Crispy Hash Browns
Grated potato squeezed dry and fried into a golden, lacy cake — diner breakfast's crowning side.
Ingredients
- 3 Potatoes
- 25 g Butter
- ¾ tsp Salt
- ¼ Onion (optional)
- ½ tsp Black pepper (optional)
- 2 tbsp Ketchup (optional)
Method
- Coarsely grate the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater.
- Coarsely grate the onion and toss it through the grated potato.
- Wrap the gratings in a clean towel and squeeze hard until no more liquid comes out — this is the whole secret.
- Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until foaming.
- Drop the squeezed potato into the skillet in several loose mounds, press each into a thin patty, and cook undisturbed until the undersides are deep gold, about 6 minutes.
- Flip each hash brown, season with salt and pepper, and crisp the other side until deep gold, about 5 minutes.
- Serve the hash browns hot with ketchup or under eggs.
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About Crispy Hash Browns
Crispy hash browns are the crowning side of the American diner breakfast, grated potato fried into a golden, lacy cake with shatter at the edges. This version grates both potato and onion on the large holes of a box grater, the onion melting in to season the potato from within, then fries the mounds in foaming butter for flavor and color. What separates a great hash brown from a soggy one is moisture control, and the recipe is blunt about it: squeezing the gratings bone-dry in a towel is the whole secret.
Pressing the squeezed potato into thin patties and leaving them undisturbed lets the undersides set into a deep-gold crust before the flip, so you get crisp, craggy exterior against a tender interior rather than a limp, steamed mess. Seasoned simply with salt and pepper and served with ketchup, they're pure diner comfort, at their best eaten hot and fresh from the pan. Though titled a side, they hold their own as the star of a lazy weekend breakfast alongside eggs. The payoff is entirely in the technique, and this one gets the essential steps in the right order.
Crispy Hash Browns: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Crispy Hash Browns?
A serving has about 266 calories — 4.8g protein, 40.2g carbs, 10.4g fat, 5g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is Crispy Hash Browns gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Crispy Hash Browns has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
Is Crispy Hash Browns dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Butter. Swapping it for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
Do I need every ingredient to make Crispy Hash Browns?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out onion, black pepper, ketchup — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Crispy Hash Browns make?
This recipe makes 2 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.