Irish potato cakes, also known as boxty, made with a mixture of mashed and grated potatoes for a cake that is part pancake, part hash brown. These use flax for the egg and are dressed with vegan avocado basil ranch. Jump to Recipe
Spring is here! I know because the tree pollen is off the charts today and my eyes refuse to see single lines as single. If there are some extra i-s or l-s on the post, let me know.
St Patrick’s day is around the corner (March 17), so lets get started with some Irish and some green recipes! I whipped up these potato cakes yesterday and served them with a creamy avocado basil ranch dressing. Don’t like ranch? just omit the ranch seasoning from the avocado dressing. Traditional Irish potato pancakes, also known as boxty, are made with a mixture of mashed and grated potatoes for a cake that’s part pancake, part hash brown. The pancakes use egg and butter and can be flavored with scallions. I use flax as the egg substitute.
These cakes come together easily. Boil and mash half the potatoes, grate the rest. Mix in, add some flour, egg sub, salt, pepper, other flavors of choice, and cook on the pan until golden.
What are your plans for St Paddy’s day!
More green things from the blog
Serve the cakes with the avocado ranch dressing, plain vegan ranch or vegan butter or other dressing of choice.
Recipe Card
Irish Potato Cakes with Avocado Basil Ranch
Ingredients
Irish Pancakes:
- 2 large russets
- 3/4 teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) fine salt plus more for seasoning the potatoes before cooking
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) or more freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup (61 ml) non dairy milk
- 1 tbsp flax seed meal
- 1-2 tbsp (1 tbsp) nutritional yeast optional
- a generous pinch of kala namak Indian black salt optional
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) lemon juice
- 1/4-1/3 cup (31.25 g) unbleached all purpose flour or use a gluten-free flour which is neutral tasting
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking powder
- oil for cooking
Avocado Basil Ranch:
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 tbsp fresh basil
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) garlic
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) or more ranch seasoning (see notes)
- generous dash of black pepper and salt
- 2 tsp lime juice
- water as needed
Instructions
- Chop 1 potato and add to a pot of cold water. Bring to a boil then continue to cook over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes until done. Drain, cool slightly, add salt, pepper, milk, flax, nutritional yeast, oil and kala namak and mash well. Taste and add salt if needed to keep the mixture saltier than regular mashed potatoes.
- Grate the other potato. Add a 1/2 tsp lemon juice and mix in. Squeeze the grated potato with paper towel to remove some of the excess moisture..
- Mix the grated potato with mashed potatoes.
- Mix the baking powder in 1/4 cup flour and add to the potato bowl and mix in. If the mixture is too stiff, add another tbsp of non dairy milk.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add a few drops of oil to grease. Drop dollops of the potato mixture on the greased pan. Shape and flatten and cook 4 to 5 minutes each side. (To bake: Bake at 425 degrees F / 220ºc for 15 to 20 minutes. Broil for a minute if needed).
- Garnish with scallions and vegan butter. Serve with avocado ranch.
- For the avocado ranch: Blend all the ingredients. Add water if needed. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add some fresh dill, more onion powder if needed. Add nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor (optional)
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Jennifer
These are outstanding! This is one of the very few meals that all three of my children (ages 9, 6, 4 years) gobble up. So thankful for this recipe and have already added it to our regular rotation. Pretty easy to make as well!
Vegan Richa Support
Awesome !
Mia
Delicious and easy. Great for breakfast also. Thank you.
Trista
Really had a hard time baking these 🙁 followed all the directions and they stuck to greased pan and didn’t want to cook through… what am i doing wrong?
Richa
I usually use parchment which works fine. Maybe dust the bottom with flour on the bare sheet, or try with parchment
Nancy
How many cups or grams are 2 large russets?
Richa
700 to 725 gm
Nu
Really hoping you don’t post any ‘green’ recipes – an Irish person.
Love everything else 🙂
geoff
This sounds great, but how do you measure a tablespoon of basil? Fresh or dried basil? And is the lemon juice really 1.2 teaspoons or should that be 1/2 tsp, or 1-2 tsp?
Richa
its 1/2 tsp. you can eyeball it. A bit more or less is ok. i use fresh basil.
sapna jahan
Spuds! Making tonight ????
Chelsee
I just wanted to say, I used half purple potatoes and half russet potatoes for this recipe, and the result was awesome! The finished product was green! Even more St Pattys day friendly! 🙂 they were delicious as well!
Richa
Awesome 🙂
Terra
Love potato cakes, but your addition of avocado basil pesto, what a perfect mix of flavors. They look delicious! Hugs, Terra
Richa
Thank you Terra!
Jacquie
Your recipe called for 1/2 tsp of baking powder. But in the instructions, you mentioned mix in baking soda with flour. So it’s baking powder of baking soda? Thanks
Richa
baking powder. corrected it.
Jacquie
Oh sweet. Thanks! I guessed it correctly then. Discovered the error while I was getting flour bit ready. It’s tasty and we love it! =)
Jan
Thank you Richa for posting this lovely Irish potato cakes and avocado ranch dressing.
This is the one I like to cook next week. Love the ingredients as they look so simple.
Shannon
Hi there. Love the intent here, but it’s not St. Patty’s day, it’s St. Paddy’s day. Patty is a woman’s name, Paddy is a common Irish nickname for Patrick, stemming from the original Gaelic spelling, therefore making the shortened version St. Paddy’s day. (It’s a common issue among North American native residents) Might want to correct the oversight there. 🙂 – your friendly Irish-American follower.
Richa
Thanks. updated 🙂
Jenny
How much Aquafaba/ chick pea liquid would you use instead of the flax seed? These sound awesome! I really want to try them!
Richa
you can use 1/4 cup aquafaba instead of the flax and the 1/4 cup non dairy milk, or use 2 tbsp aquafaba and 2 tbsp non dairy milk.
Cassie
St. Patty’s Day may be over, but I’ll still try these cakes! Yummy!
Nicole
St. Patty’s Day is March 17th! 🙂 I will be making these for a St. Patty’s party on Saturday. They look great!
Richa
Great!
Laurel Paley
Can these be baked instead of fried? I am trying to avoid oil.
Richa
If you have a good non stick skillet, you can cook them without oil. You can bake then at 425 degrees F for 20 or more minutes until golden.
Dianne Maas
Thank you soooo much. Delicious.
I baked them for 30 minutes at 400 with no oil. They came out great.
ThatIrishVegan
These look so good! I’m going to have to give them go sometime!
Richa
Awesome!
Linda van der Merwe
Hi Risha,
How do I make them gluten free?
Pam
These sound like a much loved blast from my childhood and I look forward to trying them. I too need to make them GF. Since there is very little flour in the recipe, I’m going to try using a regular GF all-purpose blend. Alternatively, you could probably use GF oat flour.
Richa
Yes, any flour should work. The mashed potatoes are a great binder, so the flour doesnt matter.
Amy
Curious if anyone has tried this with sweet potato?
Richa
it should work
Kate | HappyForks.com
I would probably go for millet flour. It has certain, delicate taste but from my experience works well with potatoes. And it is rich in nutrients too!
Richa
use any neutral tasting gluten-free flour.