Crispy hash browns can be more than a breakfast thing! Have it alongside a main as a side with some gravy and you'll have some serious good eats 🙂
Potatoes. One of my greatest weakness right here - but seriously, what's not to love? It's such a versatile ingredient that you can have creamy, hearty, cheesy, spiced, and in this case - super duper crispy.
If you look around the blog, you will notice that I use a lot of spices and flavours in my recipes but for these crispy hash browns I only use 3 ingredients. What gives right? Some things are meant to be kept simple - this is one of those things.
Crispy hash browns are delightful when simple. You just want to taste the crispy potatoes and a bit of salt. You can smother ketchup or gravy on it if you need that extraness but the base hash browns will be as simple as possible.
I also like grating onions right into the potatoes, it's completely optional but it pairs very well and the caramelization of the onion makes this dish crazy delicious. Seriously.
INGREDIENTS
All ingredients can be easily found at a local grocery store.
[Optional] Try grating in an onion into the potatoes as well! (Grate it in before you squeeze all the liquid out.) It adds an AMAZING flavour to these hash browns - caramelized onions makes everything amazingly delish.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Secret to Getting Crispy Hash Browns?
The secret to getting really crispy hash browns (or any type of potato recipe) is really only two things.
- Make Sure the Potatoes Are Dry. Potatoes have a lot of moisture (oddly) so you want to try to remove as much of that out as you can. Moisture and excess water 'steam' your potatoes which won't give you a nice crispiness to it.
What's up with the murky water? Oxidation from the potatoes will cause the water to look that way. Not to worry, oxidized potatoes won't harm you, it just looks gross. 😛 - Pre-Cook the Potatoes! Cooked potatoes are fluffier, there's almost no moisture and it's almost feels more starchy. So when you add the extra soft and starch dry potatoes to a hot pan with oil you will come out with super crispy hash browns. 🙂 To simplify this, I like to nuke it in the microwave to cook it a little, after it has been grated.
Potatoes, Patatas - There's no label for crispy lovin'~!
Crispy Hash Browns
INGREDIENTS
- 3 small potatoes
- 2-3 tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion (grated, optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Scrub the potatoes well
- [Optional] Peel the potatoes (We personally enjoy the potato skins and don’t bother peeling it.)
- Grate the potatoes on the largest grater hole setting
- [Optional] Try grating one small onion in as well for some fantastic flavour!
- Add ½ teaspoon of salt and mix it into the shredded potatoes and let it sit for 5 minutes. This step does double duty, it lightly seasons the potatoes as well is draws out water from the potatoes.
- Place a cloth inside a bowl and add all the shredded potatoes inside the cloth
- Squeeze out as much as the water as you can. I find the easiest way to do this is to twist the ball of potatoes while squeezing it at the same time. Keep twisting the ball until it gets tighter and tighter.
- Discard the water that was squeezed out
- Unravel the tight ball of squeezed potatoes and lightly loosen it up
- Spread out the potatoes on a plate and nuke it for 1 ½ to 2 minutes.
- In a pan, set the heat to medium heat and add some oil and 1 tablespoon of butter
- Once the pan is hot, and the butter has melted, add in a golf ball sized of shredded potatoes. (Or add in half the potatoes, and spread it out to ½ inch thick if you are making a big skillet hash brown instead of mini ones)
- Take a spatula and smush them down into pattie sizes and cook for approximately 4 minutes a side or until golden crispy.
- Serve it for breakfast or as a side! We love it with ketchup and sometimes gravy!
NUTRITION
Deborah says
Thanks for the recipe, I added a bit of garlic and some grated parmesan. Yum!!
Joyce Lee says
Hi Deborah!
Adding garlic and grated parmesan sounds fantaaaaaastic! 😀 What awesome ideas! I definitely need to try this now! 🙂
heather (delicious not gorgeous) says
sometimes all you need is butter and salt to season and flavor a dish (; i always find that the hash browns at restaurants look more brown and golden and delicious than they taste, but i'm betting these would actually be the real deal!
Joyce says
Yes! I totally agree. Just having the potatoe flavours it's like fries for breakfast! haha 😛
Rae says
I think there are some dishes that are best very simple with minimal ingredients, and hash browns are one of them! I might need to make these for dinner tonight. 🙂
Joyce says
Yes! I totally agree. 🙂
Jagruti says
hash browns are favourite in my house, your pictures are tempting.
Joyce says
aww thanks! 🙂
Patty @pattysaveurs.com says
I love hash browns and make them time and again as a side, your recipe is so simple, will try it!
Joyce says
Simple is best sometimes right? 🙂
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables says
My father in law was a breakfast cook and he makes amazing hashbrowns! I feel like I've never been able to get mine as crispy. I'm going to try this recipe to see if I can make some that rival his! 😉
Joyce says
Oh my! haha but why? you have someone making you breakfast! :O Don't fight it! hahaha! 🙂
Ali from Home & Plate says
My kids love crispy hash browns and would eat them everyday. This recipe is super simple and I think they would disappear quickly if served along side a platter of bacon and eggs. Yum.
Joyce says
My kind of breakfast! 😀 Yum