Chiptole Bacon Potato Cakes made with Leftover Mashed Potatoes

With the holidays quickly approaching, thoughts turn to food, holiday dishes and lets face it, for me, creamy mashed potatoes.  I usually over estimate on the amount of food to prepare for the holidays and usually end up with a pile of leftover mashed potatoes.  Ever wonder what to do with them?  Well, as promised, here is my first recipe using Idaho Gold potatoes inspired after my recent tour of the Idaho Harvest.......  

Chiptole Bacon Potato Cakes made with leftover Idaho Gold mashed potatoes.

Friday night we barbecued Rib Eye steak so I decided to make more than enough Idaho Gold mashed potatoes as one of the sides.....more than enough because I wanted to make sure I had enough to make the Chipotle Bacon Potato Cakes the next day......for breakfast.

I fried 3 slices of bacon, drained and chopped them, reserving the bacon drippings in the skillet.

Place leftover mashed potatoes in a mixing bowl and add eggs, bacon, Chiptole powder, salt, pepper, cheddar cheese and mix well.....I used my hands.  {full printable recipe below}

Form the mixture into patties smaller than the size of the palm of your hand.  Brown for about 4 minutes per side in the reserved bacon drippings.

Serve as a replacement to home fries or hash browns for breakfast, as a snack or as a side with dinner.

If you find the flavor of Chipotle to be too spicy, use onion or garlic powder instead.

Chipotle Bacon Potato Cakes

4 cups of cold leftover mashed potatoes

3 slices of bacon, fried

2 eggs

1 tsp Chipotle Chili Powder {found in the spice section}

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated

Fry bacon in skillet, until browned.  Remove the bacon slices and reserve the bacon drippings in skillet. Chop bacon.  Mix the mashed potatoes, eggs, salt, pepper, Chipotle powder, bacon and Cheddar cheese in mixing bowl.  I used my hands, much like mixing meatloaf.  Form the mixture into small patties...slightly smaller than the size of the palm of your hand, heat the patties in the bacon drippings until crisp over medium heat....about 4 minutes per side.