As someone who knows how to make crispy hash browns, I was excited to give it to you! Potatoes are cheap and can be used in so many different ways.
I guess I totally don’t use potatoes enough in my kitchen enough. My favorite breakfast to make on the weekend is to make a decadent breakfast to celebrate my weekend off.
These crispy hash browns were the perfect base for what I call the “ultimate hash browns” I make every time I get a chance. You can check out for yourself at the bottom of the post what I topped my haven browns with such that they were truly the ultimate in taste and texture.
Although everyone makes hash browns in a different way, I’ve found that three things are the most important factors that go into making really delicious, golden brown hash browns:
- Rinsing the starch off the potatoes
- Drying the potatoes
- Using an adequate amount of oil
It is absolutely essential to use enough oil when making hash browns. If you don’t, the potatoes will be dry and tend to turn from white to burnt, which is what it is known as.
Hash browns are fried, so there is no avoiding that fact. If you use enough oil to cook them, you’ll get crispy yet moist potatoes, which are beautiful yellow in color with a rich golden brown finish.
It is also important to keep in mind that you should use an oil that has a high smoking point, so something like canola, corn, peanut, or sunflower oil will be the best choice.
In a hash brown, butter adds a lot of flavor, but it tends to burn, so you should use clarified butter or ghee instead. I had no patience and just used canola oil since I did not have the time to clarify any butter.
I used my 10″ cast iron skillet because it offers non-stick protection while giving really even heat and a nice surface for crisping.
While stainless steel is also great for crisping, starchy foods (like potatoes) tend to stick a lot more on stainless, so it can be tricky. If you’re not well practiced with keeping food from sticking on stainless steel, I’d suggest either cast iron or a non-stick skillet.
How to Make Crispy Hash Browns
There are several easy steps you can follow to make perfectly golden brown crispy hash browns at home or even make them in the microwave. Learn the tricks to making them crunchy and delicious in the next few minutes.
Author: Beth
Servings: 4 (1 cup each)
Ingredients
- 2 large russet potatoes (about 2 lbs.) ($1.00)
- 4 Tbsp cooking oil, or as needed ($0.20)
- Seasoning salt to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- When the potatoes are ready, peel them and then use a large-holed cheese grater or food processor to shred them until they are a fine shred. Place them in a colander and rinse well, or rinse until the water runs clear. Place the potatoes in the sink and let them drain.
- As soon as you have mashed the potatoes, you will need to press them against the side of the colander or squeeze them in your hand in order to remove excess moisture. If you wish, you can place them in a clean, lint-free dish towel and roll them up, then press them to remove the moisture.
- It is a good idea to heat a large cast iron or non-stick pan over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add a tablespoon of cooking oil. As soon as the skillet is hot, tilt it to ensure that all of the oil is distributed evenly. Put about a third of the potatoes in the skillet and cover the surface of the skillet with the potatoes evenly (half an inch thick or so). Once the potatoes are golden brown on the bottom, allow them to fry without disturbing, and season lightly with seasoning salt.
- As soon as the potatoes are on the first side, flip them over. Drizzle with some more oil if this is needed. Let the potatoes cook on the second side without disturbing them until golden brown and crisp again, season with some salt and pepper.
- Once the potatoes are cooked through, flip the potatoes over and cook them until the ratio between brown and white is the one you prefer. Repeat the process for all the potatoes and serve up hot when they are ready.
Nutritional
Serving: 1 Serving ・ Calories: 288.35 kcal ・ Carbohydrates: 39.98 g ・ Protein: 4.63 g ・ Fat: 14 g ・ Sodium: 147.5 mg ・ Fiber: 3.18 g
The nutritional values shown here are only estimates. Please see our nutrition disclaimer.
How to Make Crispy Hash Browns:
There are two russet potatoes, or about two pounds, that you need to prepare this dish. You can scrub them clean and leave them with their skins on, or you can peel them.
To shred the potatoes, you can either use a large-holed cheese grater or a food processor. I found that the potatoes shrunk fairly easily with a large-holed cheese grater, so it wasn’t worth cleaning out a food processor while doing this.
As soon as you have shredded your potatoes, place them in a colander and thoroughly rinse them. The water that comes out of the colander you should be clear. Let the shredded potatoes drain and then proceed with the remaining preparations.
When it comes to keeping the potatoes crispy, it is crucial that they are as dry as possible. If the potatoes have too much water on them, that steam will turn into steam while they cook and this steam will basically steam the potatoes, causing them to become soft and mushy.
This is where I learned that there are two ways to dry the potatoes: let them drain for a long period of time in a colander, squeeze them dry with your hands, or roll them up in a clean, lint-free towel and press them to dry. I chose the towel method.
It is important that you heat a large skillet over medium heat, either using cast iron or non-stick. Once it has been heated, add about a tablespoon of oil to it.
Once the oil is spread evenly on the skillet, add roughly a third of the potatoes, or enough to cover the bottom of the skillet in a solid but thin layer of potatoes (about 1/2 inch thick) on the top.
Ideally, you would like to make sure that all the ingredients are in contact with the skillet, so if you pack them too thickly, some won’t hit it… which will generate steam again and make everything mushy again.
During the cooking process of the potatoes, you should sprinkle on some seasoning salt. I prefer this kind because I live in Louisiana and we put it on everything.
The crispy hash browns taste really good when they have seasoning salt added to them instead of just plain salt and pepper. I like this kind of seasoning salt, because it adds a little more flavor and kick to the crispy hash browns.
There is a key here, which is not touching them for too long before you get them to become really nice and crispy. The long strands will get damaged if you stir or flip them too many times.
The key is to not mess around with them, to not stir or flip them too often, so they do not form a nice crust. In other words, leave them be until they are golden.
Then, turn them over once they are crisp and golden. You might have to drizzle a little more oil on the second side at this point to help it crisp up. Then, let the second side sit until it is also golden and crispy.
In this situation, depending on whether or not you have many potatoes in your skillet, you may want to turn it over and cook it for a further 15 minutes after that just to ensure that most of the potatoes are crispy.
However, that is entirely up to you. Some like a 50/50 ratio of crispy to soft, while others prefer almost all crispy potatoes.
As soon as you hit the perfect balance of crispy-soft, you should move on to the second batch of hash browns. Once you have removed the crispy hash browns from the pan, it’s time to move on to the second batch. Repeat the process until you have cooked all the potatoes, or until you are happy with the quality.
In essence, hash browns are great on their own and all, but why not make them ultimate by adding all sorts of yummy toppings?
For example, I added a fried egg, a few avocado slices, diced tomatoes, sliced jalapenos, green onions, and a generous amount of sour cream. Waffle House ain’t got nothing on my hash browns.
If a day is boring with the usual dishes, listen to Apronese change the difficulty of making Crispy Hash Browns right away.
Delicious taste and fast making time will make you satisfied. If you have a more delicious and easy recipe, be sure to share it in the comments.
