Irish Potato Bread

Easy 4-ingredient Irish Potato Bread! Also known as Irish Farls, Fadge, or potato cakes! Made on a hot griddle with leftover mashed potato, this gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-free potato bread recipe is a delicious, simple, and quick side dish, breakfast, or snack! Soft and crisp, eggless mashed potato bread can be enjoyed savory or sweet!

The Irish know their potatoes and they know their bread too! But, who knew that when you combine the two, you get one of the most simple and delicious potato breads imaginable! Traditional Irish potato bread can go by many names depending on the region and exact preparation. All following the frugal, minimalist mindset of the Irish, the simplicity of potato and flour yields a delicious, moist, and nutritious bread with so many applications!

What Is Irish Potato Bread?

Traditional Irish Potato Bread can go by many different names depending on the region and exact preparation. Essentially, the potato replaces part of the flour used for the bread. The white, floury type of potato that was abundant in Ireland lent itself to being a fantastic and economical replacement for flour in bread and cakes. However, Irish potato bread isn't the typical "bread" you're probably thinking of. No loaf pan is needed because there is no yeast, allowing the bread to be fried up on a flat pan as a griddle bread, which makes it different from the potato breads of other countries across Europe and South America, or the oft confused Scottish tattie scone.

What's The Difference Between Potato Farls, Fadge, and Cakes?

While farls, fadge, and even cakes are essentially the same thing, there are some differences in exact regional preparation.

• Potato Farls comes from the Gaelic word fardel, which means four parts. It's an unleavened potato bread that's thinly rolled out into a circle and cut into 4 triangles. Made with just mashed potato, flour, salt, and butter, pan-fried on a flat griddle. This preparation is common to a full Ulster fry, in the Northern region of Ireland.
• Potato Fadge is a thicker, round griddle bread. Typically prepared in the Southern regions of Ireland. Prepared with the same ingredients, this type of potato bread is rolled a bit thicker and shaped in the form of a rectangle. This is known as the cake (or pancake) preparation, as cakes were preferred in the South rather than the North.
• Potato Apple Cake is a common type of fadge, specific to the Northeastern part of Ireland in the fall. This sweet autumn potato cake includes a filling of in-season apple slices.

Potato Bread vs. Boxty

Potato bread is different than boxty because it uses already cooked, mashed potato. Boxty uses finely grated raw potato, giving it more of a hashbrown texture and pan-fried like a typical pancake, commonly with buttermilk and egg included in the batter.

Ingredients For Irish Potato Bread

• Mashed Potato: Have some leftover mashed potatoes you need to use up? This is the perfect recipe to use them in! You can also mash up boiled white potatoes, canned potatoes are great for this!
• Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: This potato bread is 50/50 flour and mashed potato. Any gluten-free all-purpose flour will work for these potato farls.
• Vegan Butter: To keep these farls nice and moist, some melted vegan butter is added to the simple potato dough.
• Salt: A pinch of salt is all you need for these plain potato cakes. This allows you to top them however you'd like; sweet or savory!

The Best Type Of Potato To Use

Russet potatoes are the best type of potatoes to use for potato bread. Simply peeled, boiled, and mashed smooth with a potato masher or potato ricer. Using a potato ricer will give you a super smooth mash without any extra work. If you want to cut out the set of boiling your own potatoes, you can use whole canned potatoes. Note that you will need about 1 pound of whole potatoes.

A Simple Eggless Gluten-Free Bread

This recipe is a perfect bread solution that's gluten-free and vegan for breakfasts or simple sides! Naturally:

• Gluten-Free
• Vegan
• Allergy-free (Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Wheat-Free, Sesame-Free, Corn-Free, Coconut-Free)
• Sugar-Free
• Kid-Friendly
• Quick, Easy, Budget-Friendly, & Freezer-Friendly

How To Make Irish Potato Bread

1. Add your pre-boiled and mashed potato to a large mixing bowl with the melted vegan butter and salt.
2. Blend it all together with a fork.
3. Add your gluten-free flour to the mashed potato.
4. Use your hand to work the dough until smooth and combined.

5. Add your dough to a floured surface and roll it out to ¼ to ½ inch thickness.
6. Use a round soup bowl to cut out a circle of the dough.
7. Remove the excess dough and set it aside for re-rolling more portions.
8. Use a sharp knife to cut the circle of potato dough into 4 triangles (farls).

9. Grease a large pan or griddle and place it on the stove over medium heat before adding a batch of potato farls.
10. Cook the potato farls on each side for 4-5 minutes until golden brown.
11. Serve the potato farls right away or allow them to cool and a wire rack to store for later.
12. Freeze any leftover potato bread in a freezer-safe bag for later.

Ways To Add Extra Flavor

You can add some extra flavor to your plain Irish farls by including some spices and herbs like onion or garlic powder. Use some dried parsley, dill, or rosemary for a delicious earthy, warming flavor! You can even think about adding in some vegan cheese shreds, parmesan, or nutritional yeast for a naturally dairy-free cheesy flavor. Add in more veggies by grating in some zucchini or carrot! Make the dough sweet by adding in some cinnamon or a touch of sweetener. You can also add chopped apple to make these more like fadge cakes!

Delicious Topping Ideas

Eating Irish potato bread plain is delicious and simple, but toppings can always take things up a notch!

• Vegan Butter: Butter is a classic way to serve potato bread. Warm, cozy, and buttery!
• Vegan Sour Cream: Some delicious cool and creamy vegan sour cream pairs so well with potato!
• Applesauce: Just like potato latkes, applesauce is a fantastic sauce to serve with your farls!
• Apple Cinnamon Compote: Skip the filling and top them with homemade, warm, comforting stovetop apples and cinnamon!
• Fruit Butter: Apple, pumpkin, pear, maybe even some jam or curd!
• Ketchup or BBQ Sauce: Potatoes, french fries, why wouldn't you dip them in some ketchup, bbq sauce, maybe even dose them in hot sauce or...mayo?
• Vegan Cheese Sauce: Say goodbye to cheese fries and hello to cheese farls!
• Fresh Chives: Some fresh chives or scallions are a great topping to add some bright oniony flavor! Perfect with that sour cream too!
• Cut Fresh Fruits: Some fresh berries, apples, or pears are delicious for a sweeter breakfast!

What To Serve With Potato Farls

You may have heard of a full English breakfast, well, the Irish version is called a full Ulster fry. Potato farls are an essential part of the full Ulster! The traditional Northern Irland breakfast includes fried bacon, sausages, black pudding, mushrooms, tomato, and eggs served with fried soda bread and potato farls. Sure, you can serve these alone with toppings, but why not make it a full breakfast with vegan bacon, eggless omelettes and scrambles, or some hearty grilled veggie steaks!

How To Store & Freeze

• Store Leftovers: Let the potato farls cool completely on a wire rack before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
• Freeze Leftovers: You can freeze the potato farls in a freezer-safe bag with all the air taken out for up to 6 months for best quality.
• Reheating: You can reheat leftovers by tossing them back in a skillet and allowing them to get crispy again over medium-high heat or lay them on a baking sheet and war, them up in the oven.

More Delicious St. Patrick's Day Recipes:

• Traditional Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread
• Traditional Irish Colcannon
• Easy Lentil Shepherd's Pie
• Irish Potato Candy
• Irish Boiled Dinner Vegetables

Print

Ah, yes! Simple delicious and kind of like a breadier french fry? Any potato lover will LOVE this simple traditional Irish potato bread! Farls, fadge, whatever you want to call it, this quick and easy recipe will be a hit!

So tell me:

+ How do you want to top your farls?

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