. Large pieces work well on the grill, while smaller pieces work well in a cast iron skillet.
• Don't overcrowd the pan if you're cooking it in a skillet, cook the meat in two batches so that it has time to get browned on the edges.
• Cook beef to an internal temperature of 130° then allow it to rest a few minutes if you need to slice it.

I often make plenty of food and meal prep containers for the week, it saves a ton of time and is less expensive than being hungry and eating out, planning ahead works well with this meal.

Mix some black beans (or pinto beans) with corn, or rice and pile on the yumminess!

Top the “taco bowls” with onion, cilantro, or pour on some cilantro lime sauc,e my personal favorite.

The post Carne Asada Dry Rub first appeared on Created by Diane.

Select your favorite sauce, if you’re looking to purchase a jar try Victoria-White Linen Marinara, Barilla-Marinara, or Tomato Basil, or make homemade sauce.

In this recipe, you can use chicken breast or ground chicken formed into patties, if you really want beef, make ground beef patties, brown each side then add the sauce and top with cheeses.

Serve this with a nice salad or broccoli and it’s sure to become a favorite!

If you like the citrusy flavor of a margarita, salted or not you’ll love this fun tequila lime shrimp recipe. the sauce is so delicious you’ll want to definitely lick the spoon!

I’m a huge shrimp fan, it cooks quickly, is delicious and you can enjoy it in so many ways. If you like shrimp, be sure to check out my other shrimp recipes here.

It’s no secret Chinese take-out is really popular, but you can easily make some at home…

I often buy chicken without a clue as to what I’m going to make with it. But rest assured if you do too, this is a great recipe to whip up. And don’t forget about my Szechuan chicken recipe.

I often buy bean sprouts and use them in these great Beef Bowls and Chicken Pho recipes.

Every week I buy a bunch or two of cilantro so I’m sure I always have some in the fridge, I keep a little water in a glass jar and it stays nice all week,  I keep a plastic bag over it to loosely cover it.

The other items I typically have on hand are shredded carrots, for the endless meals I put them on, and some fresh limes, oh fresh-squeezed citrus is always a good idea!

Asian food holds a special place in my heart. I love going to Asian markets to pick up fun flavors and ingredients for recipes. The colors and varieties of foods that these food stores offer bring so much to the table…literally!

I love picking up rice paper wrappers for Asian Spring Rolls and these Egg Salad Spring Rolls. And I usually pick up some Curry while I’m there for my go-to curry recipes.

With a little heat and a little sweet, this curry dish is one of my favorites to make!

The sweetness comes from the coconut milk with its naturally slightly sweet flavor, but if you want to add a bit more for your sweet tooth, you can easily add in pineapple!

This takes the salty/sweet flavor up a notch and really knocks this dish out of the park. And I think this is why I love curry so much, there are so many ways you can play around with ingredients to bring out new and fresh flavors each time.

Curry spice is so flavorful with cumin, mustard seeds, coriander, garam masala, and chili, with turmeric giving it the bright yellow/orange color. It in itself has a spicy-sweet flavor and lends itself well to chicken, pork, salmon, and even shrimp.

This dish that I’m going to show you could be made with any of those proteins, or for a vegetarian/vegan option just load it up with vegetables! Curry is one of the most adaptable dishes out there when it comes to ingredients, as long as you have the spice you can truly create it differently each day.

We eat a lot of chicken and I do like cooking it different ways for lots of recipe options, I like cooking all the chicken for the week I’m going to need, so it’s easily on hand.  And makes mealtime super fast. Sometimes I’ll do this by sticking them in an Instant Pot, but other times I reach for the old faithful, my cast iron skillet, the results is tender baked chicken breasts that are not dry.

There’s something deeply satisfying about cooking anything in a cast-iron skillet. I enjoy it so much that I’ve used it for all kinds of dishes including dessert, such as my Chocolate Chocolate Chip Skillet Cake. And once I realized how tasty that was I expanded it to Fresh Cherry Scones, Skillet Carrot Cake, and lots more delectable and delicious treats. And of course, I have loads of savory skillet dishes as well, such as Creamy Shrimp and Pasta. And if you’re not a fan of shellfish you can easily replace the shrimp with this amazing baked chicken recipe I’m about to show you! 

This skillet baked chicken recipe is such a cinch to make and produces the most lovely flavor. Plus the chicken can be used to put in salads, soups, curries, and your favorite pasta dish. Or serve it up simply with your favorite sides! I personally love it with Garlic Rosemary Skillet Potatoes. I’ve listed more recipes to use this chicken in at the end of this post.

This recipe is great when you have plenty of buttermilk on hand and want to make something yummy with it. Who doesn’t love cornbread, right!

When I think of cornbread a few things come to find, the first three are chili, fried chicken, and BBQ…

Oh yes,

give me all the comfort foods.

I have always been a HUGE cornbread fan, I recall eating cornbread tops, (although I haven’t seen them in years… I sure would like to) I would eat for breakfast toasted with butter as a kid, seeing as I wasn’t a huge sweets person in the morning and I’m still not.

I would eat those or bagels everything bagels are my fav, but since moving cross country good bagels are hard to find so I try to find other items to eat now) or leftover pizza. Yeah, I love a good savory breakfast and if you do too you may also find a new favorite over on my Toast Overload breakfast post and another savory breakfast favorite of mine is this!

So the next time you’re looking to kick up things for breakfast, consider a slice of this easy buttermilk cornbread. It’s great topped with whipped cream cheese too. And don’t forget you can always drizzle it with honey if you like things on the sweet side.

And while we’re on the subject of breakfast be sure to check out my post on EGGS too.