Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes)
Crisp, garlicky griddled pancakes of grated raw potato scented with marjoram, fried until lacy and golden.
Slovak · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~358 cal · 8g protein · 51g carbs · 13g fat · 6g fiber · 4g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Zemiakové placky, also called haruľa in the mountain villages, are Slovakia's potato pancakes: grated raw potato squeezed dry, bound with a little flour and egg, sharpened with garlic and the herb Slovaks love above all others, marjoram, then fried in hot fat until the edges go lacy and brown.
They come straight from the country's peasant kitchen, where the potato has been king since it spread through the Carpathians, cheap, filling, and endlessly adaptable. Every family and every region has its own hand, some thin and crisp, some thicker and softer, some enriched with a little bryndza sheep cheese grated into the batter.
Eaten hot from the pan for breakfast or a light supper, they are savoury comfort at its most honest: crisp outside, tender within, heavy with garlic and marjoram. A dollop of sour cream or a smear of bryndza is all they ask, and a Slovak kitchen smells of them on many a cold morning.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 lbs starchy potatoes, peeled
1 egg
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 onion, coarsely grated
3 cloves garlic, finely grated
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 tbsp oil or lard, for frying
to taste sour cream, to serve
Instructions
1
Coarsely grate the potatoes into a bowl, then squeeze them dry in a cloth over a second bowl and keep the liquid.
✎ Chef’s note
Wringing the potatoes dry is the whole secret to a crisp pancake. Wet batter steams and turns soft.
2
Let the squeezed liquid stand a minute or two until a white layer of starch settles, pour the water off, and scrape that starch back into the potatoes.
✎ Chef’s note
That settled starch is the part most people throw away. Put back into the grated potato it binds the pancake and crisps the crust, and it is why Slovak cooks often need barely any flour at all.
3
Mix in the coarsely grated onion, the egg, the flour, garlic, salt and pepper, and stir the marjoram in last, just before you fry.
✎ Chef’s note
Grate the onion coarse, not fine: its sugars caramelise against the pan and that is a large part of why these come out crisp. Add the marjoram at the last moment so it keeps its aroma; it is the herb that makes these Slovak rather than generic potato pancakes.
4
Heat a thin layer of lard (or oil) in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.
✎ Chef’s note
Lard is what Slovak kitchens use and it holds up better than oil, which starts to burn before the pancakes are done.
5
Drop in spoonfuls of batter and press each into a thin round about 4 inches across.
6
Fry 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deep golden and crisp at the edges, pressing gently so they cook flat.
7
Drain briefly on paper towels and keep warm while you fry the rest, adding oil between batches.
8
Serve hot, with sour cream, or with bryndza grated over the top the Slovak way.
Bratislava and Carpathian home tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bratislava. Bryndzove halusky is highland food that the capital adopted. It belongs to the shepherds' huts of central Slovakia, while Bratislava is lowland wine country, and the cheese, slovenska bryndza, holds EU protected status. The village of Turecka runs an annual world championship for making it.
🗺️
Slovakia. The rest of the year is cabbage and pork. Kapustnica, sauerkraut soup with smoked meat and dried mushrooms, is the Christmas Eve dish; potatoes turn up as dumplings, pancakes and in the soup; and the sheep's-milk tradition means fresh and smoked cheeses appear where other Central European kitchens would reach for cream.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Slovakia
Bryndzové HaluškySoft potato dumplings tossed with sharp sheep’s-milk bryndza cheese and crowned with crispy bacon, Slovakia’s national dish.
Segedínsky GulášA tangy pork and sauerkraut goulash enriched with paprika and sour cream, served with bread dumplings.
Šúľance s MakomSoft little potato-dough rolls tossed in ground poppy seed, butter, and sugar, a nostalgic Slovak sweet.
Browse all Slovakia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Slovakia meal
Šúľance s MakomDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Antiguan Fried Dumplings with CheeseAntigua and Barbuda
Tortas FritasArgentina
Fry JacksBelize
FidjósGuinea-Bissau
MassaBurkina Faso
Puff-Puff and BeansCameroon
Frequently asked questions
What is Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes)?
Crisp, garlicky griddled pancakes of grated raw potato scented with marjoram, fried until lacy and golden.
Where does Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes) come from?
Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes) is a Slovak dish from Bratislava, Slovakia.
Can Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Zemiakové Placky (Potato Pancakes) take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.