Home Fries Recipe - The Cookie Rookie® (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between home fries and hash browns? ›

Hash browns (or hashbrowns and hashed browns), are traditionally shredded potatoes that are pan fried to a golden brown. Home fries are made from cubed or diced potatoes. They are fried up along with onions and often bell peppers. Hash browns and home fries are staple items of breakfast restaurants around the country.

While the origin is unclear, home fries were probably named to distinguish them from French fries. According to Merriam-Webster, the term was first used in 1951.

Cook in boiling water with a little bit of baking soda before frying in a hot oil. Use a heavy bottomed pan, like a cast iron skillet, to help develop that golden crispy crust. Avoid using a nonstick pan for this recipe. The most important part is to have PATIENCE!

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

Substitute fresh potatoes for 30 ounces of frozen hashbrowns. Substitute diced green onions for 3 tablespoons dried chives.

The secret to getting a crispy surface on home fries is to make sure the potatoes aren't warm when you pan-fry them. In this recipe, we precook the potatoes and let them cool to room temperature before they hit the buttered pan, ensuring perfectly crusty and crispy edges.

If they are still not crispy you might have skipped a step or you might not have let them cool down sufficiently. Make sure to cool them in a single even layer and also make sure that the oil has the right temperature. Or maybe you've used the wrong potatoes to make them.

Most recipes for shredded hash browns advise squeezing the potatoes to release as much liquid as possible before they're cooked. This makes sense—potatoes are loaded with moisture, which makes browning difficult. By getting rid of excess water, you enable the potatoes to brown more evenly and quickly.

The secret to the crispiest hash browns? Remove as much moisture as possible before frying.

Do I need to boil my potatoes first? Trust us: You seriously don't need to boil these spuds (or pre-cook them at all) before pan-frying. Slicing them thin allows them to cook through in the same amount of time that they need to get brown and crispy on the outside.

Should I boil my homemade fries before frying? ›

A properly made fry must hit the oil twice--once at a lower temperature, and then again at 350 degrees Fahrenheit--to get the perfect creamy interior and crunchy exterior. Before all that, though, the secret is to briefly poach them in boiling water (or "blanch" them) before they go into the hot oil.

When a small amount of vinegar is added to the soaking water before frying, it can help impart a tangy flavor to the fries without making them taste overly vinegary. The acid in the vinegar can also help to slightly break down the surface of the potatoes, aiding in the development of a crispier texture during frying.

Crispy and Fluffy Home Fries

Potatoes are first parboiled to break them down on the inside and then sliced and fried up in oil. They usually come served up wedged or cubed making them fatter than your regular fries.

There are two kinds of hash browns: The chunky, floury, vaguely brown but not crisp kind, and the lacy, crunchy, shredded version here. Guess which one we prefer? This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Commercially the potatoes are steamed and tumbled to get the skin off, then shredded and blanched in water or oil and then (this is key) individually flash frozen in huge freezers by running the potato pieces thru on a conveyor belt. Then bagged and ready for the customer to oven bake or finish fry.

McDonald's obtains their hash brown patties from a facility, made of dried potatoes! This is due to the more even cooking of dehydrated potatoes. NOW - for "da hook up": Walmart sells the SAME hash brown patties that are pre-formed and half cooked.