Perfect Paleo Potato Pancakes (gluten free with vegan option)
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Pancakes are great no matter what type of pancakes they are, but potato pancakes are something really special for sure.
And if you’re on a paleo diet, or simply avoiding grains, then these paleo potato pancakes are perfect for you. And even if you’re not avoiding grains, this is such a great recipe that you’re sure to love.
When you’re gluten-free or on another special diet, finding new recipes to enjoy can be hard.
Over the years, I’ve pulled together some special-diet friendly recipes like:
- Chocolate “Cheesecake” Cupcakes
- Buckwheat Crepes
- Focaccia Flax Bread
- Chili Mac, and
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
This recipe is for potato pancakes that are not only gluten-free, but also paleo, and of course, they’re super delicious, made by the original author of this post on Lyme Disease Facts, Corah Webber.
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Super Special Potato Pancakes
Pancakes have been our family’s way of celebrating weekends for a long time. There’s nothing quite like waking up to the smell of pancakes and bacon in the morning.
My husband, Lance, is the official pancake flipper in our house. (I am not pancake-adept for some reason. I try, but they burn… always. I suspect my lack of patience.) He rises early on the weekends, spends some time in Bible study, and then sets to work mixing up the “weekend magic” graciously allowing me to catch some extra shut-eye.
With our recent switch to a gluten-free lifestyle as part of our attempt to treat Lyme Disease, our pancake-making days ground to a halt. Or so we thought.
Our kids started lamenting their pancake loss and we all were growing tired of eggs for breakfast. So, I started scouring the web for inspiration, and Lance began creating and experimenting with some different recipes. My kids love the sweet recipes he came up with of course, but this one right here is my favorite.
I think about these pancakes a lot lately – almost as much as I think about pizza. I think I could eat them for every meal for a week before I’d get tired of them. The recipe calls for new potatoes, but they’d also be lovely with some heirloom potatoes, and always remember to aim for organic.
Recipe Notes
- Vegan Option: To make these vegan, you can try using this Powdered Egg Replacer, using 1/2 a heaping Tablespoon of the powder with 2 Tablespoons of water for each egg.
- Homemade Dairy-free Milk Options: Here are great homemade recipes for coconut milk and almond milk.
- Butter Alternatives: Bacon fat and coconut oil would work well instead of butter for the pan.
Perfect Gluten-free Potato Pancakes (vegan option)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes in a saucepan until fork tender with the skin on.
- While potatoes are boiling sauté the onion, mushroom and garlic in a cast iron skillet with bacon fat or butter. (These 2 things can be done the night before to make it quicker in the morning.)
- Soak your potatoes in cold water to cool them down, otherwise when you add the eggs you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. (If you’ve made them the night before, skip this step.) Peel the skins off.
- Place all the ingredients in a blender or a food processor. Add 1/4 cup of milk first. The consistency you are looking for is a very thin mashed potatoes, so add more milk if needed until you reach the desired consistency.
- Over medium heat, add your potato mixture to your greased pan with a measuring cup, the goal being a 3 inch diameter pancake. Don’t make them too big or they won’t hold together. Flip when they are browned. Continue to grease the pan a bit more between batches to prevent sticking.
- Serve with our ranch dip recipe, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and a side of bacon or sausage. Enjoy!
Notes
- Vegan Option: To make these vegan, you can try using this Powdered Egg Replacer, using 1/2 a heaping Tablespoon of the powder with 2 Tablespoons of water for each egg.
- Homemade Dairy-free Milk Options: Here are great homemade recipes for coconut milk and almond milk.
- Butter Alternatives: Bacon fat and coconut oil would work well instead of butter for the pan.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Do YOU like potato pancakes? Have you ever made them?
Oh, yum. We LOVE potato pancakes. It’s a recipe handed down by my grandmother. I’ve never tried them with mushrooms, so that is definitely going to happen soon!
Visiting from Simple Lives Thursday…
I need to try these! They look and sound great 🙂
Be sure to stop by and let me know how you like them when you do!
What is the vegan egg replacement of choice here? It doesn’t sound like it would do well with chia or flax eggs..
I believe Ener-G egg replacer would work in this. Adrienne may possibly have more thoughts on that than I… she is more of an expert in the egg-free field than myself.
I have read of folks using all 3 (chia, flax and Powdered Replacer) in potato pancakes so I think all will work. I think the powdered would likely work the best. Maybe try 1/2 and 1/2? :). Don’t consider myself an expert for sure…especially when I tried making meringues w/ the powder. Don’t.do.it.
You use the liquid off of chickpeas to make meringue! There’s whole pages on Facebook about it. This recipe is so disgusting because all the talks about his bacon through the whole thing it’s like get to the pancakes already I looked up vegan gluten-free and I had to hear about bacon! Imagine waking up to the smell of bacon well I want to vomit I never did care for the smell of a dead animal from the day I was born it’s ridiculous recipe
Hi Gomez,
I have heard about that. I tried it once but it didn’t work so I will have to try again.
I’m sorry you are disgusted by it. I gave a vegan option for those who didn’t want the bacon fat. I don’t think it’s ridiculous. My blog isn’t vegan b/c I am repulsed by animals….it has many vegan options b/c my son has life threatening food allergies to dairy and egg and I want to have options for those who need them. I hope you can understand. I actually had a medical practitioner tell us that we needed to have animal protein in our diets.
Hope to see you around again.
I am also not a pancake flipper. I tend to scramble mine. These sound delicious!
Good to hear I’m not the only with pancake difficulties. 🙂
I just discoved you yesterday, in a Google search, while researching essential oils. I read your whole series on the subject. I was very impressed with your thorough research and all of your rebuttals to that wackadoodle, who, for whatever reason, seemed to have it out for you.
Then I saw this recipe and decided to try it. My daughter and I had them for dinner last night, with sour cream and scallions, then for breakfast this morning, with ghee and maple syrup. Yum! Potato pancakes, to me, have always meant latkes, which I love. But, these were a whole new experience! I will keep following you. Keep up the good work, and don’t let the loonies get to you. 🙂
Wow – great to hear from you and welcome! I hope to post more on oils soon. I too was pretty frustrated w/ their treatment of me. Sheesh.
Now I have to try these pancakes :).
Alex… so pleased you tried my husbands pancake recipe and loved them so much. I just read what you wrote to him and it brought a big smile to his face. Be sure to stop over to The Homespun Rabble Rouser for more as we’re planning a once weekly post of all the fun things he’s come up with.
These look amazing! I was hoping someone could help me a bit with a modification? We are an egg free family due to my son’s allergy …and we cannot use the egg replacers due to the starches in them. Have you ever tried flax or chia ? I was wondering if you thought the pancakes would stay together with a flax or chia egg replacement?
Thank you so much for your recipe !
I think they would work with either. But I’ll send Candace over as well :).
Michele – I really don’t have much experience working with flax or chia as an egg replacer. I think I tried it once with some cookies and didn’t really enjoy the results. I think just give it a try, maybe with the chia seeds first as that would be less flavor, and see how it goes.
Yum, these look delicious! We are a GF family so I can’t wait to try these out.
So happy you’re going to try them out… be sure to stop back and let me know how they go.
Hi Adrienne,
I/we devour potato pancakes and I have made different kinds. This recipe looks delicious. But, I’ve made latkes, German potato pancakes, Scandinavian potato pancakes, and boxty (Irish potato pancakes), and Russian potato pancakes. They each are a little different, and just enough different from each other to serve each kind. I don’t think I have a favorite. Just depends on what else I am serving, and how ambitious I am, and how much time I have.
Blessings,
Joanne
Wowee. You are a potato pancake guru! Blessings!
I had no idea there were so many kinds of potato pancakes Joanne… I may have to look those up and give them a try.