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Home » Recipes » Side Dish Recipes

How to Make Crispy Fried Potatoes

Published: Jan 14, 2023 Last Updated: May 12, 2023 by Marye 2045 words. | About 11 minutes to read this article.

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40 minutes mins
Southern fried potatoes, slightly charred with a crispy golden crust on the outside and meltingly tender and buttery on the inside are delicious as breakfast potatoes or an easy side dish anytime!
Fried potatoes in a skillet with text overlay for Pinterest
Pinterest pin with title text overlay showing golden fried potatoes in a skillet.

If you want to learn how to make the best home fries I've got you! This easy side dish can be served at any meal.

Closeup of golden brown fried potatoes in an iron skillet.
Crispy southern fried potatoes and onions are an old fashioned side dish that everyone loves!
Jump to:
  • ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
  • 📋 Ingredients
  • 🧂 Variations
  • 🔪 Instructions
  • 🥫 Storage
  • 🥔 Soak the potatoes
  • 💭 Things to know
  • 👩🏻‍🍳 FAQs
  • ➡️ Why aren't my fried potatoes crispy?
  • 📚 Related recipes
  • 🍽️ Serve with...
  • 📞 The last word
  • Crispy Fried Potatoes
  • 💬 Comments

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

  • Southern fried potatoes are an ideal side dish for almost everything and just about everyone's favorite
  • Simple ingredients
  • Quick, easy recipe!

One reader, Edna, says, "THANK YOU! I have been digging through recipes looking for someone who makes these potatoes like my momma used to. I can't tell you how happy I am that I landed on yours. THEY'RE PERFECT."

📋 Ingredients

You don't need much for fried potatoes.

Labeled ingredients for fried potatoes.
  • The type of potatoes makes a difference. The best potatoes for frying are Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes. I've used red potatoes as well.
  • If you use Russets you definitely want to soak them in water before frying because they have a high starch content but they will be crispier overall.
  • Peanut oil or any light vegetable oil is necessary to make the best fried potatoes with the crispy crust you're looking for. I prefer peanut oil over olive oil because of its high smoke point but use what you have.

🧂 Variations

  • Onions - slice sweet onion and add when the potatoes begin to get translucent. Or for caramelized onions slow cook in butter until they are deep golden brown and then mix in with the potatoes just before removing from the stove.
  • For breakfast potatoes cook up some bulk sausage then remove it from the pan. Add the potatoes and a little extra oil and fry them as directed. Stir the sausage back in to the finished potatoes. YUM!
  • Add a little chili powder and cilantro for some southwestern flavor
  • Fresh garlic, garlic salt, or garlic powder to taste
  • Poblano, bell peppers, or jalapeno peppers
  • Stir in crispy bacon just before serving
  • Sprinkle with fresh herbs; dill weed, rosemary, or whatever you like

🔪 Instructions

Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the green recipe card below.

Step by step images for pan fried potatoes illustrating the numbered steps.
  1. Peel and slice (or cube) potatoes. Or don't peel - just wash really well.
  2. Let soak in ice water. Drain well and pat dry. If you are using thin skinned varieties you can skip this step.
  3. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium-high heat until it’s shimmering and almost smoking. Watch it carefully or you'll have a fire!
  4. Add the potato slices and pan fry potatoes until they start to get golden  on the bottom.  Cover the pan and reduce heat to medium. Allow to steam for about 2 to 3 minutes.
  5. Remove cover and turn the heat back up to medium high. Flip the potatoes. Fry for a minute or two, or until the bottom layer begins to get golden.
  6. Dump the pan into a colander over the sink to remove excess oil and moisture. Blot with a paper towel and return them to the pan on medium heat. Return to the pan.
  7. Add sweet yellow onion and peppers plus any seasonings you’d like. Fry, stirring occasionally, until tender and done. Do not cover at this stage of frying because they will get soggy!
  8. Add the butter at the very end of cooking.
  9. Cook just a few more minutes and then serve hot.

🥫 Storage

Let leftover fried potatoes come to room temperature then put them in an airtight container (or cover with plastic wrap) and refrigerate. They'll be good for about 4 days.

Potatoes just don't freeze well so I don't recommend that.

🥔 Soak the potatoes

This recipe works every time because of one easy extra step -

If you're using russet potatoes then start by soaking the raw potatoes in ice water to remove the starch. This step makes them extra crispy and delicious.

If you're using a thin skinned potato variety feel free to skip!

💭 Things to know

Expert Tip: Fry in a cast-iron pan if you have one – try not to use a nonstick. The coating hampers the frying process because it doesn’t get hot enough.

  • Slice potatoes or cube them but make sure they're the same size so that they all cook evenly. They shouldn’t be too thick or too thin — about ⅛ inch is right or 2-inch cubes.
  • Use peanut oil unless someone has an allergy. It is the best oil I have found for frying.
  • The amount of oil needed for good, crispy fried potatoes may vary from one time to the next. Use enough to keep them from sticking.
  • Let the oil get really hot before adding ingredients. It won’t smoke but it will ripple in the pan.
  • Add the potatoes in a single layer.
  • Don’t overcrowd the skillet.
  • Be careful not to turn them too soon! Check the undersides after 2 or 3 minutes to judge how soon you'll need to flip them. Watch carefully, though. You don't want them to burn and stick to the bottom of the pan.
  • I use kosher salt. If you use regular table salt you'll need a little less.
Closeup of potatoes frying in the pan.
Perfectly seasoned fried potatoes, crispy and golden brown, are the easiest things in the world to make with these tips!

👩🏻‍🍳 FAQs

Here are the questions I am most frequently asked about this recipe.

Can you use butter instead of oil?

You can but you won't be able to use high heat. If you're set on using butter I'd recommend using cold, boiled potatoes that have been patted dry. Slice them and cook in butter until golden brown.

Why do you soak the slices before frying?

Soaking in cold water helps to remove excess starch. This allows them to fry up crispier, without burning or sticking.
Actually, if you use a low starch variety like Yukon Gold you don't have to soak them.

How do you keep fried potatoes from sticking?

The secret is removing the starch AND using a light oil and high heat.

➡️ Why aren't my fried potatoes crispy?

If your homemade fried potatoes are soggy rather than the crispy potatoes you crave, or raw rather than tender, or even burnt rather than golden brown you are probably doing (or not doing) one of the  following:

  • You’re using the wrong oil
  • You’re using very starchy potatoes and not soaking to remove some of the starch
  • You’re putting them in the pan wet
  • You are overcrowding the pan and they are steaming
  • You are covering and leaving the cover on the pan too long

When all else fails check your skillet. Cast iron is definitely THE BEST pan for perfect fried potatoes.

Close up of sliced, fried potatoes.
Crispy fried potatoes are easy to make!

📚 Related recipes

Southern fried potatoes and onions taste just like home. This is basic comfort food.

Here are more delicious side dishes to compliment any meal.

  • Homemade Tater Tots are a lot easier than you might think!
  • Creamy Ground Beef and Potato Skillet Dinner is creamy comfort food in minutes.
  • Old Fashioned Potato Soup Recipe is a family recipe. It's my favorite when I'm feeling down.
  • Try these potatoes with some sausage gravy for breakfast - yum!

Next time try Noodles Romanoff! It's another vintage recipe I bet your mom made.

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🍽️ Serve with...

There's nothing like a country morning with a big plate of breakfast potatoes and some hearty add-ons like -

  • Biscuits
  • Sausage Gravy
  • Egg Bites

For dinner fried potatoes go with anything! I like to slice up smoked sausage and add it about 5 minutes before serving - just to warm it up. Other possibilities?

  • meatloaf
  • Lipton onion soup burgers
  • apricot chicken
  • chicken and cream gravy
  • fried pork chops and gravy

Give my mom's crispy fried potatoes recipe a try and see if they aren't a big bite of home.

What’s new? Check out my Restless Chipotle & Co. Store on Amazon where you'll find all kinds of nostalgic goodness!  Thanks so much for being a part of Restless Chipotle!

📞 The last word

Next time you're hungry for comfort food try this cheesy hash brown casserole.

What do you serve with fried potatoes? Leave a comment below and let us know!

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!

If you love this recipe please give it a 5 star rating. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wooden spatula removing fried potatoes out of iron skillet.
4.62 from 227 votes

Crispy Fried Potatoes

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Southern fried potatoes, slightly charred with a crispy golden crust on the outside and meltingly tender and buttery on the inside are delicious as breakfast potatoes or an easy side dish anytime!
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Southern
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
Soaking Time: 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes minutes
Servings:6
Calories:265
Author:Marye Audet-White
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Equipment Needed

  • Iron Skillet

Ingredients

  • 6 - 8 large potatoes, peeled (or not) and sliced about ¼-inch thick
  • 1 sweet onion, optional
  • 1 clove garlic, optional
  • 1 bell pepper, optional - green, red, poblano, jalapeno, all of them - you decide
  • salt to taste, I prefer kosher salt
  • black pepper to taste, I prefer coarse ground pepper
  • ¼ cup peanut oil, light vegetable oil will work if there are allergy issues
  • 2 tablespoons butter

I earn a commission from Instacart from qualifying purchases.

Instructions

  • Peel and slice (or cube) potatoes. You can also leave them unpeeled - just wash well.
  • Let soak for 5-10 minutes in ice water in a large mixing bowl. You may skip this step if you like.
  • Drain well and pat dry - make sure they are VERY dry!
  • Heat ¼ cup peanut oil in a large skillet on medium high heat until it's shimmering and almost smoking.
  • Add potatoes and let fry for about 2 minutes or until they start to get golden  on the bottom. 
  • Cover the pan and reduce heat to medium. Allow to steam for about 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Remove cover and turn the heat back up to medium high. Flip the potatoes. Fry for a minute or two, or until the bottom layer begins to get golden.
  • Dump the pan of potatoes into a colander over the sink to remove excess oil and moisture. Blot with a paper towel and return them to the pan on medium heat.
  • Add the onion and peppers plus any seasonings you'd like on your potatoes.
  • Saute, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender and done. Do not cover at this stage of frying because they will get soggy!
  • Add the butter at the very end of cooking.
  • Taste for seasoning and serve hot with plenty of cracked black pepper.

Notes

Storage:
Let leftover fried potatoes come to room temperature then put them in an airtight container (or cover with plastic wrap) and refrigerate. They'll be good for about 4 days.
Potatoes just don't freeze well so I don't recommend that.
Tips:
  • Slice or cube potatoes the same size so that they all cook evenly. They shouldn’t be too thick or too thin — about ⅛ inch is right.
  • Slice them into salted ice water and let them soak  for five minutes or so. Drain, rinse and pat dry before frying. Do not try to fry them when they are wet. You can skip this step if you want, especially if you're using thin skinned potatoes like Yukon Gold.
  • Use peanut oil unless someone has an allergy. It is the best oil I have found for frying.
  • The amount of oil needed may vary from one time to the next. Use enough to keep them from sticking.
  • Fry potatoes in an iron skillet if you have one – try not to fry them in nonstick. The nonstick coating hampers the frying process because it doesn’t get hot enough.
  • Let the oil get really hot before adding potatoes. It won’t smoke but it will ripple in the pan.
  • Don’t overcrowd the skillet.
  • You can put a cover on the skillet to help them cook for the first bit but take it off for the last part of cooking or your potatoes will be soggy.
  • If these potatoes still aren’t the recipe that you’ve been looking for try this. Boil the potatoes until almost done the night before. Drain and refrigerate. Next day pat them dry and fry. You can also bake potatoes (or use leftover baked potatoes) and use them for pan fried potatoes.
Try these easy top of the stove au gratin potatoes!

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 15mg | Potassium: 1211mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 115IU | Vitamin C: 17.7mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2.5mg

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    First published September 2011. Last updated January 14, 2023 to add more & clearer information.

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    About Marye

    With a 40 year focus on the importance of family and a passion for southern comfort food, Marye Audet-White is an expert in melding the two together effortlessly. Marye's a NY Times Bestselling author with 10 cookbooks under her belt and her recipes have been featured in Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Today, House Beautiful, Texas Living, Food & Wine, and many more.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Polly

      April 06, 2019 at 12:01 am

      5 stars
      Marye, thank you for sharing this! I have made this so many times. Everyone that tries it, loves it!

      Reply
    2. Mariya

      March 21, 2019 at 3:25 pm

      5 stars
      These look so delicious! I bet my family would love for me to make these sometime.

      Reply
    3. Alina

      March 17, 2019 at 12:18 pm

      5 stars
      Thanks! I just love fried potates. I actually have never tried making it on my own. I really should!

      Reply
    4. Andrina Mathew

      January 17, 2019 at 5:27 am

      5 stars
      nice and superb.

      Reply
    5. Stephen

      December 30, 2018 at 3:05 pm

      5 stars
      This came out perfect!! I served this with some corned beef and cabbage that I cooked separately (normally I also add potatos and onions and bell peppers to my corned beef and cabbage during various stages of cooking -- but not this time). It was so much better this way and allowed me to get the veggies cooked and yet still crisp where I wanted without the problems I typically encounter. This will be my go to method from now on and thank you for sharing.

      Reply
    6. Kathryn Anderson

      July 25, 2018 at 1:16 pm

      1 star
      So I followed the recipe to a T. Well, I started too. I put the oil on high like I was supposed too. I got the potato ready, frequently checking the oil. Not long after I put it on high the thing bursted into flames and scared me to death. A lesson I learned today, fact check recipes when it comes to heat and never ever ever put oil on high no matter what the recipe says.

      Reply
      • Marye Audet

        July 26, 2018 at 4:24 pm

        Oil will combust if you leave it on high with nothing in it.

        Reply
    7. Caleb

      July 13, 2018 at 9:20 am

      5 stars
      I’ve tried making cubed country fried potatoes a dozen times before and they always came out tasting undercooked or, when I tried boiling them before cooking, came out like fried mashed potatoes.. I saw this recipe and was skeptical, but thought I’d try it. The whole time they were cooking, I didn’t think they were getting soft because they were hard to the touch with the spatula. I finally got tired of stirring them in the skillet and dropped them on a plate. For some reason, they immediately got soft after they cooled down a bit. Also, they were pretty delicious! I’ll be using this cold water process when I fry my potatoes from now on.

      Reply
    8. Jerry Smith

      May 16, 2018 at 5:52 pm

      5 stars
      It worked! Lol, I am a total novice to cooking. Case in point, I googled how to fry potatoes. I could have sworn I use to fry them in water with peppers, but I couldn't remember the specifics from over a decade ago. I was also concerned at first, because after the first 5 minutes frying in oil, the potatoes were clearly not done yet, but after putting them back in the pan and finishing, they turned out great! Even my picky 9 year old loved them!

      Reply
    9. Edna

      April 21, 2018 at 2:49 pm

      5 stars
      THANK YOU!

      I have been digging through recipes looking for someone who makes these potatoes like my momma used to. I can't tell you how happy I am that I landed on yours. THEY'RE PERFECT.

      Reply
    10. Roger

      April 03, 2018 at 11:45 am

      1 star
      You had me dreaming there for a while. Then I tried the recipe. It just doesn't work. I followed it to a T and ended up with half-cooked potatoes and charred onions and peppers. Even after I ran them through the microwave on high for 3 minutes they were still "dead in the water," so to speak. I ended up with the usual batch of half-baked (no pun intended) potatoes thrown in the trash. Too bad. Time to move on to someone else who knows how to cook.

      Reply
      • Marye Audet

        April 12, 2018 at 7:16 pm

        Awww... way to stay classy! Sorry they didn't work for you - but.. you know what they say... it's a poor workman that blames his tools.

        Reply
        • bo

          September 10, 2018 at 4:34 pm

          That's awesome!!!!! Don't take that shit girl!

    11. Pam Ebarb

      October 16, 2017 at 12:16 am

      My mama always dusted the potatoes with flour before putting them in the skillet. I still do that to this day. They don't taste like Mama's if I don't!!

      Reply
      • Marye Audet

        October 18, 2017 at 10:03 am

        I have never heard of that but it's brilliant!

        Reply
    12. Asha

      September 28, 2017 at 9:18 am

      5 stars
      This was finally the recipe that I used to make the best fried potatoes! I have been trying for a very long time to make these, but something always went wrong. The key for me were three things: use a cast iron skillet, use enough oil, and use medium low temperature. That was it!! They turned out perfect. Thank you sooo much for the perfect fried potatoes recipe.

      Reply
    13. Emily Chase

      August 25, 2017 at 9:43 pm

      5 stars
      i tried this at home and my family love it.They said it has the same taste with what McD does

      Reply
    14. Maryjo Slabaugh

      August 06, 2017 at 1:47 pm

      5 stars
      Duck fat is the best! Potatoes will never be greasy. It has a high heat tolerance and is healthy like olive oil! Morethangourmet.com or Amazon sells it. Gourmet markets as well.

      Reply
    15. Taylor

      March 17, 2017 at 10:55 am

      Followed this recipe exactly and they were the best fired potatoes ever. Thanks!

      Reply
    16. Alaina Mead

      February 21, 2017 at 4:00 pm

      How far ahead can I cut the potatoes? Would the day before be okay?

      Reply
      • Marye Audet

        February 22, 2017 at 2:42 pm

        You could if you leave them in the fridge covered with water... but I don't recommend it. Probably not more than a couple of hours ahead.

        Reply
        • Kris

          September 07, 2017 at 10:51 pm

          Potatoes covered in water will stay good in the refrigerator up to a week

    17. Christal

      February 13, 2017 at 4:04 pm

      I just followed this recipe and fried them in my grandmas old iron skillet. These have to have been the crispiest fried potatoes I have had in a long time! No more soggy fried pofrom here on out. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.

      Reply
    18. crispy potato lover

      February 09, 2017 at 4:50 pm

      Perfect! as suggested, cooked onion,jalapenos,garlic,pepper red and firs t before potatoes,added near end of cooking. so good, Thank you!

      Reply
    19. Taylor

      December 31, 2016 at 3:26 pm

      Why is the recipe printed in gray? I have never been able to understand why any information would be in gray? Possibly, somewhere along the line, someone thought gray was cool. Others followed. A newspapers uses black. I wish all websites would get back to using black. I hear people complain often about this gray
      Issue. Wish I could read the recipe. Gray is discouraging. Why bother?

      Reply
      • Marye Audet

        December 31, 2016 at 4:25 pm

        It may be your printer? The recipe prints in black and white for most people if you use the print button.

        Reply
    20. Jay

      October 12, 2016 at 6:27 pm

      Made these for the first time today, and yep - Just like Mom's! I ended up eating the entire batch without anything else until I was a happily crispy potato stuffed kid again!

      Thanks 🙂

      Reply
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