Yesterday I experimented with an alternative to Potato Pancakes for our Hannukah celebration. I am pretty happy with the outcome – and as a newbie, will go out on a limb and say they are keto.
I used about 14 oz of pureed cauliflower mixed with 1 egg, 1/4 cup of chopped onion, two tablespoons of coconut flour and a pinch of salt, pepper and baking powder. mixed together and made into patties. i then fried them up just like latkes. i did not tastse difference! so excited!
Every year I cook 50 or 60 pounds of potatoes (and 20 pounds of onions) into latkes for a steady stream of Hanukkah guests. I take great pride in then and they are broadly considered to be the platonic ideal of the latke.
This year is no different except, of course, that I can’t have more than a bite myself.
I would very much like to believe that I could create a latkes that I could eat. I will, at some point, try this recipe as well as a few other ideas I have in mind.
But honesty compels me to recognize that what was true before I started eating ketogenicaly has not changed simply because I’ve changed my diet. And that truth (for me) is that latkes are made from potato, onion, egg, and salt. In just the same way that (to me) shredded zucchini will never be “practically the same as” pasta nor will my attempts at making a substitute latke be likely to produce something “practically the same as a latke”.
Nothing will ever replace the handmade lasagna noodles or pasta my grandmother laboriously made. Store bought stuff is crap, and vegetables aren’t the same. Some things can never be replaced.
Latkes are one of my “planned indulgences” 2 latkes once or twice in the eight days.
But I also make alternative latkes. The secret to zucchini and cauliflower latkes is to squeeze the water out of them. I shred them into a nutsmilk bag and then salt and squeeze hard. It’s a lot of work for low yield!
I’m not an applesauce fan, thankfully, but I make sugar free cranberry sauce to brighten up the flavor, and use my homemade coconut yogurt in place of sour cream.
My mother was not Jewish but Russian and potato pancakes were an occasional treat, occasional because of the work involved. In our house potatoes were grated, not into shreds but into mush, like you’d get if you put them into a blender. Add an egg and a few spoonsful of flour, salt, never onion , and into the hot fat they went. We topped ours with sour cream. I never heard of topping them with apple sauce till I was an adult.
Same with potato latkes although I imagine that zucchini, at least, has a higher water content. I’m going to try with celeriac and swede which are both relatively low carb but will probably not come in at a carb count that will allow them to be considered keto.
I am going to a latke party and am going to experiment with zucchini latkes. These sound good too!!
Well, I might have to give the zucchini latkes a try. My grandmother made fabulous potatoes latkes many years ago. Of course, while she was alive no one else in the family made them because they could never measure up to hers. 
I agree that nothing beats the real thing and balance is important… but I am in that fragile stage where I need to be focused and in my own head and food space right now. Between family drama and my own Jewish tsuris… lol.
Just to be clear – I’m absolutely not advocating eating the real thing! And, if you need a latke substitute, go for it with the zucchini or other alternatives. Honestly, I’ll probably be eating my own words in the not too distant future when I’m back here saying I made a non-carb “just as good as a latke” replacement.
Lol. I hear you Larry! I personally try to stay away from the “just as good” as breads because it is a mental trigger for me. Also being allergic to wheat my whole life I get in trouble with the new gluten free items.
With that being said… I already bought ground chicken so I can try the chicken pizza crust recipe! Lol
Nothing is as good as the real thing! I am going to a friends 10th annual vodka and latke party, and this will be the first year I will not partake of my own family potato latke recipe! I’m trying to be chill about it, so I’m going to give this zucchini stuff a try. Maybe next year when I’m fat adapted I can consider being naughty, but for now, the Vodka will have to help me get through this. LOL!
Hi there! It’s almost hannukah again!
I was looking around for posts about latkes ahead of my first keto hannukah. And it looks like you might be the only member on this thread who has been recently active and available to advise…
So… I’m dying to ask… did you have a go with the zucchini latkes? Would you reccomend them?
I’m trying to decide between experimenting with cauliflower or zucchini first.
Thanks if you can share! 
@Keto_Newbie I didn’t try them but I hear good things in keto world about the zucchini latkes.
I hear ya, Donna, loud and clear!!
I was a bread maker for a long time. I also made some pretty good pasta. And what I made was really good stuff. In a way, that kinda helps because cheats for either of them I know will not likely be as good as what I had made so the temptation isn’t quite the same. It’s that way for good doughnuts for me, too. When I did eat them, I was very fussy about them and I would turn my nose up at the typical grocery store pastry stuff anyway. That does make it easier to resist because I KNOW the typical cheat stuff really isn’t gonna taste that good. When I want it, I want the good stuff or nothing at all.
I am fortunate that I really like the things that are typical replacements. I like zucchini. I like cauliflower. Most vegetables, I do like. That helps. But I really do know that nothing will ever, ever, quite taste like potatoes or pasta or have that exact same texture either.
It has helped me at times to make things that are not labeled as a replacement but are just stand-alone dishes on their own. I might make zucchini “lasagna” but it’s not lasagna. It’s zucchini. And it’s really good. I might make cauliflower pancakes, and they might even be a little bit like potato cakes, but they’re not potato cakes. They’re fried cauliflower patties, and they’re tasty.
I have yet to make a cake or cookie type keto dessert that has the texture of a wheat flour cake or cookie. But some of them are pretty good. I will keep trying.
And then, on occasion, when I just gotta have the real thing, it’ll be small and I’ll savor it. And then it will be over, and I’ll be back to keto. If it’s a single event, I’ll even dispense with any hint of guilt. If it becomes a habit, then I gotta deal with it. But so far, so good. Even the holidays haven’t been so bad.
Thanks for sharing the info