Homemade Hash Brown Patties

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm going to eat more than my share of Homemade Hash Brown Patties, so you better make your own. Crispy on both sides, with creamy potato centers, they are just what you need for breakfast, or even in place of a baked potato with dinner.

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If you have 20 minutes, you have enough time to make Homemade Hash Brown Patties. These aren't McDonald's hash browns. These are the thin crispy hash browns you get at a diner in New Jersey, but smaller, so there's a higher crisp outside to creamy inside ratio, just the way I like it! An easy Breakfast just got so much easier and more delicious with this great recipe!

Ingredients

These simple ingredients make pretty awesome hash brown patties. Please pretend that there are 2 tablespoons of flour in another tiny glass bowl though. This picture is from an early test. I forgot to take one of the ingredients for the final, and most successful test, and I'm just really full of potatoes right now. I'll make more potatoes next week and do it again, okay?

• Potatoes - For the crispiest hash brown patties, you want to use a starchy potato, and the best potatoes are plain old russet potatoes. If you can't find them, Eastern potatoes or yukon golds are your next best bets, in that order.
• Butter and oil - My Dad always used a combination of bacon fat and vegetable oil to make his hash browns. I cleaned it up a bit by swapping the bacon fat with butter... sometimes (I save the bacon fat from my oven baked bacon). You get the flavor of butter, but it doesn't burn as fast if added to oil. If you only want to use one, I would recommend using neutral vegetable oil such as canola or avocado oil. But bacon fat is always a good choice, just saying.
• Salt and pepper - During testing I always seasoned with salt and pepper during cooking. Then, in one test, I added the salt and pepper into the potatoes and the flavor difference was enormous. The entire hash brown patty was seasoned from the inside out and that's where it's at!
• Egg - I didn't want to make a potato omelette, that's a different recipe, so using one egg as a binder helped hold the hash brown strands together, without being eggy.
• Flour - I also added a couple of tablespoons of all purpose flour, to absorb excess liquid from the egg and potatoes, but if you want to skip the egg, you can skip the flour as well. If you are gluten-free, you can replace the flour with cornstarch or potato starch powder.

See recipe card below for exact quantities.

How I tested this recipe

I have tested this recipe a number of times with various methods of getting the perfect potato texture; I tried using a box grater, hand chopping, even doing multiple tests using store-bought shredded potatoes - frozen and fresh. I finally settled on using my food processor as my favorite method for shredding, followed by, believe it or not, using fresh store-bought shredded potatoes.

Using a box grater made the potatoes too thin for my liking, and the final product didn't have the texture I wanted. Frozen potatoes were just a mess. When you thaw them and then try to get rid of excess liquid, they turned to mush.

Using the grating disc on my food processor gave me nice thick shreds that held their shape through cooking. Using a binder, in this case one egg and a bit of flour helped them keep their shape, but let the potato shine through.

Variations

Potatoes are a blank canvas that take on flavors so well. here are a few ways to zhuzh up this hash brown recipe:

• McDonald's hash browns - Look, if you want little round or oval hash browns, I'm here for it. Place a round ring mold or cookie cutter on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place about ¼ inch of shredded potatoes inside. Repeat until your tray is full, or you run out of potatoes. Freeze for about 30 minutes, to help them keep their shape and then cook as directed.
• O'brien potatoes - Add very finely diced onions and red and green bell peppers to your potatoes before squeezing out the liquid. Season with salt and pepper, along with ¼ teaspoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. Cook as directed.
• Waffle House style - If you're from the south, you've had yourself some Waffle House hash browns. The most popular are scattered - which is my original recipe, covered - with American cheese melted on top, or chunked - which has chunks of smoked ham. I love them all!
• Idaho sunrise - Usually done with a baked potato, these are quicker and even more fun with hash browns. After flipping your hash brown patties, press a spoon in the center to make a divot. Crack an egg in the center, cover the pan, and cook until you egg is done to your desired doneness. Poke the yolk with a skewer and flip over if you want a cooked yolk.

Equipment: cast iron pan

I prefer to cook my hash browns in my 12 inch cast iron skillet. Cast irons stay consistently heated, with fewer hot spots, than thinner stainless steel pans, and nonstick pans just don't give you the same crispy result. If you do use a stainless steel pan, be sure to heat it up fully before adding fat and the potatoes to the pan, to reduce the risk of sticking.

Instructions

Making your own homemade hash brown patties takes a little bit of work, and I won't be mad if you use refrigerated shredded hash browns, but it's worth it for the great flavor! Anyway, as always, read all the instructions, look at the pretty process shots, and get started:

• Start by washing 1 ½ pounds of russet potatoes.

Step 1: Use the grating disc of your food processor, or the large holes on a box grater, to grate your potatoes.

Step 2: Soak the shredded potatoes in ice cold water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to remove excess starch.

Step 3: Squeeze out handfuls of potatoes with your hands and place in the middle of a clean dish towel. Twist to remove as much liquid as possible. (you can also use a salad spinner, but it won’t remove as much water)

Step 4: Place into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add one egg and 2 tablespoons of flour. Mix thoroughly.

Step 5: Heat cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil or vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. When the butter is foamy, place three approximately  ⅓ cup mounds of potato mixture into the pan, flattening the tops. Place a lid on the pan and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the bottoms are browned and crispy.

Step 6: Remove cover and flip. Drizzle a little more oil around the patties if the pan seems dry. Replace cover and continue cooking until golden brown on both sides. 

Place on a wire rack set in a large sheet pan lined with paper towel. Allow any excess oil to drain while you make the next batch.

Sprinkle with more salt and pepper and serve with a little sour cream and some chopped chives or green onions. Especially good with fried eggs and crispy bacon!

Making an entire pan of hash browns

If you want to make more traditional diner style hash browns you can place all of it into the pan at once and flatten into a thin layer, about ¼ inch thick. Add one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of oil to a cast iron pan set over medium heat. When the butter melts and begins to foam, add your potatoes.

Cover and let cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Using a thin spatula, take a peek underneath. If they are browned to your liking, use a couple of spatulas to flip the whole thing, or divide in half with the side of you spatula and flip each half over.

Add about 1 more tablespoon of oil around the edge (it will seep under), cover and cook another 3 to 4 minutes. Take off the cover and cook to your desired brownness. Use your spatula to cut into 4 to 6 servings and season to taste.

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