Make Your Own Frozen Hashbrowns
ByI’ve always had a hard time making good homemade hashbrowns. When my friend Brenda shared this little trick with me…I gave it a try and it WORKS!
Not only does this make delicious homemade hashbrowns, it is a great way to use up an abundance of potatoes before they start sprouting. Remember how I got 50 pounds for such a good price last week? I plan on putting up several pounds of them into the freezer in hashbrown form. That way, I’ve preserved some of my good organic potatoes, plus I’ve got EASY hashbrowns ready to pull out and cook up for breakfast or dinner anytime I need them!
Oh, and can you say “inexpensive”? Yes, I thought you could. These hashbrowns are so inexpensive, especially when you’ve taken advantage of a good deal on potatoes. So let’s get started, shall we?
First, scrub your potatoes…as many as you want.
Bake the potatoes. I avoid using aluminum foil if at all possible in baking, so I always just place my scrubbed potatoes into a covered dish and bake them for about 1 1/2 hours at 350°. Be sure to stab each potato with a knife before baking so you don’t have a massive potato explosion in your oven. Unless you want a massive potato explosion in your oven. Then feel free to leave them unstabbed.
Allow your baked potatoes to cool. Peel the potatoes.
Shred your potatoes with a cheese grater. They shred very easily because they are soft after baking.
See how lovely?
At this point, you can either cook them, or freeze them. To freeze them, lay them flat on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet into the freezer for a couple of hours or until the potatoes are frozen, then transfer them into freezer bags to cook up when you’re ready. Oh so convenient!
I usually cook my hashbrowns in my electric skillet or in a cast iron skillet on the stove.
I use a generous amount of butter, because I love the flavor butter gives my taters.
I also use quite a bit of sea salt or onion salt.
If the hashbrowns are frozen, you can cook them the same way as if they were not frozen…it will just take a few more minutes.
Cook them on one side for 4-5 minutes, then turn. Try not to turn them too much so they don’t get mushy. Cook until the potatoes are golden brown and slightly crispy.
Yum, yum, yum! Ever since I discovered this hashbrown making trick…we have the most delicious hashbrowns. Before, I had simply shredded a raw potato, then tried to fry it. I always ended up with a mushy mess. Blech. The trick: Bake the potatoes first. It works so well! PLUS, the baked potato does not turn brown and ugly like a raw potato does once you shred it.
You can use this same trick to make and freeze diced potatoes or potato chunks. Fry those up in butter and you’ve got some wonderful fried potatoes!
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No more mushy, greasy hash browns! Thank you so much; i have been beating my brains trying to come up with crispy hash browns without all the grease. I may never visit Waffle House again. Thanks for the freezer storage tip too. This will save money. Thanks again!
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I’ve been looking for a healthier way to make homemade hashbrowns i am an intermediate on cooking thanks so much for this nicely done recipe
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This is fantastic!! I love hashbrowns and never could make them up right and I’ve always got a few leftover spuds that I don’t know what to do with. You’ve solved my problems :)
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I love this cooking tip! We don’t eat a ton of hash browns, but only because I try to steer clear of the frozen variety from the store. But my boys LOVE them, so a year or so ago I read your recipe and realized I could actually have them on hand. We had a “package” just last night when we had breakfast for dinner. Such a simple solution and a great idea to have on hand in the freezer!
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Hi, After you have baked and grated them they don’t turn color? I will have to add potates to my next Azure order. I have been buying them by the case at Whole foods. I will so have to try then. Thanks for the great ideas.
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Laura Reply:
February 15th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
The baking solves that issue for me. :)
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Okay, I’m a dork that I’m back just a day after my last comment, but I have to say two things: First, my kids DEVOUR these hash browns so it’s so wonderful to have them on hand! Second, I got a BOGO bag of Yukon Golds so six lbs. of them for about $2, so I baked them all yesterday, shredded them this morning, used some for breakfast, and am freezing the rest. I love how easy this is!
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Been eating a ton of these too – but we’ve dehydrated them and put them in gallon glass jars. Been a lifesaver – We never ate hashbrowns before this!!!
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Karen Reply:
February 16th, 2013 at 4:11 pm
I am fascinated that you dehydrate them, Marilyn! How do you reconstitute/prepare when you are ready? Is it time-consuming?
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Easy – I heat water in teapot – you’d probably use the microwave. I pour water over the potatoes while I heat the pan – I put dried onions in there too if I like – in just a few minutes they are soft and I take them out with a slotted spoon straight to the pan. They rehydrate easily. This way no electric outage will ruin any of my food and I can take a tiny amount or a large amount and throw it in the dehydrator. No more thrown out food! Since we’ve moved here, I don’t trust freezers. . .
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Karen Reply:
February 16th, 2013 at 5:15 pm
LOL — I rarely use the microwave for anything! I have an electric tea kettle for boiling water, a Russell Hobbs — lived in England for awhile in a house with no microwave! I should try dehydrating my shredded browns. Such a great idea! Thank you!
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I boil the potatoes whole until JUST done. I cool in fridge, peel or not depending on kind of potato. I grate them, dry them and bag them until I’m ready to put them in a storing container. They’ll store forever in good conditions.
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I am ssssoooooooooooooo excited to try this! I tried making homemade hashbrowns one time (so I could make this recipe that looks absolutely lovely: http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/11/creamy-and-crispy-hash-browns-frittata.html) and it was DISASTROUS. The yucky brown slimy potatoes you had after shredding raw was what I got too … worse, they turned black and smelled *awful* after this was baked.
My husband and I NEVER throw food away. If it gets down to a little bit left that doesn’t make a meal, I freeze it in a bowl for “leftover soup” later. We threw this away. I was so disappointed.
I wondered if I should cook the potatoes somehow first, but was drawing a blank. Duh! Baking them! Why didn’t I think of that?!
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Karen Reply:
February 18th, 2013 at 9:35 am
I am committed to never throwing things out either, and am a huge user of the freezer. I’m glad to know I’m not alone. Sometimes I fail to label things, though, so we have some mystery freezer items…
BTW, we are now on Day #3 of eating hashed browns — my kids are blowing through 6 lbs. of potatoes quite efficiently — you’d think they were candy. But by baking, shredding, and freezing them (well, sometimes they’ve just gone straight to the pan instead of freezing), it makes it so easy. And you get to control how much fat and salt is involved, which is better than buying a bag of prepared at the store.
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Hi! I wanted to know if I did something wrong…baked them, let them cool…but they wouldn’t peel, they were too baked, and they definitely wouldn’t shred, just turned into mashed potatoes basically. I thought when I read it that an hour and a half of baking would do that, but the comments were good and yours turned out so lovely! What’d I do wrong?
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Laura Reply:
March 13th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Shucks, since every oven bakes differently, maybe mine takes longer to bake potatoes. Hope you were still able to eat the potatoes! Maybe just bake yours for one hour next time. :)
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I was wondering why you put the potatoes in a covered dish and not just loosely on a tray in the oven. Is there a reason, I would love to know. Thanks
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Laura Reply:
March 13th, 2013 at 6:59 am
I find that they cook faster this way. :)
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That’s a very good reason, spares fuel!
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I made these this morning after baking the potatoes last night and they were delicious. I have a griddle pan and first cooked bacon, then drained most of the grease and use the bit remaining to cook the hashbrowns. Yum. My husband was so pleased. Thank you for sharing this!
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I love how easy this recipe is. . . and potatoes for that matter! I leave the skins on (we like them) and once they are cool, I pulse them in the food processor and store them in the freezer. I use them for everything, even throwing them in while cooking scrambled eggs and topping it all with cheese and salsa.
Tammy’s Kitchen website has a recipe for Creamy Corn and Potato Chowder. It is a very good “meatless” soup. I also substitute in my processed potatoes for the potato chunks. Yummy!
I wanted to share this tip also. I found a potato skin recipe online. She slices off the sides of the potatoes (the long side with a little “inside” on it) before she bakes them and uses them for potato skins! We bake the potato skins for an easy lunch with cheese and then top with salsa and sour cream.
Thank you Laura for making my kitchen work easier!
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Thanks for the baking tip! I had it planned I was going to make Potato Latkes tonight, but I am sick of the labour intensive grating of raw potatoes! Definitely giving this method a try tonight to try and save me an hour of grating in the kitchen!
I always make a large batch when making potato pancakes or something similar. They are perfect convenience food because they chill/freeze and reheat so well.
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Hello, just wondering if I could substitute sweet potatoes??? Have quite a few of them, but have never frozen them. This sounds great, my family loves when I make homefries with them, but this would give us something different. Thank you for the tip, will be put to good use!
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Laura Reply:
April 26th, 2013 at 6:25 pm
I’ve never tried it, but I sure think it would work!
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I need to “make-ahead” hash browns to feed 70 for youth camps. It typically takes me an hour and a half to make them the same day (using frozen uncooked). Can I freeze the cooked hash browns and simply warm up on serving day. I’m using them for sausage potatoe hash, so I would think preparing in advance and freezing would work.
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Laura Reply:
May 28th, 2013 at 8:43 am
I would imagine that would work, but I’ve never done it that way before so can’t say for sure. :)
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This is a really good idea, only I like my potato skins too. When I make hashbrowns I shred the potatoes, skin and all, soak them in water for a few minutes, then change the water before poping it in the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes, drain, dry, and either freeze or cook up on the spot. You get crispy, non-slimy hashbrowns in under an hour!
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We leave the skins on, too. Mostly because I’m too lazy to peel them, but also we use Yukon Golds for these hashed browns and the skins are really thin and potatoes are small so not as easy to peel as a russet. These are delicious and so easy — we make these all the time!
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Hi, I was wondering why you put the potatoes in a covered dish vs just putting them on the rack in the oven. My case of potatoes arrive the other day from Azure, so making several batches of hashbrowns. Have you ever just sliced an froze for fried potatoes. Wondering I was thinking of trying that one also. We love potatoes.
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