Your Leftover Potato Salad Is Steps Away From Becoming A Delicious Breakfast

Potatoes are one of the biggest pantry M.V.P.s. From french fries and mashed potatoes to latkes and hash browns, the tubers are perfect any time of day. One of the best places to show off some tasty taters is in a homemade potato salad. Whether it's mixed with mayo or dressed with vinaigrette, no barbecue is complete without a bowl of spud salad.

However, if you've gone a little overboard and made way too much potato salad, don't stress. A container of extra potato salad can be reimagined for tomorrow's breakfast. All you need is a couple of additional ingredients and you can make a plate of yummy potato fritters. As Caroline Lang explains on MyRecipes, "Leftover potato salad can quickly become a breakfast worth sitting down to."

Make a double batch of any of your favorite potato salad recipes and reserve some for making fritters the next day, then you'll have at least one extra meal covered. They're great on their own for breakfast, or you can add an egg or two on top for some extra protein. Plus, a few fritters are fun and filling when packed into a lunch with some fruit and a small green salad. Or you can turn today's potato salad into tomorrow night's steak side.

Potato salad falls into two camps: mayonnaise- and vinaigrette-based. Either one will make a good fritter, just choose a potato salad recipe that's balanced with starchiness, savory flavors, and some type of vinegar or citrus for some acidic zippiness.

When you're ready to make fritters, pull out your container of leftover salad and give it a light mashing either with a potato masher or a fork. If it's mayonnaise-based, you probably don't have to add another binding agent, but test it out by scooping up a ball of it with a spoon to see if you can form a sticky sphere in your hands. If it holds together, great. If not, mix in an egg and a few handfuls of bread crumbs then let them soak for about 10 minutes before trying the ball test again.

If you're using salad that's dressed with vinaigrette, add 1 egg and ½ cup of bread crumbs for every 2 cups of salad. Then, mix it all up, let it rest for 10 minutes, and see if you can make a ball.

Once you have a potato-mash mix that's ready for frittering, scoop it all into spheres, flatten them out, and dredge them in some more bread crumbs. Panko will give your fritters some extra crunch, or if you're committed to using only leftovers, freeze and grate stale bread for delicious bread crumbs in a flash with a cheese grater.

When the fritters are formed and breaded, either fry them up in a skillet or bake them on a sheet tray. If you only have a few fritters, frying on the stovetop is the way to go; just add some olive oil or avocado oil to a hot pan, brown the fritters on both sides over medium-high heat, and drain them on a piece of paper towel. If you're making a large batch of fritters, bake them all at once on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. For a little extra crunchiness, apply a bit of baking spray or oil from a spray bottle before you pop them into the oven. Fritters will also come out great in an air fryer.

Serve the fritters with sour cream or Greek yogurt, and top them with chopped fresh chives or sliced scallions on top, just like potato pancakes. Add a couple of slices of bacon or smoked salmon for some protein at breakfast, or top them with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce for a potato-y take on eggs Benedict. Potato fritters also make a great side with a grilled steak or portobello mushrooms at dinner — think of them like a fancy tater tot.

Once you realize how easy it is to make fritters from potato salad, you'll find all kinds of different ways to serve them. The hardest part is not eating all the potato salad so that you still have some leftovers for fritters!