The Decades-Old Diner Trick for Impossibly Crispy Potatoes
Potatoes are basically a perfect food. Need something for dinner? Baked potatoes. Lunch option? Potato soup. Holiday feast? Mashed potatoes. There’s no meal they can’t improve. Perhaps their greatest use, though, in my opinion, is at breakfast. Breakfast potatoes come in many forms: home fries, hash browns (a personal favorite), and hearty breakfast hash.
A few months back I had breakfast at a cozy little diner that served their breakfast potatoes a little differently than I was used to. The potatoes were boiled in heavily salted water and then smashed on the flat top, giving them a well-browned, crispy crust, not unlike smashed potatoes. Since then I’ve been experimenting at home with how to make smashed breakfast potatoes even better and have discovered an easy way to amp up their flavor — seasoning the poaching liquid.
Why Stovetop Smashed Potatoes Are So Good
Typically, smashed potatoes are finished on a sheet pan in the oven, but crisping them up on the stovetop gives them even more texture and some extra buttery flavor to boot. On top of that, boiling the potatoes in water that is seasoned with more than just salt infuses them with even more flavor. I like to treat the potatoes like a chicken breast or a piece of fish and poach them with some crushed garlic cloves, herbs, and chiles. The potatoes soak up the flavorful poaching liquid like starchy little sponges, and the results are basically the best breakfast potatoes I’ve had in my life (though I will always hold first place for hashbrowns, I’m not a monster.)
How to Make Stovetop Smashed Potatoes
Prep the potatoes. This dish is best with small, thin-skinned potatoes that don’t need to be peeled. I like to use baby Yukon gold potatoes, but baby red potatoes would also work well. Rinse them well, add them to a saucepan, and cover with 1-inch of cool water.
Add seasonings. I like to add a crushed clove or two of garlic, some hardy herbs (like rosemary or thyme), and sometimes a dried bay leaf and/or dried chiles.
Simmer the potatoes. Bring the potatoes to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat enough to maintain a gentle simmer and continue to cook until the potatoes are tender. When they’re ready, drain them in a colander.
Smash the potatoes. I find it easier to smash the potatoes on a cutting board with the back of a glass or a dry measuring cup, rather than smashing them in the pan, but do what works best for you.
Fry the potatoes. I fry the potatoes over medium heat with a tablespoon or two of melted butter in a cast-iron pan for the best crispy exterior. Fry until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
Tips for Making Stovetop Smashed Potatoes
Experiment with flavors. Like homemade broth, you can add different ingredients to flavor the potatoes differently. Try adding different spices, herbs, and aromatics. Or try cooking the potatoes in low-sodium broth or even beer for a totally different twist.
Use a griddle. If you’re making breakfast for more than a few people, the extra space of a stovetop griddle will allow you to get more potatoes cooking at once than a cast-iron skillet.
Further Reading
We Asked 3 Chefs to Name the Best Ice Cream, and They All Said the Same Thing
The One Cookware Brand That Gordon Ramsay Can’t Stop Talking About
