Turnip Hash Browns - Divalicious Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why won t my hash browns get crispy? ›

Tips for the Crispiest Hash Browns

Squeeze out moisture: Use a potato ricer, orange or lemon press, or a tea towel to wring out excess moisture from the shredded raw potato. Some people find a salad spinner can work well too.

Immediately put the potatoes into the bowl of water. Soaking the potatoes in the water removes some of the starch and keeps the potatoes from turning an unappetizing color. Once the potatoes have soaked for a few minutes, squeeze them out and put them on a clean dish towel.

When you grate whole potatoes for hash browns, do it directly over a bowl with cold water. Let the potatoes sit in the water for at least 15 minutes, for best results overnight. The water will remove all the excess starch from the potatoes and will solve any graying issues and will give you crispier potatoes as well!

Squeezing the shredded potato in a towel or cheesecloth to remove as much moisture as possible helps it brown more evenly. Cooking the shredded potato briefly in the microwave helps it develop a better crust that remains crispy for longer.

I cook these hash browns over medium heat just to be safe. Cooking over high heat is tricky no matter what kind of oil you're using. Depending on your pan and your stove, it's just too easy to burn your food over medium-high or high heat.

Butter helps both browning and flavor, while oil lowers the smoke point, allowing your pan to do the steady, even cooking needed for perfectly crisped potatoes.

To ensure ultimate crispness, be sure to rinse the grated potatoes with cold water until the water runs nearly clear and to use a very hot, well-seasoned pan. As with all potato dishes, remember to season well.

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

When you grate raw potatoes, you release starch that can cause them to oxidize, or turn dark. The best way to keep that from happening is to cover the potatoes with cold water, then drain them very well and pat them dry before cooking.

If you don't eliminate enough liquid (from the potatoes that you, again, just soaked in water), they will get soggy instead of crispy, a.k.a. a total bummer.

How do you make homemade hash browns not stick together? ›

The biggest culprit that's making your hash browns come apart is moisture. You need to make sure the potatoes are dry before adding them to the flour and egg mixture. Whether you squeeze them out in a dish towel or use a salad spinner, get the potatoes as dry as they can be.

This process, which is called oxidation, happens because potatoes are a naturally starchy vegetable. And when exposed to oxygen, starches turn gray, brown, or even black. An oxidized potato is completely safe to eat. The process doesn't affect the flavor or texture of the vegetable.

Cutting your potatoes into the wrong shapes

And to get that, you need not only the right amount of heat and fat, but the right shape for your potato bits — to maximize crunch, you need to maximize the surface area exposed to the cooking fat, which will help you get lots of satisfyingly crunchy munchy edges.

Because they are already cooked, they don't take much oil or time in oil to crisp up. If frying hash browns on a griddle, put the oil on first and allow it to heat up, then add the potatoes. Pouring cool or room temp oil over the potatoes is a sure fire way to end up with soggy spuds.

If roasted potatoes lack their crunchy sheen, overcrowding is usually the culprit. Just as overcrowding bacon or mushrooms in a saucepan causes disappointingly mushy results, placing potatoes too close to each other on a baking sheet will prevent them from crisping while they roast.

A: Yes, you should because you need to get rid of the. excess moisture.