DIY Frozen Hash Browns - homemadehome.com

There aren’t many more things more incredible on the weekend than a big cup of coffee, watching the news and a giant plate of scrambled eggs with salsa, toast with jam and a mountain of crispy brown hash browns. I can’t be the only one living for the weekends here friends! Hashbrowns make me unequivocally happy.

If we ever go out for breakfast together on the weekends, the hardest decision for me to make is to get a sweet breakfast, like waffles or crepes, or a savory breakfast like a breakfast burrito. Once I have that life altering decision made, I’m all set. When I go the savory route – it must, must, include a heap of hash browns.

Prepare the diving board friends, I’m going in!

I don’t care how you top them, with salsa, ketchup, or just salt and pepper – but hash browns and me are like BFF’s.  And if you like hash browns, we can totally be BFF’s, too.

Now, if you’re not in the mood for going out – here is how you can make your very own frozen hash browns at home! Seriously, they are better than what you can get out of a bag! And, did I mention that they are a fraction of the cost?! Well, they are.

Start to Finish these take 20 Minutes! That’s worth your $6.99 for a pack of taters. So if you’re in the mood to save some dough, give these a try!

Step 1 - DIY Frozen Hashbrowns

Step 1:

Get the following

  • 3 pounds of potatoes. Working in smaller quantities is a must – unless you have unlimited freezer storage space, which I do not. And I use Idaho Russet Burbank Potatoes. They are the best!
  • Two Large Mixing Bowls – Fill them both with cold tap water.
  • A Vegetable Peeler – To peel your spuds.
  • Food Processor with grater attachment or a cheese grater
  • A roll of paper towels
  • Parchment Paper or a silicone baking mat
  • Large rimmed baking pans.
  • A Gallon Ziploc Bag

IMG_0592

Step 2:

Peel and place potatoes into large bowl of cold water. This helps rinse the excess starch off of the potatoes. Starch inhibits the browning process, so loose starch is bad starch.

Step 2 - DIY Frozen Hash Browns

Step 3:

Grate your potatoes in your food processor or cheese grater. Transfer the shredded potatoes immediately into the other bowl of cold water. If you’re using a cheese grater, consider grating the potatoes directly into the other bowl of water.

Leaving the potatoes exposed to oxygen will oxidize the potatoes and start to turn them red or black. No Bueno.

Step 3 DIY Frozen Hash Browns

Step 4:

Rinse your spuds. You can let them sit for a few minutes in the water. Using your clean hands, agitate the spuds in the water to make sure they are getting rinsed of all the excess starch. The water will turn almost white with all the starch. Then, drain the water from your shredded potatoes, fill the bowl with water again and repeat. This took me about three rinses before the water started coming out clear.

While the potatoes are sitting in the water, finishing their “rinse cycle”, line your baking sheets with your silicone baking mats and then several layers of paper towels.

Step 4 DIY Frozen Hash Browns

Step 5:

Once your final rinse is complete, grab handfuls of your shredded potatoes, squeeze them of any excess water and spread evenly on the paper towels.

Starting at one end of the paper towels, roll the towels and the potatoes together and gently squeeze the roll to extract as much water as possible. Then unroll, and spread the potatoes onto the silicone mat. Make sure the potatoes are in a single layer and not big clumps. Just like when you were shredding potatoes into the water, the potatoes have to be spread thinly so when they get place in the freeze, they freeze as quickly as possible and aren’t exposed to too much air. Remember, air bad because it leads to oxidization.

Step 6:

Immediately place them in the freezer. This is where it’s handy to have your freezer organized so you don’t have to fuss with it when you’re trying to place the spuds in to freeze.

Let them freeze for about 2 hours. Once they are nice and frozen you can pour them into a freezer zip lock bag for later use. Mine last about a week or two.

Step 7:

Make them!!

Keys to perfect hash browns:

Pre-heat your pan.

Use butter for frying hash browns.

Don’t turn them too often!

When it doubt – let them fry longer.

Ty out these other How-To’s of the past to hone your cooking skills and impress all your friends and family.

Perfect Salted Caramel Sauce – This #HowToYOUsDay is open now – so make it this weekend and be entered to win $50 to Williams-Sonoma!

Perfect Salted Caramel Sauce - homemadehome.com

How to Roast and Carve a Chicken How-to-Roast-and-Carve-a-Chicken

How to Make Chicken Stock

How-to-Make-Chicken-Stock-homemadehome.com-5

Two-Ingredient Chocolate Magic Shell

2 Ingredient Nutella Magic Shell - homemadehome.com