Oven Baked Latkes in Muffin Tins

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If you’re looking to make easier oven baked latkes in muffin tins, I’ve experimented and figured out the best way! This post contains affiliate links.

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Every year, every Chanukah party, we go over the same thing again: if only there was a better way to make latkes!

There’s always someone who spends the entire party laboring over the stove instead of socializing. The house smells like frying and of course, the smoke detector gets fully tested during these times.

These days people hack them to bits and pieces using hash brown products – but that simply didn’t work for us. We like our yellow potatoes. I figured the best way to “hack” latkes in our family would be to bake them.

So I tried making oven baked latkes in muffin tins. I tried it two ways:

• Spraying the tins down, essentially baking the kugels
• Adding some oil to the bottom and really frying it, just in the oven.

There was a clear winner, and it doesn’t take much imagination to figure that the fried version was better. But here’s a quick rundown of my experimentation (printable recipe is at the end of this page).

Yes, we did have latkes for dinner on a random Wednesday in December.

Oven Baked Latkes in Muffin Tins – 2 ways

The tradition to eat latkes stems from the fact that the oil burned for eight days instead of one. So clearly, fried latkes would win on all accounts. Here’s what happened when I tried these two oven muffin tin latke approaches.

Sprayed and baked

On one pan, I sprayed the tins first. I added a small enough amount of latke batter to form a flat pancake. I sprayed it again.

It was impossible to flip midway, and too thin to leave in for long enough to brown fully on top. If you’d like to try it this healthier way, I’d recommend the following:

• Add 1 cup of oil per 5lb potato to your batter.
• Make it a bit thicker – about 1 inch thick.

You’ll really be making mini kugels, however, it’ll look enough like latkes – and potato kugel is always delish! As a bonus: you can bake them a day in advance and just crisp them up a bit in the oven right before partying, so that your house doesn’t smell like frying on the day of your party.

Fully fried in the oven

The second way to make oven baked latkes in muffin tins is to fry it in the oven. That is, have it pretty much halfway submerged in actual oil.

To do this, place about 1 tablespoon of oil in the bottom of each muffin tin, heat it for a few minutes in the oven. Place a heaping spoonful of mixture into the hot oil, and return to the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until it’s browning around the edges.

Flip and return for another 15 or so minutes (check it after ten) until it’s crispy and golden on the outside.

This way of making latkes is not a compromise on flavor. It’s the real deal. My kids devoured it. No one stood over the stove – in fact, my stove stayed sparkling clean. So while your latkes will need some oversight – set a timer – it just needs a few minutes of intervention here and there to feed a crowd.

If you’re feeding a lot of people, you can make about 48 pieces at once in your oven (I recommend using four 12 muffin tins, rather than two 24 tins, as it’ll be easier to wash).

A Delicious Recipe for Oven Baked Latkes in Muffin Tins

You can use the above trick with your favorite latkes recipe – but I wasn’t going to ditch you here! Of course I’ll share mine!

Makes about 60 latkes, depending on size. I did not make all of my batter as latkes. I made 24, which used roughly 1/3 of the batter and then added some oil to the rest, and baked it in a pan to make kugel for Shabbat. Like I said, I made these on a random Wednesday night and had to justify it!

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 5 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 6 large eggs
• Vegetable oil (or similar) for frying – I used light olive oil
• 1 T salt
• 1 t. black pepper

Equipment

• Food processor with the shredding blade installed
• Muffin tins
• Measuring cup and spoons
• A large mixing bowl.

Process

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Peel or scrub your potatoes (I scrubbed mine). Peel your onions.

3. Run the potatoes and onions through the food processor, and then dump them into a mixing bowl. If you’re working in batches, you’ll find that liquid often accumulates on the bottom. While I don’t squeeze my potatoes, I do pour off any liquid that I see as I’m shredding, before I add eggs.

4. At this point, pour 1 T oil in each cavity in your muffin tin. Put it in the oven for a few minutes.

5. While your oil is heating, add eggs, salt, and pepper to your potato mixture. Mix well (I recommend using your hands.)

6. Carefully remove the muffin tin from the oven. Drop a heaping spoonful (whatever looks right to form a latke about 1 inch thick) of batter into each cavity. Return the tin to the oven and leave it in for 20 minutes.

7. After about 20 minutes, or when it’s browning around the edges, remove the muffin tin and use two forks to carefully flip over each latke. You may need to wiggle it a little to loosen it, but it should come out pretty smoothly.

8. Return it to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, but definitely check after ten so that you don’t accidentally overdo it. When it’s done, it should be golden brown on both sides, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

I hope this easy recipe for oven baked latkes in muffin tins helps you enjoy your Chanukah a bit more! Got any other latke hacks that don’t compromise on flavor? Comment below!

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