Rainbow Latkes – Potato and Vegetable Pancakes
Mar 20, 2015, Updated Dec 07, 2022
My ultimate latke recipe with more veggies for added color and crunch. The beets are optional, but I think your family will love the addition.
Crispy on the outside, yet tender inside. Bake these treats in muffin tins for a lightened – up version of the
fried potato pancake! (see below.)
Ingredients
- 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled (3 cups)
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled (one cup)
- 1 small carrot, peeled (1/4 cup)
- 1/2 medium zucchini, washed & scrubbed (1/2 cup) *can use half - yellow squash
- 1 medium onion, peeled (1/2 cup)
- 1/3 cup raw beets, peeled and washed
- 3 whole eggs, separated
- ½ cup flour, or can use matzo meal
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (fresh cracked to taste), freshly ground
- Safflower oil*
Instructions
- Place a large mixing bowl on a work surface. Using a hand held grater, grate potatoes and sweet potatoes directly into the bowl. On a cutting board grate carrots and then zucchini, (grating the outside green skin discarding the white center). Blot these vegetables with paper towels. Add to the potatoes, blotting them as well with paper towels until dry.
- Grate the whole onion, peeled on a board. Blot well with paper towels and add to the bowl. Grate the beet separately and set aside. Add egg yolks, flour, salt and pepper to the bowl, mixing gently. Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a flying pan (cast iron skillet works best!) until hot over medium heat. I like to heat the oil early- so when the mixture is ready, so is the oil.
- Beat the egg whites stiff. Add egg whites into bowl in 2 additions mixing thoroughly but gently. Gently add the beets (they will bleed). Drop 2 tablespoon mounds into skillet and cook over medium high heat until nicely browned. Turn pancakes over, reduce heat and cook until done. Repeat process until all mixture is finished (adding more oil if necessary). Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Serve warm with apple sauce or sour cream.
For a lighter version: Bake the pancakes in stick proof muffin tins. Coat the pans with oil, add 2 T. of mixture in each indentation, spray the top with oil. Bake in a moderate oven, turn over when golden on the bottom and spray with oil. Cook until done, making sure they are not sticking.
* with concerns about gmo’s and processing of oils, use a vegetable oil which has not been chemically treated, this is called “expeller pressed”.
This recipe may not be reproduced without the consent of it's author, Karen Sheer.