Vegan Boxty – Irish Potato Pancakes Recipe
If you’ve ever had potato pancakes in a restaurant, they might have been called rosti or latkes or even hash browns. Boxty are none of those things. Read on to find out!
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Boxty is a traditional Irish potato pancake, served on St Brigid’s Day, with Ireland, and probably all year round elsewhere (and in Ireland too!). Ironically, St Brigid is the patron saint of dairy farmers, so hopefully she approves of my fully vegan boxty.
I love to serve boxty alongside some vegan mayo or my perfect pizza sauce, or, if you fancy a replacement for the great British banger, you could try my vegan Glamorgan sausages. And if you fancy another budget supper, you cannot go wrong with vegan bubble and squeak or pan haggerty!
Table of Contents
What are Boxty?
So boxty are made in a very similar tradition to other potato pancakes: grated potato which you then take ages wringing out to get nice and dry, and then this is dropped in a very simple flour and milk batter. They are then fried. Traditionally there would also be an egg mixed into the batter, and the boxty would be fried in bacon fat. None of that here, although I do recommend you add a little vegan butter to the frying pan.
Aside from the grating of potato, which we all know is a complete pain, these are possibly the easiest and most trouble-free pancake to make ever. And even better, they taste great the next day too!
Boxty are savoury pancakes, and great served with ketchup or baked beans!
I found that when reheated the following day, they took on the taste of something I loved as a kid, eggy bread, the savoury version of French toast. It’s strange how the brain (or tastebuds) plays tricks on you. Boxty has no egg or bread in it, yet was deeply reminiscent of my childhood favourite snack.
You could serve as an accompaniment to a meal with some veg, but I think they make a great brunch dish on their own.
Ingredients
- potatoes, peeled, grated and drained
- flour
- milk
- seasoning
Instructions
Mix the wet ingredients into the flour
Now fold in the grated raw potato
Until you have a thick batter that drops off a spoon easily
Drop dollops of the batter into a cutter to ensure a nice round shap
Hint: I use a biscuit cutter to get a round, uniform shape for all my boxty, but you can just drop in spoonfuls of mixture.
Storage
- Store the fried and cooled boxty in the fridge overnight and reheat in the toaster the next day.
- You can chill the batter overnight before cooking the next day. No need to bring up to room temperature.
- You can freeze the cooked boxty once cool. Wrap tightly in clingfilm, will freeze for up to 6 months. To reheat, thaw, then cook in the toaster or in the frying pan.
Boxty (Irish Potato Cakes)
Equipment
- 1 Frying Pan heavy bottomed
Ingredients
- 450 g Potatoes - peeled
- 100 g Plain flour
- 125 ml Soy Milk
- Salt and Pepper
- Oil to fry the Boxty in
Instructions
- This is the boring job. Grate the potatoes into a colander lined with kitchen paper and squeeze all the liquid out of them.
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, and add the salt and pepper.
- Stir in the milk, until you have a thick batter.
- Now mix in the grated potato thoroughly.
- You can refrigerate this batter overnight now if you wish, or you can go ahead and continue to make the boxty.
- Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over moderate heat, and, using a dessertspoon, drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil.
- Leave to cool until you see a translucent line move up the sides of the pancake, indicating that is cooking. This might take a couple of minutes or more, so don't worry!
- Flip the pancake and cook on the other side, you will see the translucent line move up the pancakes again as the potato cooks.
- Each pancake should take about 5-6 minutes to cook thoroughly so don't rush the process!
- Drain on kitchen towel and serve!
Please note that where the recipe asks for milk, butter or yogurt, this refers to any plant-based version that you prefer.
Food Safety
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
