Crispy hash browns that are crispy outside and mouth melting soft inside. Don’t we all love fried potatoes for breakfast? Here's the recipe and secret to make perfectly browned and extra crispy the BEST hash brown every time.
Hash browns are not just for dinner or breakfast, we love to eat potatoes in any meal. Sometimes we add them in wraps, burritos or burgers as well. So soggy mushy hash browns do not cut in for any meal. I had to find a way to make crispy hash browns and tried various recipes.
To be honest, the only thing I love at McDonalds is hash browns. This copycat McDonald's hash brown recipe works perfect for me to make those packets of extra crisp potatoes. If you love breakfast Potatoes try these.
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My family loves Fried potatoes! scratch that not only fried potatoes we love potatoes in any form. But if you love Potatoes you know fried potato snacks are THE BEST. Good old fashioned restaurant-style hash browns along with Fried Egg, ketchup and a buttered toast is one of the most delicious breakfast ever.
Ingredients For Hash Brown
Making homemade hash brown is very easy. You need very few basic ingredients for this recipe.
Potatoes: Use either old potatoes or any variety of starchy potatoes. DO not use waxy potatoes.
Corn Starch: To bind and make them crispy.
Salt: To season them.
Oil: Use any vegetable oil. I prefer to use extra virgin olive oil which is a better choice for frying because it has a high smoking point. I try to avoid refined oils.
How to Make Crispy Hash Brown
Preparing the Potato Mixture
- Peel and rinse the potatoes.
- Chop them into very fine cubes.
- Heat one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a pan.
- Place these chopped potatoes on a strainer which is placed on a big bowl. Pour water over potatoes and rinse to wash off the starch.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet on a medium heat. Add chopped potatoes and stir fry for 5-6 minutes till tender. Make sure not to overcook and do not turn them mushy.
- Transfer potatoes to a large bowl and add cornstarch in hot potatoes.
- Mix well.
Shaping Hash Browns
- Place the warm potato mixture on a board and flatten it after covering with a cling film. Use a roller pin to spread it evenly into a rectangular shape.
- Using a knife cut this rectangle further into 6 rectangular pieces.
- Gently round the corners of the rectangles to shape them.
Frying to Extra crispy Perfection
- Add oil to a heavy-bottomed skillet till upto ¼th of an inch.
- Heat oil.
- Place shaped patties in the oil. Keep the heat to medium low.
- Fry one side for a couple of minutes. With a spatula lift to see if the edges have started turning golden. Now gently flip to the other side.
- Cook the other side till golden brown and crisp. Drain to a wire rack. Serve immediately.
Watch Video Recipe
McDonalds Style Hash browns Recipe
Making crispy hash browns like McDonalds at home is really simple and easy. Follow these few points to make restaurant style extra crispy hash browns that are soft inside at home in a few easy steps.
First thing I would like to clear here is most of the copycat McDonald's hash browns recipe on Internet have eggs as ingredients. But surprisingly if you look at the ingredients listed on their website you will be surprised that their hash browns does not contain eggs or flour. So when I was trying out the recipe I omitted eggs but used the flour to make them extra crispy.
What's the secret to the crispiest hash browns? Press out as much extra moisture as possible after grating and before frying. Here's how you can make them perfectly browned and extra crispy, every time.
- Use very finely chopped potatoes. This will make them soft inside.
- To make them extra crispy, the most important thing is to get as much moisture out of potatoes as possible.
- This step of par cooking potatoes before shaping and frying till al dente’ removes extra moisture before cooking them.
- While frying hash browns heat the oil first. Add a minimum ¼ inch of oil in the pan and do not overcrowd the pan. If you are using a small pan add one at a time.
- Shape hash brown into a thin layer for the crispy hash browns with the right amount of soft fluffy potato inside.
- Another thing you can do to make perfect hash browns is flip them only when one side becomes perfectly browned. Doing this will not only keep them extra crispy but it gives perfect brown flour as well.
Recipe Notes: Tips to Make the BEST Hash browns
- Although McDonalds hash browns are made of 4 ingredients: Potatoes, cornflour, oil and salt. But in case you love some more flavour as a personal preference you can add a hint of some onion powder and garlic powder. This gives that extra flavour. If you are like me, make them plain.
- When You are frying hash browns heat oil till it shines and then reduce the heat to medium and fry them.
- Hash browns are not one of the healthy foods in the world. But one thing you can do to make them healthier is using extra virgin olive oil which has a high smoke point of 375F to 405F. These are definitely better than restaurant hash brown that is fried in refined oil.
- One thing you should remember while frying is do not overuse or over heat any oil while frying. Too much heat destabilises oils and makes them unfit for consumption. I have shared my best frying tips to deep fry.
- Lastly, do not transfer them directly onto a plate. I prefer to transfer them on a wire rack. Place the wire rack on a paper towel and then drain out and place hash browns on the wire rack. This will keep both surfaces crispy.
What Kind of Potatoes are Best for Hash Browns?
Potatoes with less moisture content works best. Use starchy potatoes like Russet for hash brown. Waxy potato varieties or new potatoes have high moisture and do not develop a crispy exterior so avoid them.
What To Serve with Hash browns?
Hash browns taste best with eggs and toast. Crispy Fried eggs is my first choice, but you can serve them with any breakfast eggs like omelette, frittata, spiced scrambled eggs, Soft Fluffy scrambled eggs. Soft Parsi Style Scrambled eggs. You can use them for making breakfast sandwiches or wraps.
More Such Recipes to Try
-
Potato and Semolina square
-
Cheesy Potato Triangle
-
Latke- Crispy Potato Pancakes
-
Crispy Paneer and Potato bites
-
Cheese balls
-
Potato Cheese Sooji squares
-
Greek Mixed Herbs Potato Fries
-
Cheese Potato Bites
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📖 Recipe
McDonalds Copycat Hash brown Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 gm Potatoes
- 5 tablespoons Cornstarch
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon Oil + 4 tablespoon Oil for Frying
Instructions
Preparing the Potato Mixture
- Peel and rinse the potatoes.
- Chop them into very fine cubes.
- Heat one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a pan.
- Place these chopped potatoes on a strainer which is placed on a big bowl. Pour water over potatoes and rinse to wash off the starch.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet on a medium heat. Add chopped potatoes and stir fry for 5-6 minutes till tender. Make sure not to overcook and do not turn them mushy.
- Transfer potatoes to a large bowl and add cornstarch in hot potatoes.
- Mix well.
Shaping Hash Browns
- Place the warm potato mixture on a board and flatten it after covering with a cling film. Use a roller pin to spread it evenly into a rectangular shape.
- Using a knife cut this rectangle further into 6 rectangular pieces.
- Gently round the corners of the rectangles to shape them.
Frying Hashbrowns
- Add oil to a heavy-bottomed skillet till upto ¼th of an inch.
- Heat oil.
- Place shaped patties in the oil. Keep the heat to medium low.
- Fry one side for a couple of minutes. With a spatula lift to see if the edges have started turning golden. Now gently flip to the other side.
- Cook the other side till golden brown and crisp. Drain to a wire rack. Serve immediately.
Mona
I just made these for my 4 year old grandson on a restricted sodium diet. He has asked for McDonald's hash browns daily for over a week. I made the recipe as written except added 1/2 t. Each of garlic and onion POWDERS. They are great and practically sodium free. Thank you for sharing this recipe.