By Sam Sifton
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- 4(564)
- Notes
- Read community notes
I had one of the great breakfasts of my life on San Juan Island, north of Seattle, in a dockside coffee shop The grated hash brown potatoes there were cooked in thin sheets and run under the broiler beneath a handful of grated cheese to create crisp pancakes that could be used as a platter on which to serve fried eggs, or as a hat to top them, depending on your mood. When I got home to New York I started making them for dinner, which was labor-intensive and eventually annoying because one of my children wanted them for dinner all the time. Together we worked out a hack. It is this recipe, and you can easily double, and serve with just about anything, especially fried eggs. Omit the bacon if it's not your game, and replace with a couple of tablespoons of butter. Omit the red peppers if you like. Add a drizzle of chipotle mayonnaise on top, if you don’t like sour cream, or swap out the chipotle for nothing if you don’t like spice. Make the recipe your own. The point is simply to aim for a thick, caramelized crust of potatoes. The interiors will be soft and sweet.
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 3slices bacon, ideally double-smoked or slab
- 1tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2pounds medium-size Yukon Gold potatoes, approximately 5 potatoes, scrubbed and diced
- 1medium-size yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 1medium-size red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- ½cup sour cream
- 1lime, juiced
- 1 to 2tablespoons chipotles en adobo, minced, to taste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1½cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- 2scallions, sliced thin, green parts only
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
366 calories; 21 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 13 grams protein; 628 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Put the bacon on a large rimmed baking sheet, place in the oven and heat to 400. Cook the bacon through — until it is chewy and going to crisp — approximately 15 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan, and set aside. There should be a couple of tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan. If there is more, discard it.
Step
2
Add the butter to the bacon fat, then put the potatoes, onions and red peppers onto the pan, and stir to coat. Spread the potatoes, onions and red peppers out evenly across the pan, and return it to the oven for 20 minutes or so, then take it out again, and use a spatula to turn everything over. Cook for another 20 minutes or so, or until the potatoes are beginning to crisp, then turn them once more and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Step
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Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lime juice and minced chipotles en adobo, to taste. Season with salt and pepper.
Step
4
When the potatoes are well crisped, take the pan out of the oven, and season with salt and pepper. Dice the reserved bacon, and scatter it on top of the potatoes, then top with the shredded cheese. Stir to combine, and return the pan to the oven until the cheese has melted, approximately 3 to 5 minutes. Tip into a mound on a warmed serving tray, drizzle with chipotle sour cream, garnish with the scallions and serve.
Ratings
4
out of 5
564
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Cooking Notes
Ted
One way to speed the process a bit is to steam the diced potatoes 10-15 minutes as the bacon cooks and saute the onions and peppers in the butter while the potatoes steam. Then toss the potatoes with the onion/peppers in the bacon fat and roast 20-30 minutes. I find yields potatoes with crisper outsides with softer insides. The rest looks great!
JAY
Have made similar potatoes before but have been trying something I found in Cook's Illustrated which is to parboil the dice potatoes for a minute or so in boiling water with a half-teaspoon of baking soda added. Potatoes are then drained, returned to pot set on low to dry.
Continue with recipe at this point.
This seems to accelerate the browning process.
Tim
I made this last night; very good. BUT adding the onions/red pepper in the begining leaves you with burnt onions at the end. Much like trying to make hash browns with onions - by the time the potatoes are crisp, the onions are too far gone. Better to sauté them and add them later in the baking. The dice should be the size of actual dice, or they'll get a little too hard. LOVE the sour cream/lime combo.
Personal preference... Parmesan instead of cheddar. (But cheddar is nice too.)
Millie
You can always make this kind of dish vegetarian. If it doesn't have enough flavor for you, experiment with spices (cumin and smoked paprika for example) and fresh herbs (even just parsley and cilantro).
Nina
This sounds delicious. I love all manner of fried taties. I can add that frozen shredded potatoes are a great time saver and are really good.
Missy
Dear God, don't ever discard bacon grease. It's great for cornbread, cooking eggs, fried potatoes. A cardinal sin in the South to discard bacon fat!
Suse
I've been making a similar dish for years. I precook the diced potatoes in the microwave for a few minutes (5-6) before putting them in the frying pan. I don't add any water. Just put them in a glass 8"x 8" dish and cover with plastic wrap with a knife poke in it.
Wendy
The next day, warm some of the hash in a cast iron pan with a little butter in it, drop in a couple eggs and let them cook till the whites are done, then shred some cheese over the top. I think I drooled a little when I cooked it this morning.
Marc
Is there any way to make this vegetarian? Or does the bacon flavor make the dish?
Dawid
Excellent! I made it in cast iron skillets over gas grill to avoid roasting myself in the house on hot summer day. Grill did have temperature gauge and i kept it at 400F
Mari
Hi Patsy
This UK company will ship you all things chile to Ireland, including chipotles. (I'm not associated with the company, just use them myself!)
http://www.coolchile.co.uk
Jeannie
If you skip the bacon, use ghee instead of regular butter. Your result will be noticeably more crisp.
Christine
Anyone have a sweet potato version of this?
Leek
Oh my yes - Melissa D'Arabian has a lovely version - so good!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/sweet-potato-beet-ha...
Hazel
That last 20 minutes is when the potatoes went from just cooked to crisp. I didn't add cheese. Good stuff!
Tim
I tend to avoid red meat, so instead of rendering bacon fat I whisked a couple drops of liquid smoke and half a teaspoon of maple syrup into 3 tbsp of melted butter.
justin
If you do sub butter for the bacon fat, be prepared to bake for an extra 20 minutes to cook off all that water before browning even starts. Next time I will try the other comment to use ghee instead.
kbm
Agree that onions got burnt. Next time might add them later or cut them in bigger pieces.
ellen
One way to speed the process a bit is to steam the diced potatoes 10-15 minutes as the bacon cooks and saute the onions and peppers in the butter while the potatoes steam. Then toss the potatoes with the onion/peppers in the bacon fat and roast 20-30 minutes. I find yields potatoes with crisper outsides with softer insides.
garete
delicious! If you’re using butter instead of bacon fat, warm up the pan in the oven first so it melts easily and be generous with it so the small potato and onion bits don’t char! i topped mine with a poached egg and leftover chipotle honey chicken (https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019693-slow-cooker-chipotle-honey-chicken-tacos?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share) !
Claire
Made this over the campfire on a car camping weekend, and it turned out phenomenal. Added some mushrooms and used the whole 2 cup bag of shredded cheese (one can never have too much cheese).
Christine
My only criticism is that it took me 2.5 hours to make (I doubled the recipe).
Dawn
Good, simple, hearty recipe for feeding a big group (or portioned for cooking for just the two of us). I do knock off a star for the incredibly over-indulgent fatty-cheesy-goodness, just because I would not use this regularly unless deliberately courting a stroke, but man oh man is it good.
John mccormick
I've done something very similar but in cast iron skillet on stove. Might be a little less labor intense. Takes about 20 minutes with occasional stirs. Order: bacon, onion, potatoes, bell pepper.
Erin
I skipped the cheese, because it's the holidays; virtually everything I've eaten has been covered in cheese. Didn't matter - the potatoes are crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Next time, I'll season the veggies before roasting. The salt doesn't adhere well to the finished product. I may also add a pinch of smoked paprika and garlic powder. I'm incapable of cooking without garlic, so I made a garlic paste, adding it to the sour cream. Delicious and easy!
Janell
This was so yummy! I used sweet potatoes instead (doesn’t need the additional 10-15 mins) and I also cooked in a cast iron. Definitely going to make again!
tallin
Throw an fried egg on top at the end!!
Julie
I parboiled the potatoes with baking soda and sauteed the onions and peppers separately, as others have recommended. I raised the oven temperature to 425 to really brown the potatoes. This is definitely not healthy but couldn't be more delicious!
Mary O.
What does the baking soda do?
Dawn
Great tip - and yes, definitely not healthy - "heart attack on a platter" but a great treat.
Anna
I love this dish! It's great as written, but I like it even better with half sweet potatoes. I leave out the bacon to make it vegetarian and crack eggs on top after mixing the cheese in. This turns it into a filling, one pan meal.
Jeannie
If you skip the bacon, use ghee instead of regular butter. Your result will be noticeably more crisp.
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