Po-ta-to Po-tah-to
Nothing hits the spot quite like fried potatoes. As one of the few foods you can prepare for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, their versatility and tasty profile make them an MVP on the meal prep menu. Everyone has a different way of preparing them, and that makes it even more fun! Even if you have been making fried potatoes for years, you can try a new way this week. Let’s dive into four ways I like to prepare them!
BREAKFAST
My girls have always slept in. Even my six-month-old prefers to go back to bed with her dad after her morning feeding. Since waking the whole family up at 8 a.m. is not cool, years ago, I settled into the habit of using that extra downtime to make elaborate brunches for the crew. Without fail, it always gets me out of cooking lunch!
For breakfast, I have a trick for fried potatoes that always saves me! Pan-frying potatoes from raw can take a while, so my go-to method with breakfast is to par-cook the potatoes in the microwave. Golden potatoes are a family favorite, and they are typically smaller than baking potatoes. Give them a good wash, then throw them in the microwave for 4-5 minutes. When they are done, they should be semi-soft but not as tender as a baked potato. Let them cool for a few minutes before carefully cutting them up, then pour bacon grease or a generous amount of butter into the bottom of a hot skillet. Drop the potatoes in and resist the urge to stir them for a few minutes. This allows a nice golden layer to form on the bottom. Cook to your desired crispness, season with salt and pepper, and serve with scrambled eggs, biscuits, and gravy!
LUNCH
I learned an invaluable trick on our family beach trip this year. We all met up at one house for dinner, and one night, the oven racks were all claimed by pans of GBM frozen meals. I didn’t want to make everyone wait for the potatoes, so I threw half a stick of butter and an order of our Red Roasted Potatoes from the simple sides menu and watched them sizzle. The result was easy, tasty, fried red potatoes that required no prep. Just be sure to thaw the order before beginning!
DINNER
There are two ways we enjoy fried potatoes for dinner. Ironically, I learned one from my dad and the other from my father-in-law.
I never recall seeing my dad in the kitchen, save when he made us fried potatoes. Dad made his fried potatoes the way he had them growing up. Russet potatoes were sliced whole into round medallion slices, and yellow onions were sliced up with butter, pepper, and salt. I loved the way the skin would fall off the potato slice in a round ring; it’s the only fried potato I’ve ever had like that. When we go home, we still catch him making his infamous fried potatoes, apron and all.
My in-laws made us fried potatoes two weeks ago, which knocked my socks off! After washing and peeling Yukon golden potatoes, they chopped them up into small pieces and placed them in a Good Batch Mama pan with a stick of butter. They then diced a viola onion and put the pan onto the grill. While the meats grilled, those potatoes sizzled and popped, and when they hit our plates at dinner, we all said, “Woah!”. Since I’m no grill master, I have been making them the same way but with my cast iron on the stove. The mildness of the viola onion is sweet and accepted by all my daughters, too!
There you have it—four different ways to enjoy fried potatoes! To serve the best fried potatoes, all you need is a group to enjoy them and of course, a whole stick of butter!