Czech bramboráky – crispy potato pancakes for summer and winter 🥔🧄

Bramboráky (Potato pancakes) are the kind of food people connect with summer festivals and snack stands – but they taste just as good at home in winter. The Czech version is all about garlic and marjoram, and the goal is simple: crispy, fragrant, and satisfying.

If you want to make it easier, there’s also a Vitana potato pancake seasoning mix. Bramboráky rely on well-balanced seasoning, and a mix helps when you don’t want to adjust the spice balance every time. 

Crispy Czech potato pancakes (Bramboráky)

Ingredients

• potatoes 500 g
• garlic 5 cloves
• all-purpose flour 100 g
• eggs 2
• milk 100 ml
• marjoram 2 tbsp fresh or 1 tbsp dried
• lard for frying 250 g
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Shortcut option

• Vitana potato pancake seasoning (use it to season the batter, then adjust salt after the first pancake)

Method

1. Peel and grate the potatoes (coarse). Squeeze them well to remove excess liquid.  

2. Add eggs, salt, pepper, crushed garlic, marjoram, flour and milk. Mix into a batter.

1. • If using the Vitana mix, add it here and fine-tune salt after your first test pancake. 

3. Melt lard in a pan. Ladle in batter and spread into a thin pancake

4. Fry on both sides until golden. Drain briefly on paper towels.

Quick tips

• If the batter feels too thick, add a bit more milk or a splash of the squeezed potato liquid.
• Adjust garlic to your taste.
• Fry one small pancake first, taste it, then adjust seasoning.
• Don’t be shy with lard – a deeper layer helps the pancakes fry evenly.

Wherever you are, we’re happy to bring a little taste of Czech home to your table.