Bring the diner delight of home fries, well, home! These popular breakfast and brunch potatoes are actually quite easy to get right, as long as you know the professional but approachable method. This simple two-step process describes how to make a crave-worthy batch of loaded home fries, and how to infuse more enticing flavors for all diets. I also explain why I don't recommend boiling the potatoes!
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🗞The Story
Home fries, often called skillet hash, are the crispy, creamy, pan-roasted potatoes of breakfast and brunch fame. The steamed (or boiled) then pan-fried potatoes are often loaded with traditional breakfast meats, fresh vegetables, cheeses, or simply fresh herbs. Bonus if the diner serves the dish with scratch-made corned beef!
Holy yum on a Sunday morning.
While creating crispy morsels of potato with a velvety interior is a two-step process, it's an approachable one. Professional and amateur cooks alike taut a variety of methods for the best home fries. I don't subscribe to such hyperbole. But in my professional experience, this method produces wonderfully creamy home fries that crisp nicely in the skillet without turning into morning mush.
Whether you're craving loaded home fries of baked potato fame, a vegetarian spread, or a carnivore's delight, the technique is ultimately the same. And a great one to add to your culinary repertoire.
🧾 Ingredients
Aside from the obvious ingredient of potatoes that take well to both boiling and steaming, classic home fries only require high-heat cooking oil and salt. Any additional ingredients and flavorings are personal preference. I find tossing in an aromatic vegetable or two with a healthy pinch of fresh herbs just heavenly.
Most diners and restaurants use minced or diced onion in their recipes. While aromatic vegetables such as onions, garlic, fennel, and celery add loads of flavor and nuance, they're not essential.
The bare minimum ingredient list for home fries is:
- Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
- Cooking oil, avocado or peanut recommended
- Salt and black pepper
That's all folks. Here are the ingredients for loaded home fries, for those moments of weakness.
Choosing Potatoes
Let's not over-complicate matters here. Any potatoes can become tasty home fries. But the best potatoes for home fries are Russet. The variety is easy to find and is a naturally drier potato that takes well to frying.
I also love using Yukon Golds when I can find them. The skin of a Yukon is thin, so I really don't feel the need to peel it. Score! Saved a step! I also love the beautiful color and creamy flesh of Yukons.
📋 Methods
Potatoes that are crispy and creamy may seem like a tall order. But it doesn't have to be out of reach at home. The trick is in, well, the trick, which is to first steam the potatoes to fork tenderness. You will find a plethora of recipes that call for boiling the potatoes first, but I disagree. My friendly, professional recommendation is to steam the potatoes in the oven, instead.
Why Avoid Boiling
Boiling potatoes, especially dry varieties like Russet, allows the spuds to absorb a decent amount of water. Moisture is the enemy of browning, which is why I prefer steaming. The potatoes are able to soften all the way through without becoming waterlogged. The drier the potatoes, the crispier the final home fries!
When I cooked breakfast potatoes in restaurants, we always steamed them in the oven. Boiling can easily get out of control if the potatoes are left in the water even a minute too long. The spuds will become mushy, and then you can kiss your crispy little cubes of delight goodbye.
How to Steam in the Oven
Cut the potatoes into small pieces that are similar in size. Classic home fries are between a quarter- and half-inch big. No need to be exact, if it looks the same, it cooks the same. I tend the leave the skin on (no peeling necessary). The skins add fiber to a dish that, let's be honest, isn't the healthiest one on the block. But your potatoes, your way.
To allow for even cooking, give the potatoes breathing room on the baking pan. A little sprinkling of water will encourage steaming and quicken the cooking. Cover the pan with foil so you don't roast the potatoes. You want the browning to happen on the stove, not in the oven.
For the crispiest home fries, aim for cooked potatoes that are as dry as possible. Dry potatoes are also safer for the skillet since hot oil and excess water don't mix. Once the potatoes are tender, I turn off the oven heat, remove the foil, and let them dry out for ten to twenty minutes. You can steam the potatoes the same day, but also a few days before.
Chef's Tip
Grab your biggest pan, skillet, or better yet a griddle. The more frying real estate you procure, the sooner you'll be eating. And fight the urge to stir.
Stirring too often will prevent the potatoes from developing that lovely crisp exterior. Cook the potatoes one layer at a time in a decent coating of oil. Brown one side, then flip and brown the other side. I find myself adding more oil to the pan as I cook. The starch in potatoes acts like a sponge. Most importantly, sufficient oil equals crispy, golden brown, and delicious potatoes!
The Steps
The first step to cooking success is to gather your equipment and ingredients. Then prepare your ingredients as they will be used in the recipe. If the potatoes need to be diced, dice them. If the garlic is to be minced, mince it before you light the fires (turn on the stove).
As the finest French chefs say... Mise en place! Everything in place!
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line one or two large baking pans with parchment paper, or use non-stick pans.
- Spread the diced or cubed potatoes evenly on your baking pan(s). Drizzle a small amount of water among the potatoes on each pan, about one to two tablespoons. Cover the pans tightly with foil.
- Bake the potatoes until they are tender, but not mushy. After 15 minutes, use a fork to gauge doneness. The potatoes are done when you can easily pierce the largest pieces with a fork. When in doubt, taste one!
- Once the potatoes are cooked, turn off the oven and remove the foil. Leave the pans of potatoes in the oven with the heat off for ten minutes.
- Remove potatoes from the oven and cool completely. This can be done up to two days ahead. Store steamed potatoes in the refrigerator.
- Heat a thin coating of oil in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat.
- Fry the steamed potatoes in batches until they are a rich golden brown color, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Fight the urge to stir! Flip the potatoes only once or twice, and add more oil as necessary to keep the home fries from sticking.
- Once all of the potatoes are fried, return all of them to the skillet and season with a couple of healthy pinches of salt and black pepper. Gently stir the home fries to distribute the seasoning.
Helpful Hint: Once a batch of home fries is that beautiful deep golden brown, I push it off to the side and add more. Shifting the pan slightly off-center of the burner keeps the finished potatoes warm but prevents them from burning.
Variations
The mild flavor of potatoes offers a blank canvas for a plethora of traditional and international flavors. Herbs, spices, vegetables, and meats all create a great loaded skillet of home fries. Weekend home fries can be a great way to use up any leftovers that might be on the verge of going bad. A dear friend of mine chops up leftover meatloaf and adds it to his home fries. This same friend also brews his own beer, so for him, it's par for the course! But it's also insanely genius deliciousness.
Adding Vegetables & Herbs
Fresh, seasonal vegetables are a great way to add flavor and fiber to home fries. For tougher stalks and stems like asparagus, roast or boil the spears first until tender. Halved cherry tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, and fresh leafy greens like spinach and kale can be quickly sautéed in the same pan at the end of frying.
As with working in batches to brown the potatoes, I like to push the finished home fries to one side of the pan. Then I use the cleared space to quick-cook vegetables like mushrooms in a bit more oil.
Sprinkle fresh, chopped herbs on the home fries after all of your chosen ingredients are cooked, mixed in, and hot. Italian parsley, basil, cilantro, and chives are all a beautiful finish to a shareable skillet of savory potatoes.
Adding Meat
If you enjoy home fries fit for a carnivore, cook bacon or bulk sausage in the skillet first. Drain the meat on a paper towel-lined plate, then fry the potatoes in the drippings with added oil, if necessary. Hey, I never wrote this dish was healthy!
Mix reserved or leftover (already cooked) meat into the finished home fries and heat over medium just until hot. For the best bite, chop or crumble meat into small pieces.
Italian-inspired
I love this combination because the onions, sausage, and mushrooms give the dish all the flavor feels. And it reminds me of the flavors of my favorite pizza toppings. Sweet, chewy sun-dried tomatoes lend a fun texture and lovely color. Parmesan is a no-brainer if you don't eat vegan or avoid dairy.
For home fries that transport you to Italy, here are a few classic ingredients. How much of each ingredient you use is up to personal preference. The amounts listed below are general starting points for two pounds of (about four) potatoes.
- ½ yellow onion, diced small
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 4-8 ounces of bulk Italian sausage, spicy or sweet
- 5-6 cremini mushrooms, chopped very small
- 2-3 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced thin
- ½ cup (a couple of handfuls) grated or shredded Parmesan
- Fresh Italian parsley, optional
Brown the fresh sausage in the pan first, then set it aside and fry the potatoes in the rendered pork fat. Add more oil as necessary to keep a thin coating in the pan. Once all of the potatoes are fried, push them aside and sauté the mushrooms until they darken in color and shrink in size. Add the onions and cook until they are slightly browned. Add the garlic and sun-dried (or fresh, diced) tomatoes and heat the hash until hot. Gently stir the sausage back into the home fries with any reserved potatoes. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese and chopped Italian parsley (if using) on top before serving.
Loaded Home Fries
If adding vegetables or international flavors isn't your style, you can always keep it simple by making restaurant-style loaded home fries.
- Fry your steamed potatoes in batches per the recipe below and the method described above.
- At the end of the last batch of potatoes, add diced onions and sprinkle them with salt. Cook over medium heat until they just begin to brown. You can push the cooked potatoes to one side of the pan to free up space for sautéing the onions.
- Mix in small pieces of cooked bacon, stirring gently to combine.
- Top the home fries with several handfuls, a cup or two, of your favorite shredded cheese. Mild cheddar is traditional, gruyère, manchego, or fontina are great for melting and pair well with bacon.
- To melt the cheese, cover the skillet with foil and keep the heat at medium-low until it's melted and gooey. Or pop your skillet in a 350° F oven for a few minutes (as long as it's an oven-safe pan).
- To serve loaded home fries, sprinkle sliced, fresh chives or scallions on top and several dollops of sour cream, plain Greek yogurt, or crème fraîche.
Vegetarian or Vegan
For vegan home fries, try tossing in sliced or diced Kalamata olives, pepperoncini, bell peppers, mushrooms, or chili peppers if you like it hot! Wilting in a couple of handfuls of dark leafy greens like arugula right at the end is a great way to load up on the fiber. Even as a carnivore, this version is delicious.
For vegetarian home fries that rival those of any award-winning brunch spots version, top yours with a fried egg. Or even fry up cubes of your favorite tofu with the potatoes until the pieces are just as brown and crispy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Depending on who you ask, home fries and hash browns are interchangeable terms for pan-fried breakfast potatoes. Home fries are traditionally larger-cut potatoes that are first boiled or steamed, then fried in a thin layer of oil. Hash browns are most often peeled, thinly shredded potatoes fried in large clusters.
Home fries that are baked or roasted in the oven are really just oven-roasted potatoes! To make home fries in the oven, dice small then season the potatoes with plenty of salt and avocado oil. Toss the potatoes with any small-diced vegetables or breakfast meat, and roast at 400° F. Once the bottoms of the potatoes are a deep golden brown, use a flat, sturdy spatula to flip as many over as possible. Oven-roasted home fries are done when they are dark golden brown and fork-tender. To check doneness, taste one!
For successful frying in general - with any ingredient - high heat is key. The milk solids in butter will burn at higher temperatures, so a high-heat safe oil like avocado or peanut is the best choice. To fry potatoes in butter successfully, first, you need to clarify the butter. This process removes the milk solids and raises the smoke (burning) point of the butter. First, melt several sticks of butter in a small pot over the lowest heat possible. Once the butter is melted, you will see the white milk solids sitting at the bottom of the pot. Carefully pour or ladle away the translucent milk fat into a heat-proof container. Be careful to leave the solids in the pot and discard them. Store clarified butter, or ghee, in the refrigerator.
👩🏻🍳 Edible Epilogue
If you have favorite seasonings for homemade home fries, please share them in the comments! My personal favorite is to top skillet hash with an over-easy egg. The warm, oozing yolk is nature's perfect sauce. Truly.
Home fries are not the type of food I joke about.
📖 Recipe
Irresistible Loaded Home Fries
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 1½ hours
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
- Category: Breakfast, Brunch
- Method: Baking, Frying
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
The only way to enjoy creamy, crispy home fries at, well, home! Boiling potatoes can allow them to absorb too much moisture, especially if you forget about the pot during boiling. But steaming them in the oven gets them perfectly tender, dry, and ready for frying.
Frying the steamed potatoes in sausage fat is my favorite way to go, but any oil you like works great.
Ingredients
For Basic Home Fries
- 4 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, diced into quarter- to half-inch cubes
- High-heat oil for frying, avocado, peanut, or canola, recommended
- 1-2 teaspoons of flake salt (but always to taste... season a little, then taste, and repeat)
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, optional
For Italian-inspired, Add:
- 8 ounces hot or sweet Italian sausage
- 1 cup cremini mushrooms, chopped very small
- ½ medium yellow onion, chopped small
- 1-3 cloves of garlic, minced (chopped very small)
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced very thin
- ½ grated or shredded Parmesan
- 1-2 tablespoons Italian parsley, optional
For Loaded, Add:
- ½ medium yellow onion, diced
- 4 strips of bacon (one per person), chopped small or sliced cross-wise into quarter-inch wide pieces
- 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese*
- 2 tablespoons chives or scallions, sliced thin
- Sour cream, crème fraîche or plain Greek yogurt, for garnish
Instructions
Gather all of your equipment and ingredients. Prepare your ingredients as they will be used in the recipe. If peeling the potatoes, do so before dicing. Mise en place! Everything in place!
Steam the Potatoes
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line one or two large baking pans with parchment paper, or use non-stick pans.
- Spread the diced potatoes evenly on your baking pan(s). Drizzle a small amount of water among the potatoes on each pan, about one to two tablespoons. Cover the pans tightly with foil.
- Bake the potatoes until they are tender, but not mushy. After 15 minutes, use a fork to gauge doneness. The potatoes are done when you can easily pierce the largest pieces with a fork. When in doubt, taste one!
- Once the potatoes are tender, turn off the oven and remove the foil. Leave the pans of potatoes in the oven with the heat off for ten minutes.
- Remove potatoes from the oven and cool completely. This can be done up to two days ahead. Store steamed potatoes in the refrigerator.
Fry the Potatoes
- Fry the steamed potatoes in batches over medium to medium-high heat until they are a rich golden brown color, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Fight the urge to stir!
- Flip the potatoes only once or twice with a large, flat spatula, and add more oil as necessary to keep the home fries from sticking. The potatoes should begin browning within a few minutes. If not, turn the heat up. If they are burning or browning too quickly, turn the heat down.
- Once all of the potatoes are fried, return all batches to the skillet and season with a couple of healthy pinches of salt and a little black pepper.
- Taste a couple of potatoes to judge if you'd like more salt or pepper. Gently stir the home fries to distribute the seasoning.
For Italian-inspired Home Fries
- Cook the fresh sausage in the skillet over medium to medium-high heat until fully cooked. Then remove it from the pan and drain it on a paper towel-lined plate or cutting board.
- Fry the potatoes in the pork fat using the method above, adding oil as necessary to maintain a thin coating on the bottom of the pan.
- Once all of the potatoes in the last batch are fried, push them to one side of the pan and shift that portion of the pan off the burner.
- Turn the heat down to medium.
- Cook the mushrooms in a small bit of oil in the space you created in the pan. Once the mushrooms are browned and shrink in size, add the onions with the mushrooms and cook until they are slightly browned.
- Add the garlic and tomatoes and heat until hot, stirring gently to combine the potatoes with the vegetables.
- Gently mix the sausage and any reserved fried potatoes back into the pan, stirring gently to distribute. Heat until all the potatoes and ingredients are hot, then turn off the heat.
- Season with a couple of pinches of salt and a sprinkle of black pepper. Taste a few home fries to see if you'd like more of either.
- Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese and chopped Italian parsley (if using) on top before serving.
For Loaded Home Fries
- Fry the bacon until nearly crisp over medium heat. Remove from the pan, and set aside on paper towels of a kitchen towel to absorb the grease.
- Fry your steamed potatoes in batches in the bacon fat over medium-high using the method above. Add additional oil to the pan to maintain a thin coating on the bottom.
- At the end of the last batch of potatoes, add a splash of oil, the diced onions, and sprinkle in a pinch of salt. Fry over medium heat with the potatoes until they just begin to brown. Stir gently a couple of times.
- Return any potatoes from earlier batches to the pan.
- Mix in small pieces of cooked bacon, stirring gently to combine. Cook over medium just until all the ingredients are hot.
- Top the home fries with several handfuls of your chosen shredded cheese.
- To melt the cheese, cover the skillet with foil and turn the heat to low (or even off, the residual heat is often enough to melt the cheese). Remove the pan from the heat immediately once the cheese is melted and gooey, after just a few minutes. Or pop your skillet in a 350° F oven for a few minutes (as long as it's an oven-safe pan).
- To serve loaded home fries, sprinkle sliced, fresh chives or scallions on top and several dollops of sour cream, plain Greek yogurt, or crème fraîche.
Notes
Chef's Tips
Once a round of home fries is that beautiful deep golden brown, I push it off to the side and add more. Shifting the pan slightly off-center of the burner keeps the finished potatoes warm but prevents them from burning.
Storage + Reheating
Store leftover home fries (yeah, right!) in the refrigerator for up to a week. To reheat, spread the home fries out on a parchment paper-lined or nonstick baking pan. Warm in a 350° F oven until hot. Microwaving leftovers will turn them to mush, and undo all your hard work.
Nutrition Facts
The Nutrition Information below is for the Loaded Home Fries version of the recipe, assuming you use avocado oil. To eliminate a bulk of the saturated and trans fat (partially-hydrogenated fat), ditch the bacon. The totals below are a worst-case scenario! If you add loads of vegetables instead of bacon and cheese, the home fries will offer much more fiber and nutrients, and less saturated fat.
Keywords: home fries, home fries recipe, how to make home fries, loaded home fries, restaurant home fries
Mushrooms Canada
What a wonderful breakfast dish! I'm ready to eat tomorrow's breakfast already 😀 Thanks for sharing!!
-Shannon
edibletimes
It's not too bad for dinner either (wink, wink). Thanks for reading!
Ashley
Sounds great!! This would make for a wonderful brunch dish! 🙂
edibletimes
Thanks and thanks for coming by!
Ryan
I use leftover meatloaf cubes in my hash.
edibletimes
Meatball hash. It probably doesn't get any better than that.