Fried Potatoes (How to make them and when to eat them!)
There aren’t many cultures who haven’t, at one time or another, relied upon potatoes as a staple in their diet due to their availability, adaptability, taste, and tendency to be very filling. Southerners, of course, are no different. I remember my great grandmother, Lela, telling about how she used to be picking cotton in the fields with her kids (when you were a sharecropper, the entire family had to work the fields) and they would walk back to the house at lunchtime and dig up some potatoes to go in and fry for their lunch. Its hard to hear things like that and not look at this bowl of potatoes as a connection to your ancestors, you know?
~Sigh~ I miss Lela.
Alright, moving on to the food part…
Now y’all know that when a Southerner gets a hold of a something, there’s generally gonna be some frying involved if we can help it. There is a great misconception about frying in the south though. Folks seem to think Southern Food = deep frying. That’s not the case at all. In face, much of our “frying” doesn’t even include oil. How can it be frying then? Well, its just a matter of what we call “frying” differing from what those outside of the south define frying as.
You see, to us, a skillet has always been called a “frying pan”. Therefore, when a person in the south tells you to fry something, sometimes they are just telling you what type of pan to use. A great many of our dishes such as “fried corn” have nothing to do with oil, but are just cooked in a skillet! I actually seldom use oil in my cooking, I am much more likely to use it in my baked goods, instead.
Fried potatoes are not so very different. You are really just barely coating the bottom of your pan with oil as potatoes do have a tendency to stick. Myself and absolutely everyone I know loves fried potatoes. There is no meal they can’t pop up at, either. They are just as likely to be served at breakfast in the south as they are lunch or dinner. Despite what you may think, they do NOT taste like a baked potato or even mashed potatoes. Fried potatoes are a treat unto themselves. This is the potato flavor at its finest, better than any other, honest!
Still, they do tend to be a regional thing. You’ve either heard of them and love them or are entirely confused by the very concept. Once, when Granny Jordan was visiting us (who was the epitome of everything a Southern Lady should be), we had prepared a large breakfast at my mother’s house.
Mama put a big old bowl of fried potatoes on the table and Granny Jordan leaned in and asked in her deep drawl “Well now, those look interesting! What are they?” Mama and I hid our surprise as Mama responded that they were just fried potatoes. To which Granny Jordan replied “Well now, isn’t that neat. I bet those sure will be good!”.
Born and raised in Atlanta and had never had fried potatoes?
Lets get some on y’alls table as soon as we can, alright?
Ingredients
- Potatoes
- Vegetable Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Peel and dice potatoes into small cubes. Coat bottom of large skillet with oil, turn on medium heat and allow oil to get hot. Add potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and continue cooking over medium heat for about ten minutes, until potatoes start to brown on the bottom. Remove lid and stir, continuing to cook until potatoes are all tender and mostly browned.
Nutrition
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Y’all have a wonderful day!
Gratefully,
Christy
Now where I’m from in southeastern KY, fried potatoes is a daily meal entree. My mom, grandma, both made a pot of soup beans every three days. They fried potatoes several times a day. For breakfast, it was fried potatoes, biscuits and gravy with homemade jam and jelly assortments,scrambled eggs, homemade sausage and bacon, fried apples from the apple trees on the property. For lunch it was either a fried bologna sandwich with cheese and potato chips, a fried potato sandwich with miracle whip or a grilled cheese. For dinner it was usually soup beans, cornbread, onion, and fried potatoes. For special dinners, it was fried chicken or steak, three or four vegetables, and fried potatoes with homemade cream gravy, with tomato or blackberry dumplings. On Sunday, we had whipped potatoes instead of fried potatoes.
Im from Northwest Ohio, and also grew up eating Fried Potatos. We prefer them with lots of onion. We also sometimes add chunks of smoked sausage and make a one skillet meal. Cheap and filling..and SO yummy!
Cooking these tonight with some hamburgers! I’m very excited to have them. Is that weenies & kraut in the background of one of those pictures there? I ate that as a kid and I’m not sure I have ever even cooked it for my kids. Looks yummy though and I’m thinking I’ll add that to the grocery list for next week!
Thank you SO MUCH for this!! My mom always makes these (except also with onion) and i wanted to make some with dinner tonight. I couldn’t get in touch with her and Googled taters to death trying to find the “right” fried potato recipe! so happy you could stand in for my mama!
This is What my Mama called (Smothered potatoes) i do put onions and sometime bell peppers. I can make some mean smothered potatoes, Yum…
i love your website Christy!!
when times get rough here, I fix up a pan of them fried taters and whoop up some onion to go in them too. Then I make some gravy to smother them with! MMMM…..glad it time for supper! Guess what I’ll be scraping up tonight!
I was always told our heritage goes back to the hills of Kentucky but wasnt able to meet any of the “old timers” just back to my grandpa’s generation. But, I read here and I feel like I have walked into my home! I am a southern girl! Fried taters and soup beans are like bread and butter in my life.. never seperated! I didnt think I would ever meet another person outside of my family to say that! And here I find out its common knowledge in the south!!!!! Thank You all for making me feel like a part of a bigger family! 🙂
My mom and Granny always just cut them in round slices and fried onions in with them. I love them with pinto beans and cornbread, and of course a good ole jar of tea!