Draniki with Sour Cream Recipe

This is a fast and easy way to make a draniki with sour cream recipe, and it’s all the way from Belarus, with love. These perfectly comforting and delicious crispy potato pancakes are everything you didn’t know you needed…

Draniki, with sour cream, are all about simplicity and deliciousness. They are a firm favourite among Belarusian Babushkas. These pancakes are made from finely grated potato and then fried to be crispy and golden on the outside but soft and tender on the inside. 

They are traditionally made using onion, but here we scrap that ingredient and save ourselves time and tears with this sour cream, lemon and flour version.If you are looking for another classic recipe, try my Easy Beef Kholodets.

Why You Will Love Draniki with Sour Cream

• Time saver: Because we are swapping a few of the ingredients used in traditional draniki for other easy and simple ingredients, we are saving time, and we all need more of that, right?  
• Comfort food: Draniki are warm, hearty and satisfying, which makes them a perfect addition or side dish to any meal. 
• Affordable: These potato pancakes are made using simple ingredients you probably already have at home. 
• Big batch-friendly: They are easy to make in large batches and are ideal for feeding hungry tummies. 
• A nostalgic crowd-pleaser: These delightful, little potato pancakes will make you feel as though you are right back in Babushka’s kitchen. Watch the family fight over the last one.

Draniki with Sour Cream Ingredients and Substitutions

I’ve left out the onion from this recipe and added lemon juice instead. The acid in the lemon will prevent the potato from oxidising, ensuring our draniki are golden.

Another side-step from tradition is the addition of flour in this recipe. This step saves time waiting for the potato starch to settle. 

Lastly, I’ve used a dash of sour cream in the mixture as this makes the draniki soft and tender.

• Potatoes: The hero in this dish. Russet potatoes are great as they have a high starch content.
• Lemon: The lemon juice prevents the grated potatoes from browning. This helps to keep the golden colour of draniki without altering the taste.
• Egg: The egg binds the mixture together, ensuring the pancakes do not fall apart during cooking.
• Sour cream: I advise using full-fat cream for extra flavour and moisture.
• Flour: Flour helps to bind the ingredients and gives structure to the pancakes, ensuring they fry up crispy on the outside while staying tender inside.
• Garlic: An absolute necessity, why? Because it’s delicious. 
• Vegetable oil: This is used to fry the pancakes. Use a neutral-flavoured oil.

Top Tips For This Draniki with Sour Cream Recipe

Here’s how to make next-level draniki with sour cream:

• Finely grating potatoes: Finely grating the potatoes for draniki ensures a smoother texture, allows them to cook evenly and crisp up better.
• Using flour: Unlike this recipe, which waits for the starch to settle, adding flour helps the draniki hold their shape more quickly.
• Double the recipe: Make a mountain of draniki and freeze for lazy days when you just don’t have time (or energy).

Make Ahead and Storage Instructions

Although there is nothing quite like the melt-in-your-mouth taste of freshly made draniki, they can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days. 

Draniki are suitable for freezing; just line them with parchment paper before you put them in. To reheat, simply add them to an oil-greased skillet on medium-low heat, and voilà.

Continue to Content

Draniki with Sour Cream Recipe

Print

This is a fast and easy way to make a draniki with sour cream recipe, and it’s all the way from Belarus, with love. These perfectly comforting and delicious crispy potato pancakes are everything you didn’t know you needed…

Ingredients

• 8 medium potatoes
• juice of 1 lemon
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp sour cream (full fat)
• 2 tbsp flour
• pinch of salt
• pinch of black pepper
• vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

1. Wash and peel potatoes, put into bowl with cold water. Start grating potatoes on a small sized blade. 
2. Add lemon juice to grated potatoes and mix well. Lemon juice would prevent from turning  brown. 
3. Add other ingredients- egg, flour, sour cream, black pepper and salt, and combine into smooth mixture. Remove excessive liquid (potato juices) - can gently squeeze with the hands and transfer mixture to another bowl.
4. Heat oil in the skillet on medium. Using a spoon, form a pancake shaped dranik and put into hot oil, press with spatula to make it flattened. Try to shape a thinner pancakes, as they would cook thoroughly and faster.
5. Fry for 3 minutes on one side, then flip and fry on another side for 2 minutes.
6. The heat should not be too high, because then the vegetable oil will burn and the potato pancakes will not raw inside. It is better to use medium heat, then the potato pancakes will be fried until nicely golden brown. They would be soft inside and crunchy outside. 
7. Transfer cooked potato pancakes to plate with lined paper towel. It would help to remove excessive fat.
8. Serve draniki with sour cream on top.
9. I am serving with sour cream sauce: just add dried dill and salt to sour cream and keep 10 minutes in the fridge. Pour the sauce on too of draniki and enjoy!

Notes

Lemon juice would prevent from turning  brown

The heat should not be too high, because then the vegetable oil will burn and the potato pancakes will not raw inside. It is better to use medium heat, then the potato pancakes will be fried until nicely golden brown. They would be soft inside and crunchy outside.

I am serving with sour cream sauce: just add dried dill and salt to sour cream and keep 10 minutes in the fridge.