If you often find yourself with leftover mashed potatoes to use up, Potato Scones are one of the best ways to do it! They are easy, quick, and super delicious.
Potato Scones are a perfect accompaniment to eggs in the morning, or on a fluffy roll with bacon, black pudding, or even haggis! (Or vegetarian haggis!)
What are Potato Scones?
Not to be confused with regular scones, Potato Scones, (AKA tattie scones), are a traditional Scottish dish and are commonly served as part of a full Scottish breakfast. Potato Scones are made with a mixture of flour and mashed potato that gets shaped into patties and pan fried until golden brown. Potato Scones have a soft and fluffy texture and a savory flavor, making them a lovely accompaniment to a variety of foods. I particularly love them with breakfast!
Those of you who know me, know that I spent a couple of my formative food years working in an incredible farm shop in Scotland. It was there that I fell in love with Potato Scones, haggis, and whisky 🙂
What you’ll need to make this recipe
Equipment
To make these Potato Scones, you’ll need a bowl to mix the dough, a flipper to flip them, and a nonstick griddle or pan to fry them. I like using a cast iron pan, or even better, a large, electric griddle so I can fry all the Potato Scones in one batch.
Ingredients
The only ingredients you need for Potato Scones are mashed potato, flour, salt, pepper, and a bit of oil for frying.
How to make Potato Scones
Making the dough
- Add the cooled mashed potatoes, plus the flour, salt, and pepper to a bowl or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and mix until just combined. The dough should not stick to your hands, and it should be firm enough to roll with a rolling pin.
Shaping the Potato Scones
There are lots of ways to shape these Scones. Traditionally, they are pressed into large, flat rounds, and marked with a criss-cross indentation that makes it easy to divide the round into quarters. I prefer shaping them into unified, bun-sized rounds. Here’s how I do it:
- Transfer the Potato Scone dough onto a well-floured work surface, and use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4-1/3 inch thick.
- Use a large, round cookie cutter to cut out the Scones. Continue shaping and re-rolling the dough until you have used it all up. (You can cut them into whatever shape you want, but using a 4-inch cookie cutter will give you approximately 8 scones.)
Cooking the Potato Scones
- Heat a nonstick pan, cast iron pan, or griddle over medium heat, (350F for an electric griddle) and add a small amount of oil to the pan.
- Gently lower the Potato Scones into the pan one at a time, being sure to leave space in between each one.
- Cook them until golden brown on the first side, flip them, then cook them until golden brown on the second side. This should take about 2-4 minutes per side.
- Transfer the cooked Scones to a cooling rack and enjoy right away or store them for up to 3 days in the fridge and reheat as desired.
Success tips
- If your mashed potato mixture already has a lot of milk and butter in it, you might need to increase the amount of flour you mix into them. Start with the amount called for in the recipe, and increase as needed.
- Be careful not to overwork the dough. Just mix it long enough for the dough to come together. Overworking the dough may lead to tough tattie scones.
- Don’t let the pan get too hot. If your Potato Scones are becoming very dark brown within a minute or two, remove the pan from the heat for a minute, reduce the temperature, and resume cooking.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan. Be patient and fry these in batches! Otherwise they will not cook as evenly, and they will be very hard to flip.
Frequently asked questions
Nope! I love bits of skins in my mashed potatoes (controversial, I know). If you’re like me, feel free to mix those bits right into your Tattie Scones!
Starchy potatoes like Russet or Yukon Gold are the best mashing potatoes for potato scones, but any mashed potatoes will do.
Yes! You can easily make gluten-free potato scones by replacing all-purpose flour with all-purpose gluten-free flour.
Yes! As long as you use a plant-based oil to fry them in, potato scones are vegan.
I hope you love these Tattie Scones as much as I do! Let me know how they turn out, and please feel free to comment with any questions I haven’t answered here. Enjoy!!
Potato Scones (AKA Tattie Scones)
Equipment
- 1 nonstick pan or griddle
- 1 bowl
- 1 flipper
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potato cold
- 1/3 cup flour all-purpose
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 2 tablespoons oil for frying
Instructions
Making the Potato Scone dough
- Add cooled mashed potatoes, flour, salt, and pepper to a bowl or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and mix until just combined. The dough should not stick to your hands, and it should be firm enough to roll with a rolling pin.
Shaping the Potato Scones
- Transfer the mashed potato dough mixture onto a lightly floured surface, press into a rough, flattened ball, and use a rolling pin with ample flour to roll it out to 1/4-1/3 inch thick. *See recipe notes for alternate shaping method!
- Dip a large (4 inch), round cookie cutter in some flour and use it to cut the potato scones out of the dough. Continue reshaping and rolling out the dough until you have used it all up. You should get approximately 8 scones.
Cooking the Potato Scones
- Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat, or an electric griddle to 350F.
- Add the oil to the pan, and gently lower in the potato scones a few at a time, leaving plenty of room in between them. If you are using an electric griddle, you may be able to fit them all in one batch.
- Allow the potato scones to brown on one side for 2-4 minutes, then flip to brown the other side.
- Once browned on both sides, transfer the potato scones to a cooling rack to cool.
- Repeat with the rest of the scones, adding more oil to the pan as needed. There should be enough oil to sizzle around the edges of the scones.
- Enjoy right away, or store for up to 3 days in the fridge and reheat in a toaster oven, air fryer, or frying pan as desired.
Video
Notes
- Rolling out the dough and cutting out the scones with a cookie cutter will give you very round, perfect-looking scones. Another option is to shape the potato scone dough into balls, and shape them into patties using your hands. (The classic version is a large round with a criss-cross indentation that makes it easy to break the scones into 4 triangles—as seen in the video!)
