Breakfast Potatoes
Breakfast potatoes belong to the long American tradition of putting yesterday’s potatoes back into a hot skillet and making something worth getting up for.
Long before boxed cereal and toaster pastries changed the American morning, potatoes were common breakfast food. Accounts of 19th-century American eating describe early breakfasts that included potatoes fried in fat left from the previous day’s cooking, often alongside ham, bacon, bread, coffee, or other substantial foods. By 1880, the term “American fried potatoes” had entered print, evidence of how established skillet-fried potatoes had become in the country’s cooking vocabulary.
What Americans now tend to call breakfast potatoes or home fries developed into their own familiar style: potatoes cut into slices, chunks, or cubes and browned in a skillet until the edges develop a good crust. Merriam-Webster traces the term “home fries” to the early 1950s, although fried potatoes themselves had been appearing on American breakfast tables for generations by then.
This recipe follows the chunky skillet tradition. I use red potatoes and leave the skins on, which gives the finished potatoes more texture and saves the unnecessary business of peeling them first. Cut into substantial cubes, they stay creamy inside while the surfaces pick up browned edges from the butter and skillet.
Two kinds of onion give these potatoes considerably more character than potatoes seasoned with salt alone. Yellow or white onion softens and becomes sweet as it cooks, while red onion keeps a little more presence. Letting the onions begin cooking before the potatoes go into the skillet gives them time to soften instead of remaining sharp among fully cooked potatoes.
Then come the seasonings: seasoned salt, dried parsley, and red pepper flakes. The pepper flakes matter here. They give the potatoes a small amount of heat that works especially well beside eggs, sausage, bacon, or a breakfast casserole without turning the entire plate spicy.
The real measure of good skillet potatoes is texture. I want tender centers and plenty of browned surfaces, including a few deeply golden pieces around the edges of the pan. That takes a little patience. Crowding the skillet, stirring every thirty seconds, or pushing the heat too high tends to produce potatoes that either steam or scorch before the centers have softened.
Give them room, turn them as they brown, and let the skillet earn those crisp edges.
These are the potatoes I would put beside fried eggs with runny yolks, a wedge of egg casserole, biscuits and sausage gravy, or a plate of bacon and toast. They are also useful when breakfast stretches into brunch and the table needs something substantial enough to stand beside quiche, ham, or a stack of pancakes.
That may explain the staying power of fried potatoes at the American breakfast table. Potatoes are inexpensive, filling, and remarkably well suited to a skillet, but their greatest advantage may be what happens when butter, onion, salt, and a properly heated pan meet a humble red potato. The edges turn brown, the onions catch against the skillet, and suddenly the potatoes everybody already knows are the first thing disappearing from the serving bowl.
Until next time, thank you for spending a little time with me. I hope you find a recipe to make, a story to enjoy, and something new to take into the kitchen. ♥️
Breakfast Potatoes
PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 30 MINUTES
SERVINGS: 4 servings
Ingredients:
5 large red potatoes, scrubbed and diced with the skins on
1 medium white or yellow onion, diced
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 teaspoon seasoned salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
2 tablespoons butter, divided
Instructions:
- Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the white or yellow onion and red onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the diced potatoes. Stir to coat the potatoes in the melted butter, then season with the seasoned salt, parsley, and red pepper flakes.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring and turning the potatoes occasionally, for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender in the center and golden brown along the edges. Adjust the heat as needed to keep the potatoes browning without burning.
