This is a recipe for quick latkes, nothing fancy, not like some of the recipes where you have to scrape a vanilla bean and crush cardamom pods. You could use a mix, but with this recipe, you can control the amount of salt. Here’s my low-stress, low-mess, no-peel, no-chop, no-tears, no-grate, yes-great latkes.

You’ll need instant mashed potato flakes, freeze-dried onion, and garlic powder. This recipe will yield latkes for four people, plus leftovers. Multiply as needed.

1 1/2 cups potato flakes
2 cups milk
4 eggs
2 Tbsp. freeze-dried onion
1 tsp. garlic powder
Lean over the bowl and drop in a kiss or two as an ingredient
Optional: 4 shakes salt and 4 shakes pepper

Let the batter sit while you heat the largest frying pan you have to medium high. Use enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. You’re not going to be deep-frying or anything close to it. Use a large serving spoon or ladle to create small- to medium-size latkes. Because these latkes don’t have the potato strands to hold them together, they need to be moderate size so that you can flip them. Flip when brown on the bottom.

These latkes can be a substitute for the traditional labor-intensive latkes or they can be a supplement. I do grate potatoes and chop onions for latkes, usually at the beginning and end of Hanukkah, but in between those productions, I use this recipe for a quick hit.

I used this recipe on Thanksgivukkah, when the first day of Hanukkah 5774 came on Thanksgiving 2013. At noontime, I paused from preparing turkey and the fixings, which I had begun in the morning, to make a quick batch of latkes for lunch. (I used a parve version with non-dairy sour cream.) And I’ve used this recipe to make latkes for my younger daughter on schooldays during Hanukkah before she ran out the door.

This post has been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content are presented solely by the author, and JewishBoston assumes no responsibility for them. Want to add your voice to the conversation? Publish your own post here. MORE