Recipe

Make Bacon and Cheese Pancakes Using Leftover Mashed Potatoes

By Carrie Eager at Syracuse University

Let’s be honest, the best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers… and you know you’ll have leftovers for days. By day 2 though, plain old mashed potatoes get pretty boring. Instead of heating your mashed potatoes in the microwave, try out this alternative.

Easy

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 5 min
Total Time: 25 min

Ingredients:

3 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices of bacon (Or as much bacon as you want. There’s no such thing as too much bacon).
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for pan-frying

Directions:

1. Cook the bacon.
2. Combine the mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese, bacon, eggs and 3 tablespoons of flour in a large bowl.

3. Roll approximately 12 balls of the mixture and then flatten into ½ inch thick “pancakes.”
4. Put the ½ cup of flour in a bowl and then dredge the pancakes in the flour.
5. Take a large skillet or pan and heat about 3 to 4 tablespoons of oil. Use medium heat – make sure the oil doesn’t get too hot.

6. Fry the pancakes in the oil until each side is brown and crispy (usually takes about 3 to 4 minutes). Add more oil if you need to. Be careful not to put too many pancakes in the pan at a time or flip the pancakes too soon.
7. Transfer cakes to a paper towel covered plate and add whatever you want – scallions, salt, more cheese or more bacon. Always add more bacon.