What's The Best Way To Grate Potatoes For Crispy Hash Browns?

Hash browns can be the star of the breakfast plate, but only if they're appropriately crispy. There's nothing more disappointing than a soggy hash brown (or any other potato-based dish that's supposed to have that delicious crunch). When making these breakfast spuds at home, there are plenty of tips for perfectly crispy hash browns you can follow, but one of the most important variables is the preparation of the potatoes. If they're not grated properly, they won't take on that signature deep-brown crust.

Using a box grater to get those long strips of potato will get the job done, but if you have one, now's the time to pull out the food processor. Food processors shred faster and more evenly than the grater, with less mess to clean up after. The results are long, standardized shreds of potato that will cook and crisp better than irregularly-shaped, grated pieces. For a combination of convenience and crispy results, the food processor is the best way to grate hash brown potatoes.

Why do food-processed potatoes fry up better than grated potatoes? The answer is all in the surface area. The more surface area the potatoes have, the more the cooking fat and the starches in the potato can connect, leading to more of that all-important Maillard reaction, which that causes foods to turn brown and develop those delicious crispy-fried flavors.

Another reason the food processor reigns supreme? The speed at which it can shred those spuds helps to keep the potatoes fresh. While you're working away on the box grater, the potatoes you've already peeled and shredded are sitting out in the open where air can get to them and oxidize them. 

You can keep peeled potatoes from turning gray by placing them in cold water. But for truly crisped-up hash browns, the drier the potato, the better. Prevent the need to dunk them at all by employing the speed of the food processor.

When using the food processor to shred potatoes, you'll need to use the shredding disc attachment. This attachment is typically a circular attachment that has holes in it, similar to the average box grater. Unlike other food processor attachments, it goes on the top of the processor's bowl, rather than inside. With the lid attached, you can push the potatoes through the feeding tube. As the shredding disc spins, it will grate the potato into long strands.

Potato shreds can also be used to make potato latkes or potato pancakes, which will crisp up beautifully brown just like hash browns using this technique. Some recipes call for an onion to be shredded right in with the potatoes through the food processor as well.

The shredding disc attachment will work for other vegetables the same way. Easily shred up cabbage and carrot for coleslaw, grate jicama as a topper for salads or tacos, or prepare daikon for pickling.