Benny Blanco is best known as a music producer and songwriter behind hits like “Teenage Dream” and “Diamonds.” But over the years, Blanco has also made a name for himself as quite the foodie. On TikTok, he’s shared recipes for chicken cutlets, recreated SZA’s banana pudding, and shared how to make his girlfriend Selena Gomez’s favorite food: fried pickles. Blanco even once hosted a cooking show on YouTube called “Eat Out America,” so it was only a matter of time before he released a cookbook.
“Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends,” which Blanco co-wrote with cookbook author Jess Damack, features zany recipes and dinner party menus, including “Insane Lobster Rolls,” “I Wish I Was an Italian Grandma,” and perhaps most famously, “Will You Marry Martha Stewart Latkes,” which are actually the star of Blanco’s collaboration with Gotham Burger and have become a hit on TikTok.
The recipe was actually inspired by Blanco’s “secret crush” on Stewart, with whom she’d worked for over a decade. Sadly, Stewart herself has yet to try latkes, despite a near-clash when Damac invited her over to Blanco’s house. “I was so nervous I went out and bought a tin of caviar the size of my head and the best champagne I could get, and she never showed up,” Blanco recalls in the cookbook. “Jess said she was just pretending to be impregnable.”
Still, Blanco touts his recipe, claiming that “if you make these latkes, you are 100% guaranteed to have a sexual experience.”
How to make Benny Blanco latkes
This recipe starts by peeling and grating russet potatoes and white onions. The potato and onion mixture is then submerged in ice water, which removes excess starch and discoloration that can occur if the grated potatoes are left out. The soaked ingredients are then strained through cheesecloth to remove all the water and transferred to a dry mixing bowl.
Blanco’s recipe calls for simple seasonings of salt and pepper, plus eggs and potato starch to hold the latkes together. The latkes are portioned with an ice cream scoop and fried in a mixture of beef tallow and canola oil for two minutes on each side, a process that “makes them smell like the insides of a potato chip,” Blanco writes in her cookbook.
Latkes are often served with applesauce and sour cream, but Blanco takes it up a notch and tops them with crème fraîche, caviar, and chives. Blanco is adamant that with this combination, he and Stewart will marry. We’re not sure if this recipe will inspire a proposal, but when I FaceTimed my best friend to show her the latkes, she dropped everything and came over to try them.
If you love your latkes fried, especially until they’re crispy, you won’t be disappointed with this recipe: latkes are more flavorful than you’d think, and not just because of the fancy toppings (you’ll be amazed at how different deep-frying them in beef tallow makes them).
Substituting materials
In his recipe, Blanco suggests topping the latkes with Osetra or Kaluga caviar, especially Regalis or Petrossian caviar. You can find these or similar substitutes at specialty food stores, but if you’re on a budget, you can buy imitation caviar in the canned fish section of some grocery stores. The caviar adds a salty flavor and contrasts nicely with the greasiness of the latkes, so it’s definitely worth adding.
But even if you decide to skip the toppings, plain latkes still have plenty of flavor thanks to beef tallow as well as a seasoning of salt and pepper. This ingredient gives the latkes their unique richness, but if you’re vegan or can’t get hold of beef tallow, you can use herb-infused olive oil to add another layer of flavor.
Crème fraîche is more readily available than beef tallow or caviar, but you can substitute these ingredients if desired. Sour cream is less expensive and tastes pretty similar, but note that it’s not as thick and has a slightly sour taste.
One ingredient you might want to avoid substituting is potato starch: Most latke recipes call for wheat flour, but Blanco’s potato starch helps the latkes get a super crispy texture instead of becoming soggy or soft.
It’s hard to not love Benny Blanco’s recipe, especially if you already love crispy latkes or if you want to serve caviar on something other than crackers. They’re so tasty, I’ll definitely be making them again. If you’d like to try these latkes before purchasing Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends, here’s Blanco’s full recipe:
Kalea Martín writes primarily about food and cooking for PS, but as a former figure skater and hockey player she also covers fitness. Before becoming a lifestyle writer, she wrote about hotels, restaurants and travel for Luxos Magazine in Milan and worked in marketing for HarperCollins Publishers.
