Step-by-step guidance explaining how to make homemade shredded hash browns from scratch perfectly every time.
Do you ever discover yourself cooking a bag of frozen hash browns and find yourself thinking, “You know, these are good and super easy to make… hmmm, almost too easy!” Would your life be better if making your favorite breakfast was a little more time-consuming, required more energy, and ran a much higher risk of utter failure? If so, keep reading! If not, check out my easy hash brown casserole instead!
I went slightly overboard perfecting how to make homemade shredded hash browns. Eating frozen hash browns wasn’t good enough for me; I needed to know how to make them from scratch and how to do so perfectly. So for about a year, I stocked up on the required simple ingredients and made them multiple times a week until I could fully understand each facet of the process.
Why did some recipes call for soaking the potatoes and others rinsing them? Is changing the water or using ice cubes really necessary? I don’t like blindly following recipes. I want to know why I am doing something so I can figure out for myself if there is a better way.
Here is what I learned:
(Making hash browns from scratch wasn't good enough for me, I eventually went on to also create Cheddar-Crusted Homemade Hash Browns! You need to check them out.)
Ingredients you will need
- Russet potatoes - Also known as a baking potato. You cannot make good hash browns with waxy potatoes such as reds or yukon golds, so stick with starchy potatoes like russet potatoes.
- Salt - I like to use finer grain table salt on my hash browns, rather than kosher salt.
- Black pepper - Fresh ground pepper is best.
- Butter
- Cooking oil - I use a high-temperature vegetable oil when cooking these, such as canola oil.
How to Make Homemade Shredded Hash Browns
First thing I learned: Peel the potato only if desired. This will not affect the final dish. Some like the rustic look of potato skins in their food, others do not. Pick a side. Then shred the raw potatoes with a box grater and quickly move onto the next step to prevent oxidation.
Second thing I learned: Some recipes call for soaking the potato in ice water, while others just say to rinse the shreds. What you are actually doing here is removing the excess starch from the shreds so you get a crisper final product. Cold water prevents oxidation and if you decide to soak the potatoes changing the water will remove more starch and speed the process. Personally, I prefer to rinse the shreds in a strainer under the faucet until the water runs clear because it is easier to tell when the objective has been accomplished. When the water runs clear I know the starch has been removed.
Third thing I learned: For the crispiest hash browns the stored water must be removed from the grated potatoes because you can't have the potatoes holding too much moisture. There are multiple ways to accomplish this. Personally, I like to just grab a fist full and squeeze it over the sink. However, if you are cooking for others you may want to ring it tightly in cheese cloth, paper towels, or just squeeze out the liquid in a ricer. Whatever method you choose, be sure to work in batches so the water can easily disperse. The more water that is removed, the crisper the hash brown will be. Once the water has been drained, mix in salt and pepper.
Tip: I don't recommend using a salad spinner to remove the water, you will be left with too much water in the potatoes to make crispy homemade hash browns.
Fourth thing I learned: Heat a nonstick pan over medium high heat (This pan has been my main workhorse for years and I would buy it again in a second) with a mixture of enough oil and butter to coat the bottom of the skillet in a thin layer. Butter gives hash browns better flavor, but adding oil prevents the butter from burning by raising its smoke point. The fat mixture lies more thinly in the pan and also coats it more evenly which allows for more even contact with the hash.
Fifth thing I learned: Place the hash in the hot pan and press with a spatula to evenly flatten the shreds and brown the potatoes. Thinner is better as this will ensure everything cooks. If you desire healthier hash browns you can use a minimal amount of oil/butter, but using more fat will result in deliciously crispy hash browns.
Sixth thing I learned: Once the bottom is crispy you can use a spatula to divide the hash brown into four sections and then proceed to gingerly flip them. OR you can flip the whole thing in the pan with a quick upward flick of your wrist… don’t worry your dog will love you as you practice. Once flipped proceed to cook until the bottom is crisp.
Once you have finished cooking your homemade shredded hash browns you can serve them immediately or place them on a baking sheet in a warm oven to keep them warm while you work on additional batches of deliciously crispy potatoes.
How to Prepare Hash Browns in Advance
You can shred the potatoes and leave them soaking in water for a few hours until you are ready to cook. This will remove the excess starch and prevent oxidation until you are ready to cook.
I never had good results with par-cooking the hash. Blanching the potato shreds did prevent oxidation but the hash browns never stayed together when cooked and the flavor was off.
I doubt that I just spared any of you from a year-long sabbatical to fully understand the inner workings of the perfect shredded hash brown. However, if I have perhaps given one person a sense of personal satisfaction for not only following my recipe but actually understanding what they are doing and why… then I am just as happy.
If you need a breakfast suggestion to pair this with, I highly recommend my English Muffin breakfast pizzas. Check out the recipe, I think you will love it! Melted cheese, fluffy scrambled eggs, sawmill gravy, and sausage, all atop a crispy English muffin! What's not to love?
How to Make Homemade Shredded Hash Browns
Equipment
- Large nonstick skillet
Ingredients
- 1 russet potato
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
Instructions
- Peel desired amount of skin off potato,
- Shred potato through a cheese grater or food processor.
- Rinse shreds under cold running faucet until starch has been removed.
- Drain the water and wrap clumps of shredded potato in cheesecloth or ricer and squeeze tightly to remove all excess moisture.
- Place shredded potaotes in a large bowl and mix with salt and pepper to taste.*
- Melt butter in non-skillet with oil. Place hash in hot pan on medium-high heat and press with spatula to flatten into a uniform thickness around pan.
- Once bottom is golden brown and crispy divide into four sections and flip (or keep it whole if you are able to flip it), continue cooking until it has the desired crispness.
Notes
Nutritional Information
This recipe was originally published on FoxValleyFoodie.com June 3rd, 2012.
Kathryn
"However, if I have perhaps given one person a sense of personal satisfaction for not only following my recipe but actually understanding what they are doing and why… then I am just as happy."
Me. Literally me. It made me so happy to read that and finally understand WHY what I've been doing has been wrong. So sincerely, thank you!
Fox Valley Foodie
Best comment of the day. Thanks for that!
Danielle
Thank you so much!! I tried making hash browns from scratch yesterday and it was a DISASTER!!! Now I can’t wait to try again.
Brenda
So, this does not need anything else for the potatoes to stick together? Guess not. Looks good
Fox Valley Foodie
Correct, just the magic of potatoes!
Daniah Khan
When do I use the butter in this recipe?
Fox Valley Foodie
The oil and butter go into the skillet together.
lee
Good grief what a delight. I'm an expat Brit. and we love our fried foods (look up full English breakfast), yes we even fry bread! Hash browns were an immediate favourite of mine and, well, this is the bomb! Of course I doctored it up by adding garlic/onion before I flipped it, dropped an egg on top, waited until the bottom was brown, topped with grated cheese, then under the grill until the cheese was brown. Clean up (give the egg time to cook through) and enjoy. Thank you Sir.
Fox Valley Foodie
Great minds think alike! I also love doctoring it up on occasion with a 'healthy' helping of grated cheese, and top it all off with an over-easy egg or two! Bon appétit my friend!
Suzanne
Thank you for the wonderfully detailed instructions. I'm the cook who always asks why something should be done a certain way, but you've beat me to the punch this time. I would suggest one variation: skip the butter and oil and go straight for the bacon fat!! 🙂
Fox Valley Foodie
Haha, thanks! I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy swapping out for bacon fat on occasion!
Ali
This is a very helpful and informative post, thank you!
I'm planning to make a hasbrown casserole for Easter morning and was wondering if I could prepare these hasbrowns the way you described and use them in my casserole without them becoming mushy and gross. I usually use frozen, but would much prefer fresh!
Fox Valley Foodie
I tried doing exactly that for my hash brown casserole (http://www.foxvalleyfoodie.com/easy-cheesy-hash-brown-casserole-recipe/) and did not have success with it. The hashbrown shreds didn't sufficiently soften in the casserole no matter how long I baked it, it seemed. If I would attempt it again I would probably boil the shreds to soften them prior to adding them into the casserole.
Ali
Great, thank you for the link and the response!
CJ Hunter
Thank you for your post. You are right...it is a lot easier to do things when you know the reasons why...for that I Thank you again!!! Tomorrow morning these beauties shall be on my table. Yay!
Fox Valley Foodie
Thanks! Maybe I'm just untrusting but I hate when recipes tell me to do something but I have no idea if/why it is important! 🙂
Joe
Thanks for the post! I have been on a quest for perfect hashbrowns myself, but I recently hit a plateau. Will definitely check out the rest of this blog 🙂
Fox Valley Foodie
Great! I'm glad it helped.
Bob Schuler
I have tried all of the steps in the treatise and still did not obtain a satisfactory result. However, the drier the potato shreds, the better the result. I tried ricer and hand squeeze method, but these ruined the shred quality. Paper towels took mountains of paper towels for a good result. Thus, I have gone to the previously baked potato method. Bake the potato the night before, shred the next morning and fry as described in your treatise to obtain a better hash brown. Almost IHOP standard of hash brown except not as likely to be burned.
Fox Valley Foodie
Thanks for your comment. Out of curiousity, what was the issue with the results you acheived by following the instructions listed in the post?
SWatts
My husband paid this recipe the ultimate complement. He said these hash browns are better than the ones from Waffle House. Thank you for posting this- we live overseas and were really missing some good comfort food.
charli
Ohhhhhhh! =)
Daisy
Trying this for breakfast today!
Connie
I do all of these steps but I line my salad spinner with paper towels and spin them dry. Easy
Anne
I have two football playing sons and they love hash browns! Can I peel the potatoes, shred and rinse and then store them before using? I would like to peel 10lbs and have them ready for the week. Please let me know! Bagged browns are getting too expensive!
Thanks!
Fox Valley Foodie
I have not discovered an effective way to store them in advance.
Penny
did you ever find out if you can freeze the uncook hash browns?
Fox Valley Foodie
I never had success freezing them. The shreds don't seem to hold together anymore.
Terry
I tried this method using a Yukon Gold potato, and the shreds remained separate throughout the cooking process rather than forming patties. I followed the instructions to rinse and dry the shreds, but after a few attempts to divide and "flip" them during cooking, I ended up merely stirring them every few minutes to ensure that they all cooked evenly. The result was good - probably my best hash browns to date - but I wonder if this was the result of a Yukon being more or less starchy than a russet - ?
2ndHandLibrarian
Genius! I remember and learn Always when I am told "why?"! Never understood the blandness because of no butter added to the oil! All the times I have not made a recipe because I didn't have hashbrowns !
Terry
What about using a par-baked potato? You mention that the flavor is off when using par-cooked shreds, but I've had moderate success baking a potato for 30 minutes the night before, letting it cool and then shredding it. My main problem in attempting homemade hash browns has been that they just won't cook. I wait 30-45 minutes for the shreds to stop being raw/crunchy, adding more oil and butter than I can justify, and then either declaring them "done" or eating semi-crispy hash browns that weren't worth the wait. I've tried putting the lid on the skillet so they will steam themselves, and even though the outsides browned the inside was mushy and rubbery. I hadn't heard of removing the starch and excess water, so maybe in addition to pre-cooking the potato (and letting it cool; otherwise it goes to mush in the food processor) I can use this method to have crispy hash browns without so much fat.
karen
That's not letting the oil heat enough. I had that problem. America's Test Kitchen mentioned letting the oil heat until you see wisps, then put the potato in.
Austin Becker
If you spill uncooked potato on the floor while practicing the "flip" don't let your dog eat them. Raw potatoes are actually unhealthy for dogs; just like raw onions and grapes. Read about potato dangers here http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/sweet-potato-vs-white-potato-dogs-2388.html