14 Mistakes People Always Make With Hash Browns

Hash browns are one of those foods that feel like they're impossible to get wrong. Likely developing from Swiss rosti, the modern form of the dish that we all know and love has been a diner staple in the United States since the end of the 19th century. We understand why: They're simple to make, delicious to eat, and require barely any ingredients to prepare. However, despite their unassuming nature, hash browns are more complicated to nail than you might think, and this dish is rife with potential mistakes.

It all starts with the potatoes you use, and how you prepare them. Reaching for the wrong type of tuber, or grating and assembling them improperly, can lead you to a loose hash brown that's lacking in texture. Hash browns can also occasionally be lacking in any flavor whatsoever — or, alternatively, have a bitter, burned taste that stems from using the wrong type of fat. The equipment you use can also have a huge impact on your final dish, producing a pile of potatoes that's lacking in crispness or color. If you're ready to stop ruining your hash browns, and make the best breakfast of your life, listen up.

The potato you use is one of the biggest decisions you'll make when it comes to your hash browns, and so many people get this part drastically wrong. Instead of figuring out which variety will work best, they reach for the first one they see — and then they wonder why their hash browns are so loose and mushy. It's important to remember that potatoes can vary significantly in their starchiness and moisture content, and using one that's overly wet or sugary will produce a softer hash brown.

Instead, do what the experts do to make hash browns, and grab a starchy spud. "My recommendation would be russet potatoes," says chef Vanessa Bordoy of Poindexter Coffee. "They're starchy and a bit more dry than others, which is helpful to achieve the consistency and crispiness that we want." Yukon Golds can also be a good alternative, thanks to their slight waxiness, which has a glue-like effect that keeps the hash browns well-formed — although overly waxy potatoes can be an issue. If you're unsure about whether your potatoes are starchy enough, take a look at its skin. If it's smooth and slightly shiny, it's a waxy variety, and won't make hash browns as well as those with rougher skins.

The key to getting consistent hash browns is grating them properly. This is an underrated step that makes a big difference, and a lot of people tend to rush this part. Instead of aiming for total consistency, they pepper their hash browns with little nubs of potato or overly broken-down pieces of spud that create a slightly knobbly end result. Your hash brown might end up breaking apart, or certain parts of it might not be completely cooked.

It's important to grate your potatoes properly, aiming for consistency when it comes to piece size. The best way to do this is by using a food processor, like this one from Hamilton Beach. Food processors produce an incredible degree of consistency, and also grate down your potatoes in a fraction of the time of box graters. You can, of course, use a box grater — but if you are, make sure you're working with potatoes that are as big as possible. This will help you get the longer strips and avoid any flaky, half-formed pieces ending up in your potato pancake.

It's a common assumption that when you're making hash browns, you should soak your grated potatoes before forming them into patties. However, that might not be the wisest thing to do. The reason why you shouldn't soak grated potatoes before pushing them into your patties is because when you do this, you rinse a lot of their starch away. You need that starch to keep your potatoes together as they cook — if you get rid of it all, they'll fall apart pretty quickly, and you'll be left with potato crumbles.

As such, avoid the temptation to rinse or soak them, and instead, simply pat their moisture away. It's also important to remember that you should grate your potatoes as close to when you're making your hash browns as possible. It's a common mistake to grate them in advance and then leave them in water to retain their color, but doing so will sap them of their ability to stick together.

They might not seem like it at times, but potatoes are pretty watery. They have about an 80% water content, and a lot of that water can end up being exposed and released when they're grated. If you don't get rid of this excess water, you'll quickly find that your potatoes steam more than you'd like in your pan, and don't get that beautifully crispy exterior you're hoping for.

The solution is to make sure you're patting your potatoes dry, even if you're not soaking them in water after you grate them. Pile them onto a kitchen towel, and then press on them with another piece to soak up any potato juices and squeeze out as much as possible. Remember, if you're using an egg as a binder, you'll introduce more moisture to your potatoes again — so you'll want to do this to mitigate any wateriness.

You can also squeeze out your moisture in different ways. One ingenious trick is to use a potato ricer. Pile your potatoes into the ricer, and then press down on them to force the water through the gaps. Then, scoop them out, pat any further water off them, and you're ready to go.

All hash browns start with fresh potatoes, right? Not quite. Although fresh potatoes make for excellent hash browns, this food is also a great way to use up leftover potatoes that you've got hanging around — even if they've already been formed into something else. You can turn leftover fries into hash browns easily, by dicing them up, pulsing them in a food processor, or ricing them and then turning them into patties. It's a great way to give old fries a new lease of life, as when they're warmed up and crisped, they become soaked with and flavored by the fat still leftover in the potatoes.

Hash browns can also be made with leftover mashed potatoes. Although this will give you a slightly softer result and you won't get that slightly grainy texture, you can still get a crispy exterior on your potato patties easily. Plus, don't forget that you can use slightly older potatoes for hash browns too. Potatoes are generally safe to eat if they've only slightly sprouted, and frying them will bring back some of the firmness they may have lost by aging a little.

If you've ever produced a tasteless hash brown, it's probably because you didn't season it properly. It's not enough to just sprinkle it with salt or pepper and hope that it tastes good; you need to put seasoning in before you form your potato patties to ensure that every piece is coated with flavor. If you're making diner-style crispy hash browns, you might also want to add further seasonings like onion and garlic powder, to give them a further pop of savoriness and a nice vegetal aroma.

You'll likely need a little more seasoning than you think, too. For four or five potatoes, aim to use about 2 teaspoons of salt, and between a ½ to a full teaspoon of onion and garlic powder. Ensure that you're using as fine a salt as possible here. Flaky sea salt may be great as a finishing touch, but you want to make sure it's reaching every piece of potato equally, and not forming little crunchy pops of sodium throughout your otherwise-consistent pancake. The same goes for pepper, too — make sure it's as finely-ground as possible.

The skillet you use for your hash browns matters. It's important to use a pan that can both retain heat well, and distribute it effectively. If your skillet has cold spots, or it dissipates the heat you're applying to it, then your hash browns won't get consistently crispy and have a nicely brown color.

You should steer clear of anything too flimsy or cheap; budget nonstick pans don't quite cut it here, even if this dish is otherwise pretty affordable. We'd always recommend using a well-seasoned cast iron pan, or a pre-seasoned pan like this one from Lodge. These pans are designed to keep their heat and will give you a crispy finish. Stainless steel pans can also be a great choice.

Of course, most diner hash browns are made using a flat top griddle, upon which chefs can prepare multiple portions simultaneously. These can be harder to replicate at home, and generally speaking a pan is fine — but if you have an electric griddle, go for it. Just make sure it spreads its heat evenly, and doesn't have any noticeable cold spots.

Everything's better with butter, right? Not hash browns. Well, that's not quite true — obviously the smooth, rich, creamy flavor of butter makes the potatoes taste incredibly good – but those flavor notes can quickly turn bad. The problem with regular butter is that it has a pretty low smoke point of 300 degrees F: If it goes above this, it can burn and begin to smoke uncontrollably. When this happens, your hash browns will absorb all of that flavor, and they'll end up bitter and acrid.

So how do you still get that buttery flavor without any of the smokiness? Clarified butter is your best friend for truly unbeatable hash browns. Clarified butter is a form of the fat that has all of its milk solids removed, and it's those milk solids that burn at such low temperatures. Without them, butter is able to be heated to a much higher temperature and still provide that delicious richness. Clarified butter can also be called ghee (which is actually a type of clarified butter), and you can find it in both supermarkets and specialty food stores, or simply make it at home.

Keeping hash browns well-incorporated and held together is a bit trickier than it seems. You technically don't need a binder to make hash browns, but without it, the potato can fall apart quite easily. This is especially likely to happen if your potatoes are a little too crumbly or overly dry. To get around this, you need to use a binder. Adding an extra ingredient that will keep your hash browns stuck together will ensure that your pancake is well-formed and pillowy.

Which binder should you use, though? You've got several options. Mixing the potato with an egg can give your hash browns a little bit of extra bulk and help glue them together, but it can also make your hash brown a bit spongy. Using flour, on the other hand, can hold together wetter potatoes, but runs the risk of things getting a bit dry. Ideally, you'll use a mixture of both to balance out the moisture of one and the dryness of the other without overwhelming the potato. We also love to add a little bit of cheese in there. 'Cuz, y'know, everything's better with cheese.

We all want our hash browns to be crispy and beautifully browned — without those two aspects, they're just lacking in texture and flavor. However, it's very important not to overdo things. If you turn your heat up too high, your hash browns will cook irregularly: The outside will crisp and brown (and potentially burn) way too quickly, while the inside will remain raw. You might also end up browning one side more than the other, creating an inconsistency in the hash brown itself.

Rather than suffer this fate, keep your temperature moderate but consistent and adjust as you're cooking to make expert-level hash browns. "A pan or skillet at 350-365 [degrees Fahrenheit] will work perfectly to achieve that first golden layer in a hash brown," says Vanessa Bordoy. After this, Bordoy recommends that you drop the temperature of your pan slightly. The reason for this is that when you're cooking it on the first side, you're simultaneously browning it and cooking it through. On the second side, you'll just want to generate a light browning without overcooking the center.

It's easy to assume that hash browns cook in a few minutes flat, due to the tiny size of the potato pieces. However, they don't. Hash browns have a density to them that means the heat doesn't distribute through them as easily as you might think. Unless you give them the proper amount of time to cook, they can turn out to be undercooked in the middle and gritty.

The solution? Give them the time they need. You'll want to give your hash browns about 5 minutes per side on a medium heat to ensure they're fully cooked through and sufficiently browned. Naturally, it can be a bit tricky to tell exactly how cooked hash browns are without cutting into them. You have two options here. The first is to simply prong it with a fork or knife: If you get little resistance and no chalkiness, you're probably good to go. The second is to make a tester hash brown, cooking it for 5 minutes on each side and then slicing into it.

The best hash browns have an unbeatable balance of a crispy exterior and a pillowy inside. However, achieving the former can be a bit trickier than you think. If your hash browns aren't forming a consistent seal with the bottom of your pan, then only parts of them will crisp up. The outside of a hash brown is naturally knobby, due to the potato shavings making a slightly irregular surface, and sometimes they need a bit of extra help to flatten.

That's why weighing your hash browns down is an important step. This trick for crispy hash browns is simple to execute: Once your potatoes are in your pan and have started to cook, place a skillet or a similarly-sized object on top of them, and allow them to sizzle away. Doing this pushes the potatoes onto the bottom of the pan, creating maximum surface area for them to crisp up. Bear in mind that you don't want to use anything too heavy, as this can flatten your hash browns too much, causing you to lose any softness inside.

We love hash browns in all forms — and while the fried version is definitely the type you see the most, it's not the only style. It's easy enough to make them using different cooking methods, and doing so can give you a slightly lighter result. Baking your hash browns in the oven is a hands-off method that gives you a crispy finish without the use of so much oil, and provides you with delightful little patties instead of one big pancake. Simply prepare your hash brown mixture as you normally would, then form them into discs using a ring mold, and bake them on a lined tray. The hash browns come out well-formed, crunchy, and ready to eat with eggs and bacon.

Oven baking hash browns can take a while, though, and if you're short on time, the air fryer version is the way to go. You can make hash brown patties in your air fryer, or you can whip up the looser version. Making the latter take mere minutes, and leaves you with crispy shreds of potato. Just ensure that you don't overshoot your timings — air fryers brown small pieces of food incredibly quickly, and you can end up burning your spuds.

So, it's no secret that hash browns and eggs are the ultimate combo. Something about the marriage of the crispy, salty potatoes with the soft, runny egg yolk hits the pleasure centers in your brain like few other foods can. However, because of their suitability with eggs, a lot of people only eat hash browns when the former are on the plate. This is a mistake. There are plenty of things you'd never think to do with hash browns, and a lot of them don't involve breakfast at all.

Hash browns can make an excellent filling for sandwiches, burgers, or crunch wraps, where they add a little extra body and sustenance. They can also be used in sandwiches as a replacement for your bread. If you're feeling like jazzing up pizza night, try using your hash browns as a base for your cheese and pepperoni. This trick is especially good for gluten-intolerant folks who still want 'za without all that dough. Plus, let's not forget the ultimate use of hash browns: Placing them in a casserole, where they add a pillowy softness and are an affordable way to stretch out your ingredients.