Start your day on the sunny side with a breakfast of fried or scrambled eggs, bacon and this recipe for Simple Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes.
Morning at our house is a mix of quiet and chaos. But one thing is for sure, everyone needs to get fueled for the day ahead.
And, what better way than with a full breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon (or ham) and Simple Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes.
This recipe has been a favorite at our home for longer than I can imagine. It differs from the store bought kind, in that I’m in control of what gets put into the potatoes and can control how crispy it becomes. (I’m a fan of super crispy hash brown potatoes – btw.)
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How to Make Simple Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes
To start this recipe, choose which potato you’d like to use. I like freshly picked red potatoes (yum!), as well as the standard russet potatoes. Either work well in this recipe.
Cooking Tip: The older the potato, the more starch it has. Also, the skin is tougher to grate. Thus, when you make hash brown potatoes, keep this in mind when you are making hashed brown potatoes. Important to note: If you use older potatoes, rinse it in batches so that it doesn’t brown from oxidation.
You’ll want to make sure you have a very sharp box grater, or a food processor with a grating blade if you want. I’ve even used my mandoline slicer to get the job done quick and easy.
The trick to not slicing your hand (or fingers) is to use the open-palm method. I find this works out really well. Not only do you get even grating, but you can really move quickly through the task in no time at all.
To feed a family of four use two to three red potatoes or two medium size russets. Then it’s grate, grate, grate away!
You’ve probably experienced the awful browning that occurs with potatoes when they oxidize with air. To curb this, rinse your newly grated potatoes using a fine mesh strainer in cool water.
Then, dry with a paper towel, removing as much water as possible.
Then, you are ready for frying. You can fry up your shredded hash brown potatoes as small patties or layer it out evenly in the fry pan to cook all at once.
Which oil to use? Some home cooks love grape seed oil, others vegetable oil, some olive oil and still others, butter. Which method works best? They all do. Even so, each renders a different taste and doneness.
For example: Butter will easily brown your shredded hash brown potatoes and give it a soft buttery taste. The oils will also brown well at a higher temperature but the potatoes will have a slight taste of the oil, in the case of olive oil and vegetable oil. Grape seed oil, less so. For super crispy potatoes use oil. For softer hash browns, use butter.
To brighten the taste of the hash browns, try sprinkling a bit of spice like cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic or onion powder while frying.
Frying time varies with type of oil and type of potatoes. Red potatoes cook faster than the russets. But the results are the same–absolutely delish! Enjoy!
For more delicious potato recipes, be sure to check out Wisconsin Homemaker’s Recipe Section.
Simple Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 cups shredded potatoes red potatoes or russets the best
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Using a sharp grater, grate potatoes into a large bowl.
- Rinse the grated potatoes well. Dry well with paper towels.
- Preheat oil in a large skillet. Turn heat down to medium high heat.
- Add shredded potatoes to the pan, spreading out into a single layer, as best as possible.
- Allow to fry for about five minutes on one side, turn potatoes over and allow to brown on the other side, about 5-10 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper, to taste. Remove from heat. Serve. Enjoy!
Hi Deborah-
Since the stores around me have stopped carrying frozen hash browns (potato shortage?) I decided to try my hand at making my own. Everything went great – they were beautiful – I was so proud. I froze my beauties. They are now thawing and they have turned reddish brown. What happened? What should I have done? I’m sure Ore-Ida must do something to their potatoes. Any help will be appreciated.
Hello Janet! After a bit of research, I believe I may have come up with a couple of possible solutions for you. There’s a long and short explanation about why frozen hash browns turn brown. I’ll give you the short version and save the longer one for a later post. The main issue you are experiencing has to do with oxidation. Now you know this happens with fresh potatoes but it can also happen with frozen ones. This occurs when you allow your hash browns to thaw. I can probably guess why you want to thaw your hash browns before frying–to avoid burning yourself with splattering oil. But here’s the rub, when you thaw your potatoes, you actually are starting the oxidation process all over again. The best practice is to not allow this to happen. To avoid oxidation, you could add the frozen hash browns directly to the hot oil (just as you would frozen french fries). However, if you are worried about getting burned, try using a lid to hold just above the fry pan and between you and the hash browns as you lower them down into the pan using a long handled spoon, spider or tongs. Second, you can try sprinkling some salt in the bottom of your fry pan prior to adding the oil. CAUTION: DO NOT add salt to the frozen hash browns because salt draws out water and will make oil splashing more dangerous. Third, you can par cook your frozen hash browns in the microwave by first squeezing a bit of fresh lemon juice on the frozen spuds, placing them in the microwave for about a minute or so just to soften them and then squeeze out any excess water with paper towels to dry them as much as possible before placing them in the hot oil. In the future, you can prep your hash browns by flash freezing them in the amount and flatness you require. This way, it’s just a smaller splash versus a big glunk. Some recipe creators suggest blanching, then adding salt to the hash browns or lemon juice before freezing to curb unnessary browning. But there’s a whole methodology to this and something you can Google for yourself: “how to avoid browning with frozen potatoes.” Be well!–DLM