For Crispy, Splatter-Free Latkes, Use Your Oven

When I was a kid, I was always my mom’s second-in-command in the kitchen: stirring a bubbling pot of soup, rolling out pizza dough, standing guard over the stand mixer so that I got first dibs on licking the bowl (it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it!). But the one task I steered clear of? Frying latkes. The splattering oil was just too scary, so I relinquished frying duty to my mom.

But as a young chef, I always wanted to be in on the kitchen action—especially during the holidays! So you can imagine my envy when I learned about the Oven-Baked Latkes recipe my America’s Test Kitchen Kids colleagues developed for our cookbook for 5- to 8-year-olds, My First Cookbook.

This recipe is a real boon for kid chefs—they can grate (unpeeled!) potatoes and an onion in a food processor with a shredding disk (or on a box grater), squeeze out all the liquid (so fun for young chefs), and bake the latkes all at once on a well-oiled baking sheet.

A note for latke purists: This recipe may not be for you—I know I’ll be frying my latkes this year. But if you have little kids, or maybe even a tiny apartment with poor ventilation, our recipe will change your latke-making game.

Whether you bake or fry your potato pancakes this year, for the love of latkes, promise me that you'll serve them with applesauce and sour cream.

Hey! Did you know ATK Kids has its very own YouTube channel? Subscribe now and watch great, funny, silly, and delicious cooking videos for the whole family.

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