Crispy Hash Browns
Grated potato squeezed dry and fried into a golden, lacy cake — diner breakfast's crowning side.
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Join HomecookedIngredients
- 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.
Nutrition per serving
Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.
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?
One serving of Crispy Hash Browns has about 223 calories, with 6g of protein, 29g of carbs, 10g of fat and 6g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact 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.