Easy Skillet Potato Patties Recipe for Snacks

This snack is commonly made at weddings, and you can also find it from street vendors, but when vendors make it, they usually skip a lot of the ingredients to keep their costs down. 

If you eat it from a stall, you won’t notice if you don’t pay attention. But in this homemade version, I used all the ingredients properly, and it tasted better, and I could notice the ingredients too.

I shaped mine like large, thick cookies, two of them from one potato. Once they were cooked, I topped them with yogurt, honey, lemon juice, red chili powder, chopped tomato, and cilantro. 

While eating, I felt as if I was eating a burger’s filling, which was a surprise. 

However, you can either eat the topping as it is on top of the patty, or fold and mix everything together; it’ll taste good in both ways.

Ingredients

For the patties:

• 1 boiled potato
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• Half a tomato, finely chopped
• 1 green chili, chopped
• 2 to 3 fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• 2 pinches of cumin seeds
• Salt to taste

For frying:

• 4 teaspoons oil (mustard oil or extra virgin olive oil; both work well)
• A small pinch of cumin seeds

For the topping:

• Yogurt (2 to 3 tablespoons)
• Honey (a little, about half a teaspoon per patty)
• Red chili powder (a pinch)
• Lemon juice (a small squeeze)
• Remaining half tomato, finely chopped
• Fresh cilantro, chopped.
• Onion, finely chopped (optional but worth adding)

How to Make the Patties

Mix the Potato Dough

Peel the boiled potato and add it to a bowl along with the cornflour, chopped green chili, half tomato, cilantro, cumin seeds, and salt. 

Mix everything together and knead it until it comes together into a smooth, cohesive dough. 

The cornflour is the only binding ingredient here, which is different from most versions of this snack, in which we use multiple powdered spices and breadcrumbs in the patty. 

After that, divide the dough into two equal pieces. 

Shape each one into a round, flat patty that’s thick, somewhere between a regular burger patty and a biscuit in thickness. 

Press them down evenly with your palm so both sides are flat and cook at the same rate.

Prepare the Topping Separately

Before you start cooking, make sure the topping is ready so it’s waiting when the patties come out of the pan hot. 

For that, you have to combine the yogurt, honey, red chili powder, lemon juice, chopped tomato, and cilantro in a small bowl. 

If you have onion, chop some and add it in too; the onion will make it sharp and crunchy. Then set this aside.

Fry Until Golden

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. 

Add the cumin seeds and let them crackle in the oil for about 30 seconds. 

They’ll release their aroma into the oil, and that flavor will go into the base of the patties.

Place one patty in the pan carefully and don’t move it; let the bottom side cook undisturbed for about 4 to 5 minutes until you can see the edges turning golden. 

The patty should release itself from the pan easily when it’s ready to flip.

Flip it carefully and cook the other side; the second side will take less time than the first because the pan is already at the right temperature. 

Press the center of the patty lightly with the back of a spoon. If it pushes back and feels firm, it’s ready; if it feels soft and yielding in the middle, wait one more minute before taking it out. 

Once both sides are deeply golden and the patty holds together when you lift it, remove it and cook the second one the same way.

Add the Topping and Serve

Place both hot patties on a plate and spoon the yogurt over each one; the heat from the patty will warm the yogurt slightly, which will help it spread and seep into the surface. 

Add the remaining chopped tomato, drizzle honey over both patties, sprinkle a small pinch of red chili powder, squeeze lemon juice over the top, and scatter the cilantro. 

The topping still looks simple, but the combination will taste awesome: the cool yogurt against the hot crispy crust, the honey will balance the chili, and the lemon will cut through both. 

So, you can start eating them immediately while the patties are still hot underneath the cool topping.

Why I used Honey Instead of Tamarind

That’s because honey is sweeter and milder, and it doesn’t overpower the yogurt and the fresh tomato the way tamarind does. 

When you combine it with the red chili powder and lemon juice, you will get a tangy, sweet, and spicy combination.

Besides this, you can use ketchup instead of honey; it’ll give you both the sweet and tangy flavor together, so if you use ketchup, you can skip the honey entirely.

Both work, but honey gives you a cleaner taste.

My Oil Choice

I used mustard oil, which has a sharp, slightly pungent flavor that adds something to the overall taste of the patty. 

But you can have extra virgin olive oil if you don’t have mustard oil; it has its own mild, savory quality. 

Either one produces a better result than plain refined cooking oil for this recipe. 

Both choices come through in the flavor of the crust in a way that neutral oil doesn’t.

The Folded Version vs. Eating It Open

One patty I ate was open, with a topping sitting on top, and the second one I folded and mixed everything together. 

The folded version felt like eating a spiced burger, where every bite has potato, yogurt, honey, tomato, and chili all at once. 

And the open version is neater, and you can see what you’re eating, but yes, it tastes different enough so you can even try both with the two patties.

Variation You can Try to Make it Different

• More vegetables in the patty: You can add finely chopped onion into the potato mixture, not just in the topping; it’ll give the patty itself more texture and a slightly savory sweetness.
• Use ketchup in the topping: Replace the honey with tomato ketchup; you’ll get a similar sweet and tangy flavor but sharper, but skip the honey if you use ketchup.
• Add mint: A few mint leaves chopped into the yogurt topping will give it a cool, fresh element that will balance the red chili powder well.
• Make smaller patties: Instead of two large ones, divide the dough into four smaller pieces. Smaller patties fry faster and have more crispy surface area relative to the soft interior, which some people prefer.

If you want another potato-based recipe, you’ll like this buffalo meat and potatoes recipe.

FAQs

How do I stop the patties from falling apart in the pan?

Make sure the potato is properly dry before mashing (drain any excess water thoroughly after boiling), and don’t try to flip the patty before the bottom side is fully set. 

A patty that’s not ready to flip will stick and break; give it the full 4 to 5 minutes and wait until it releases cleanly on its own.

Can I make these ahead of time and reheat them?

You can shape the patties ahead and keep them covered in the fridge for a few hours before frying. 

But don’t fry them ahead, though, because the crust will soften once they cool. 

Add the topping only right before eating so the yogurt doesn’t make the patty soggy.

Why do patties come out soft inside even though the outside is golden?

It happens when a potato has too much moisture in it; that’s why you should drain well after boiling.