Patatas Bravas
Double-fried potato cubes under a smoky pimenton sauce — Madrid's bar staple.
Ingredients
- 800 g Potatoes
- 400 ml Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 2 tsp Pimenton dulce (sweet smoked paprika)
- 1 tsp Pimenton picante (hot smoked paprika)
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 tbsp Sherry vinegar
- 1 tbsp All-purpose flour
- 250 ml Chicken stock
- 1 tsp Salt
Method
- Peel the potatoes and cut into bite-sized cubes.
- Mince the garlic.
- Warm a glug of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Sweat the minced garlic until fragrant but not browned.
- Stir in the flour, then both pimentóns and the tomato paste. Cook until brick-red.
- Whisk in the stock and sherry vinegar. Simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Heat the remaining olive oil in a deep, heavy pan to 160 °C (325 °F).
- First fry: cook the potatoes until tender but still pale. Lift onto paper towels.
- Bring the oil up to 190 °C (375 °F). Second fry the potatoes until deeply golden, then drain and salt.
- Pile the potatoes into a wide dish. Spoon the brava sauce over the top.
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About Patatas Bravas
Patatas bravas is the quintessential Spanish tapa, a fixture of Madrid's bars where crisp fried potato cubes arrive under a smoky, faintly fiery sauce. The name comes from the sauce — brava meaning fierce or wild — and that salsa brava is what separates a real version from plain fried potatoes. Here it's built from a roux stained with both sweet and hot pimentón, deepened with tomato paste and sherry vinegar, and loosened with stock until it coats a spoon. The result is smoky and tangy with a controllable warmth rather than raw chili heat.
The technique that makes this version worth cooking is the double fry: a first pass at a gentler 160°C cooks the potatoes through and leaves them pale and fluffy inside, then a second, hotter fry at 190°C blisters the outsides into a hard, shattering crust. That two-stage method is exactly how bar cooks get interiors that stay soft while the edges crunch. Bravas are meant to be shared, speared with toothpicks alongside a caña of beer or a glass of wine, ideally as part of a wider spread of tapas. Because they're quick and use nothing exotic, they're an easy way to bring a bit of a Spanish bar to the table at home.
Patatas Bravas: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Patatas Bravas?
A serving has about 301 calories — 6.9g protein, 42.7g carbs, 12.5g fat, 5.9g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is Patatas Bravas gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains All-purpose flour. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
How many servings does Patatas Bravas make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.