I am wanting to make these Kartoffelpuffer, which is german for potato pancakes. I am looking to use this recipe https://www.allergygirleats.com/potato-pancakes/

The ingredients are as follows:


500g Parboiled Potatoes

1/4 cup White Onion - finely chopped

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Potato Starch

1 Egg

1 tbsp Ghee

1 tsp Olive oil

This is a gluten free recipe but I was also wondering if I could make it vegan as well/dairy free? Which ingredients here would fall under vegan or dairy free? I saw the eggs, is there any substitution for that?

Thanks. (Need it more vegan than dairy free, that's the least of the priorities) Thanks!

  • 2
    How can it be vegan without being dairy free? What foods do you consider vegan but not dairy free? – The Photon Oct 25 '18 at 1:50

This happens to be one of my favorite ethnic foods as long as I can remember. So the hunt was on.

Anyway, I could not find any egg-free version of this (or Kartoffelpfannkuchen that is traditional in my household), but checking German websites I found two egg-free recipes:

Kartoffel-Pfannkuchen mit Speck
(without the bacon to be vegan)

If you can't read German, Google Translate will give decent results.

While there is some variation on the spices, the main difference from what I expect in the recipe I use (other than no eggs) is the use of a potato press on the potatoes.

As I make the standard recipe (with eggs), we grate and then drain the potatoes (somewhat), but never press them.

Honestly I have never tried such method, but I think it would be worth a try.

I would use liberal amounts of butter if you can (I wonder if you can leave it out). The amount of ghee in your recipe seems to be too little.
You might also experiment with the type of potatoes you use.

But (in my book) never, ever leave out the nutmeg (Muskat).

  • 2
    "mit Speck" is not a good indicator for a recipe when someone is asking for a vegan recipe. – The Photon Oct 25 '18 at 1:53
  • @ThePhoton Of course leave out the bacon... It shouldn't affect the recipe though. Maybe add additional oil to the frying pan, though I use more than enough butter to compensate. I added a note to my answer. – user3169 Oct 25 '18 at 4:54
  • I don't usually use ghee in kartoffelpuffer. It won't hurt if I leave it out right? Just there for flavour? – Grand Skunk Oct 27 '18 at 20:25
  • I never have. As I make them, I use about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (or whichever oil you prefer) and about 1/4 cup of butter in a pan large enough for four medium size pancakes. You just have experiment on ingredients and cooking temperature to get the flavor and texture you want. – user3169 Oct 28 '18 at 1:39
  • Also I don't parboil the potatoes, as the frying time of the pancakes should be sufficient to cook them. – user3169 Oct 28 '18 at 1:41

The non-vegan ingredients are the egg and the ghee (clarified butter, browned to develop the nutty flavours).

For the ghee you can substitute the same quantity of olive oil, possibly with some loss of flavour.

The egg is harder to replace. You could try a commercial egg replacement: these are powdered starch (one product uses potato and tapioca flour, so is gluten free) with assorted emulsifiers. A substitute widely recommend on the web for savoury pancakes is a gel made from flax or chia seeds: mix 1 tablespoon of seeds with 2.5 tablespoons of water and leave for 10 minutes for the seeds to fully hydrate.


Seeing "Pancake" with potatoes also make me smile. :)

But anyway, you can (and we usualy do) not use butter but regular oil (canola in 90% of the cases as eruopean rape is different than USA one). The color of fritter will depend on the type of potatoes rather than fat you're frying it over.
To compensate for the nutty flavour fry onions before adding to the mix till they get starting brown (not full brown thought).

For the eggs replacement can be chosen depending on what final flavour you want to have. For example if you put sugar on "pancake" one of the best option is mashed banana. You may use a little more potato starch.
If you like them sour (with sour cream or even more fried onions) you can use aquafaba. Chickpea one will make more nutty flavour while (the one I prefer) pinto beans have more neutral taste.

And remember: first pancake is always bad.

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