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This home fries recipe makes crispy, golden, perfectly seasoned breakfast potatoes! Here’s how to whip them up at home.

Home Fries
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When it comes to breakfast recipes, we’re solidly in the savory camp. So our favorite breakfast or brunch side dish? Meet this Home Fries recipe! These spuds come out crispy, golden, soft on the inside, and perfectly seasoned with garlic, onion, and salt. This diner-style favorite is perfect with a sunny side up egg in the morning, but it also works as a dinner side dish with burgers or salmon. We couldn’t stop sneaking bites out of the pan!

Ingredients for this home fries recipe

Everyone has their own way to make home fries. To us, good home fries should be crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. The flavor should be fairly straightforward (this is diner food, after all!) but irresistible, flavored with a bit of sauteed onion and a hint of garlic. Add a good dose of salt and pepper, and you won’t be able to resist another bite. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

  • Red or yellow potatoes: The best potato for home fries is a waxy potato, like red potatoes or Yukon Gold. Some cooks prefer a starchy russet potato, but we prefer a waxy potato for its buttery flavor and texture.
  • Olive oil and butter: Use a combination of cooking fats for the best crispy, rich potatoes.
  • White onion: A good home fries recipe has a bit of sauteed onion to add flavor and texture.
  • Garlic powder and onion powder: The hint of garlic makes these fries irresistible.
  • Salt and pepper: Of course, a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper is a must.
Home Fries

How to make home fries: tips

This home fries recipe is not at simple as throwing potatoes in a pan for a few minutes. The key to great home fries? Parboiling the potatoes first. It sounds like a bit of extra effort, but here’s why and a few more tips:

  • Parboil the potatoes first. Boiling the potatoes until they’re just fork tender before sauteeing gives them a soft, moist interior. If you skip this step, you’ll get potatoes that are burned on the outside but still hard on the inside. (Trust us!)
  • Use a very large skillet. You’ll want as much surface area as possible to help the potatoes get crispy. Either cast iron or stainless steel work.
  • Add the onion after pan frying the potatoes. Because the onion is minced into small pieces, it can burn before the potatoes are done. Add the onion with a bit of butter toward the end of the cooking time.

Ways to serve home fries

Home fries are great for breakfast and brunch! Since they take 30 minutes to prepare, we like to save them for weekends so we don’t feel rushed. You can also use them as a dinner side dish for chicken or fish. Here are a few ways we like to pair them:

Home Fries

More potato recipes

The mighty potato is one versatile vegetable! Here are a few classic potato recipes to try:

This home fries recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free.

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Home Fries

Classic Home Fries


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5 from 1 review

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
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Description

This home fries recipe makes crispy, golden, perfectly seasoned breakfast potatoes! Here’s how to whip them up at home.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 pounds red or yellow potatoes (3 to 4 large)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons minced white onion
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions

  1. Wash the potatoes and cut them into a 3/4-inch cubes. Add to a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and boil 6 to 7 minutes until just fork tender.
  2. Drain in a strainer and allow to steam for 2 minutes. Then place them in a bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt and pepper.
  3. Heat a very large stainless or cast iron skillet over medium heat and melt the 1 tablespoon butter with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring only occasionally until all sides are browned, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add the white onion and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Cook for 5 minutes until the potatoes are browned on all sides. Top with green onions and serve hot. (Leftovers store 3 days refrigerated; reheat in a skillet before serving.)
  • Category: Side dish
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Breakfast
  • Diet: Vegetarian

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Hi! We’re Sonja and Alex Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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  1. Sonja Overhiser says:

    Let us know if you have any questions!