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
I’m making fried potatoes with onions for supper tonight! We are having them with hamburger gravy!
I just wanted to say how much I love fried potatotes, my grandmother would fry them up in her iron skillet and serve it with kilbasa and pinto beans…as a child I was like no way am I going to eat Pinto beans. I grew to love her weekly meal with the potatoaes and beans. She died a few years ago and I was given one of her beloved iron skillets. I have yet to make the potatoes but you have inspired me. Thank you!
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The kind of potato will determine whether you get a good skillet full of fried golden brown goodness with fluffy white potato centers. I have fried Russets and get nothing but a gooy grey mass that will not brown no matter how much bacon grease or heat you add. I love mine with onions and cooked real crusty. Don’t add the onions at the start or they will burn.
I add coarsely chopped onions to this for extra flavor. My husband said his Mom made her fried potatoes this way (with onions), but also floured the potatoes.
Christy, yours is the first recipe that specifies to cover the pan for the first 10 minutes or so and I think this is the key to getting the darned things cooked in a reasonable amount of time. I’ve never successfully fried potatoes until now. We like the skin so I didn’t peel my potatoes and I used some butter instead of oil but followed your method and they turned out completely perfect! Did about 15 minutes covered and 5 minutes uncovered. Just lovely potatoes that were perfectly browned and delicious. We will definitely have these many times in the future.
I am so glad they turned out perfectly for you Annarose!!
Turn them into Cajun Potatoes. When they are partially done add some chopped onion and some sliced smoked sausage and a generous sprinkling of Cajun seasoning and finish frying them up. Some of your sausage will brown, some not but it doesn’t matter. They are good.
Ohh Virginia, that sounds delicious!