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4.61 from 82 votes

Incredibly Simple Potato Cakes

Author: Root Family Review

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup room temperature water
  • 1 teaspoon Hidden Valley Ranch powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 oz finely diced ham 1/3 cup
  • 1 package Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes (4 oz)* see note
  • 2 Tablespoons sliced green onion
  • 2 Tablespoons avocado oil in small skillet as shown in pictures. Use more oil if using a larger pan.
  • Garnish with green onion and sour cream

Instructions

  • To a large bowl, add egg and beat lightly with a whisk
  • Add water, ranch, onion and garlic powder and whisk
  • While continuously whisking, add instant mashed potatoes and mix well.
  • Add ham and green onion while it is still thin and mix to combine.
  • Let sit about 5 minutes for the potatoes to thicken.
  • Stir one more time because ham may have settled to the bottom.
  • Shape 2 Tablespoons of the mixture into a ball, then flatten into the shape of a potato cake.
  • If the cakes stick to your hands, it can help to moisten your hands with water before shaping the cakes.
  • Fry in avocado oil (or other high smoke point oil like peanut oil) on medium to medium-high heat, checking for brownness after 2 minutes on each side. I use 2 Tablespoons avocado oil in my small frying pan.
  • See the picture above to see how you can push the cake toward the edge of the pan with your spatula to make it easy to check for brownness and to flip them over.
  • Recipe yield is 12 potato cakes.
  • Garnish with sour cream and green onion.

Notes

*It's important that you use exactly this brand and type of instant mashed potatoes if you want the recipe to turn out well as written. I tried using the Roasted Garlic version and they were way too salty since the ranch powder adds a fair amount of salt. The Idahoan Buttery Homestyle potatoes have about 25% less salt than most of their other options. Also, for other brands, the liquid to potato amount may not be quite right so they could end up too thick or too thin.
Resist the urge to add butter or cheese to the mixture! It makes them more likely to fall apart in the pan. You can always sprinkle some shredded cheddar on the cakes as a garnish.