Lazy Latkes: A Hanukkah Miracle and NYE Perfection

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! It has been a week of holidays, hopefully happy for all. 

While Christmas has officially passed, we are still in the prime of Hanukkah – an unusually late start that happened on December 25, making Christmakah a real thing this year. And that means we have shifted from cookie season to latke season, latkes being the hashbrown-like, fried potato pancakes that remind us of the Hanukkah miracle that enough oil to light up the temple for one night lasted eight. Hence, the eight-night Hanukkah celebration.

Several years ago, Pam Gruber generously shared her latke recipe, the one made famous by her son Ziggy’s Houston delicatessen Kenny & Ziggy’s. You can read her story and her original recipe here. As you will read, latke-making is kind of crazy-making: it’s messy, oily, and leaves behind a sticky, smelly mess. So this year we are trying a lazy version of Ziggy’s mom’s homemade latkes. Food writer Rebecca Firkser shared a recipe with Food 52 called “Shockingly Crisp Baked Latkes,” that uses an oven instead of a stove for frying, making quick – and much less messy – work of a generations-old major Hanukkah project. We took her technique and paired it with a very slightly adapted version of Pam Gruber’s famous latke recipe, and we think we have landed on the great Hanukkah latke compromise (miracle?). I hope you will try it for yourself and let us know what you think.

And if you are looking for a fabulous New Year’s Eve nibble, try these topped with a bit of sour cream, a sprinkle of chives, and a dollop of caviar. You can’t get much better.

Happy Hanukkah and Happy, Healthy 2025!

Enjoy a traditional meal of latkes for Hanukkah, cooked up in a less traditional way (read: quicker and less messy). And if you're looking for a fabulous New Year's Eve nibble, try these topped with a bit of sour cream, a sprinkle of chives, and a dollop of caviar. 

Lazy Latkes

Avocado oil (or another neutral oil with a high smoke point)
2 pound russet potatoes
1 large onion
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Applesauce, sour cream, snipped chives, and/or caviar for serving

Heat the oven to 425 degrees and pour a generous ½ cup of oil on a rimmed baking sheet.

Peel and grate the potatoes, using a large box grater or a food processor fitted with the grating blade, and do the same with the onion. Place the grated potatoes and onion in a clean kitchen towel over a colander, and press down to eliminate excess water. Gather the edges of the towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Do this a couple of times.

Place the baking sheet in the oven for 10 minutes to heat the oil. Meanwhile, place the potatoes and onions in a large bowl. Add the eggs, baking powder, flour, salt, and pepper, and mix well with your clean hands. 

Carefully remove the sheet pan from the oven. Scoop ¼-cup mounds of the potato mixture carefully onto the sheet pan. Use an offset spatula or the bottom of a ¼-cup scoop to slightly flatten each mound. Bake for 20 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are golden. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and use a spatula to carefully flip the latkes. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until golden on both sides. Transfer the lates to a paper-towel-lined clean baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. 

If needed, add another ¼ cup or so of oil to the original baking sheet and warm in the oven for 10 minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining potato mixture.

Serve warm with applesauce, sour cream, snipped chives, and maybe a little dollop of caviar. The latkes can be made ahead and refrigerated, then crisped in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.