A traditional Jewish Ashkenazi dish, this potato kugel recipe is the most mouth watering version I have ever tasted. Fluffy and delicious inside, with a crispy golden crust, it is how potato kugel is supposed to taste!
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Potato Kugel Origins
My grandparents grew up in Romania, many of my friends grandparents were Polish and Hungarian. We all grew up eating potato kugel.
Most of our grandparents grew up in very simple living conditions, and potatoes were relatively cheap and filling. All week long, they ate potatoes, but when the Sabbath came, they wanted to elevate the dish and so the potato kugel recipe was born. Adding eggs, oil and spices transformed the utilitarian and practical potato.
My bubby & zaidy spoke Yiddish, a West Germanic language used by Eastern European Jews. Kugel in German means ball or sphere, which was the shape of kugel in its early years. Kugel is best described as a casserole, or what the English refer to as puddings.
Simple Cooking, Exquisite Results
When I was four years old, my bubby retired.
I spent many hours with her in her home, making puzzles, and playing cards. And of course, I ate the delicious food she was always making for me. Lots of traditional Jewish food, but also the best homemade french fries that she made for me from scratch. Bubby sat next to me while I ate, glowing with happiness.
Holocaust survivors both, my grandparents appreciated what we so easily take for granted today. Food, family and love. Family was everything to them, and my bubby definitely showed her love by feeding us.
My grandparents used what was on hand and sometimes an entire dish was invented by using the food they had instead of letting it go to waste. Bubby could peel a potato with a knife and make sure not to take off even a millimeter more than the skin itself.
Soup was whatever vegetables were starting to soften and on the verge of spoiling, and my absolutely favorite dish – Helzel. Helzel must have been invented to make sure to use every bit of the chicken. Definitely a lost art!
Like much of the food they ate, potato kugel was a dish borne from availability, practicality and the magic they seemed to bring to everything they made.
The Secret Ingredient
What makes this potato kugel recipe so good, are the quantities used. All potato kugels have the same ingredients for the most part, but the amount of eggs is what takes this potato kugel to the next level.
I can still see my bubby puttering around the kitchen, and my zaidy helping her out. She would add a dash of this, taste and adjust. They loved to argue about how many eggs should or shouldn’t go into the chopped liver.
My zaidy was always looking to be careful and economical, but when it came to taste, my bubby wouldn’t scrimp.
I don’t know if people were trying to take delicious traditional food and adjust it for health reasons, like cutting down on the oil and eggs to cut fat and cholesterol, but it just isn’t the same!
Eat less! But always go for the quality over the quantity.
The Friday Potato Kugel Tradition
I don’t know how or when this started, but although potato kugel was traditionally served on the Sabbath itself, which takes place Friday at sundown, until Saturday after sundown, many Jews today serve this on Friday during the day. Almost like a Pre Game celebration, potato kugel has become the Ashkenazi Jew’s version of tailgating.
Most Jewish traditional moms can be found in the kitchen Friday, cooking up a storm for the big Sabbath meals. There is no time to consider what your family will eat that day!
Adding one more dish to the menu, many people choose to make a fresh, hot potato kugel to be served Friday afternoon. It can sit on the kitchen table, with some plates and forks nearby. Anyone hungry can come into the kitchen and eat a filling hot meal, without attacking the food that is being prepared for later. Carb, protein and fat, all in one dish. Easy to serve and heaven to eat.
Potato Kugel Dinner?
Friday afternoon is generally the best time to find a potato kugel in my house. I have made it midweek though, on occasion, for dinner.
Served with a vegetable soup (for a quick dinner try my 5 minute soup!) and some cut up cucumber and peppers, it disappears almost instantly.
Although this potato kugel recipe is dairy free, when I serve it mid-week we sometimes sprinkle shredded cheese on top. The cheese melts onto the hot kugel, and is a must for cheese lovers to try!
I only add the cheese to an individual serving once plated, as the family is split on those that love it with the cheese and those who prefer it plain.
Great to bring to a party or potluck dinner this potato kugel recipe will absolutely melt in your mouth and be a huge hit!
Expert Bubby Tips For Potatoes
Watching my bubby work in the kitchen taught me some tricks to keep my potato kugel recipe coming out nice and golden, as opposed to a greenish or grayish hue some kugels can get.
- Prepare a bowl of water to put your potatoes into as you peel them. This will keep them from browning
- Always blend the onion in the processor first. The onions help keep the potatoes from browning, so I like to leave a bit of onion in the processor bowl before I add the potatoes
Always Remove Moisture!
My bubby cut potatoes for the french fries right onto a dishtowel. This would soak up the water that naturally came out of the potatoes. She would leave the sliced potatoes in the dishtowel to dry out as she prepared other things. I do this when I make this kugel recipe, or even if I am cutting up potatoes to roast them.
Authentic Potato Kugel
This fluffy, mouth watering potato kugel with a crispy, golden crust, is the best potato kugel recipe you will ever try!
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Prep Time 25 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Jewish Ashkenazi
Servings 15 servings
Equipment
Food Processor
Ingredients
- 7 medium – large potatoes if your potatoes are on the smaller side add more to equal 7 medium to large potatoes
- 2 medium onions
- 7 large eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil keep 2 Tablespoons aside
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit, or 200 degrees celcius
Peel the potatoes and leave to soak in a bowl of water. This will keep the potatoes from changing color.
In a large bowl add 7 eggs, oil, salt and pepper. Mix well.
In your oven safe baking dish, add the 2 Tablespoon of oil you had set aside. Place in oven.
Remove potatoes from bowl of water onto a clean dishtowel. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise so they will fit into the feed tube of the food processor. Wrap in dishtowel to help remove extra moisture from potatoes.
Peel the onions and chop into quarters. Using the knife blade on the food processor, mince the onions until well blended. Add most of the onions to the egg mixture in the large bowl. Leave a few onions in the processor as it keeps the potatoes from browning.
Switch from the knife blade to the grating blade in the food processor. Place the potato pieces one at a time into the feed tube of the processor. Use the plunger/pusher tool to push the potatoes through the grating blade.
Add the grated potatoes to the egg mixture in the large bowl.
I like to mix with my hands until all incorporated, you can use a glove. You can also just mix with a fork, or other utensil.
Using oven mitts, carefully remove the baking dish with oil from the oven and place on a trivet, making sure the oil has spread around the bottom of the dish.
Pour potato kugel batter from bowl into baking dish. Using a spatula or your hands even out the top of the kugel, being careful not to touch the hot dish.
Place the potato kugel back in the oven for an hour.
After an hour lower oven temperature to 350 farenheit/180 celcius for an additional 30 minutes
Remove from oven. Allow to settle for five or ten minutes before cutting
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Keyword dairy free, gluten free, potato kugel recipe
