Who doesn’t like crispy, golden potato pancakes? This tasty dish doesn’t require special introductions and is well known in America and in most countries of Europe. In Ukraine, potato pancakes are called deruny and are usually served with sour cream. Deruny are so popular in Ukraine that it is difficult to imagine Ukrainian cuisine without them. So we decided to show you how we make deruny too.
The preparation method is similar across different cultures – raw potatoes are shredded and fried in a skillet. Some cooks add more flour and eggs, some less, and in some traditions, they don’t add these ingredients to the shredded potatoes at all. It makes sense, as when you use starchy potatoes, adding flour is abundant and is not healthy. If the potatoes at hand are not very starchy, you may need to add a tablespoon of flour.
Serve deruny with any kinds of salads or pickled vegetables. They will go particularly well with Black Radish Salad. Please follow this link below if you want to learn How to Marinate Raw Carrots. Bon appetite!

Deruny (Ukrainian Potato Pancakes)
Ingredients
- 10 potatoes washed, peeled
- 2 onion
- 1 egg optional
- 1 tbsp flour optional
- Black pepper
- Salt to taste
- Fresh parsley or dill
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
- 20 g butter
- 100 g sour cream
Instructions
- Grate onion and place in a medium sized bowl.
- Grate coarsely potatoes. Alternatively, you can use the food processor to shred potatoes (use the shredding disc).
- Combine shredded potatoes with the onion and mix well. (Do it right away so the potatoes don't get dark).
- Let the mixture stay for 5 minutes, until the potatoes release juice. The juice will contain the starch too. Separate the potatoes from the juice.
- Place the separated shredded potatoes in another bowl.
- Check if the juice contains enough starch. If yes, discharge the juice and add the starch to the potato mixture. In this case, you don’t need to add eggs or flour. If there is not enough starch, add the available starch to the mixture, an egg, and a tablespoon of flour. Mix well.
- Add salt and black pepper, and mix well again.
- Preheat the frying pan, reduce the heat to medium and add vegetable oil.
- With a tablespoon, drop the potato mixture in small portions to the skillet. (You can also form pancakes with your hands and place them on the frying pan).
- Fry deruny on medium heat on one side for a minute, with a spatula flip them to the other side and fry for 30-40 seconds.
- When the deruny is ready, transfer them to a flat plate covered with paper towels (to absorb excess oil).
- Brush the deruny with butter.
- Serve warm with cold sour cream. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley or dill.
What types of potatoes to use to make deruny?
You can use any type of potatoes; however, not all types contain the same amount of starch. A russet potato is starchy enough (21%) and deruny made from this type of potato are crispy and will hold the shape well. Yukon gold or red potato are considered semi-starchy and may require an egg or two and even a tablespoon of flour to make good pancakes.
Are deruny healthy?
Not all deruny or potato pancakes are healthy. If you add lots of flour, put too much oil to the frying pan, reheat the pancakes several times, etc. will they be healthy? We make deruny without flour and absorb excess oil with paper towels. Potatoes are rich in potassium, calcium, and magnesium – they are not just carbs. When served with green salad or sauerkraut, they will be as delicious as healthy, providing essential nutrients to your body.
Please check our recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes (Oladky z Harbuza) too. They are also super easy to make and are a good alternative to pancakes made only from flour or commercial mixtures.
Thank you!
Thank you for visiting our website! For this recipe, we show two ways how to make potato pancakes – with eggs and flour and without them. It depends on the type of potatoes that you have. Both ways are good, and our deruny taste great with minimum ingredients. Sometimes less is more! Try our recipe and let us know if you like it. All the best!