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Crispy diner-style home fries from your kitchen are easier than you think with my recipe!
Are you a diner fan? There’s just something amazing about a classic diner and the meals you get there. It’s honest, homemade type meals that, when you’re traveling, make you miss home.
I’d have to say 99.9% of the time when I’d stop at a diner, I’d always get a huge breakfast.
There’s just something comforting when they set a huge plate of sunnyside-up eggs, crispy bacon, sausage, toast (always cut diagonally), and a heaping pile of crispy home fries.
All that was missing was me in my pajamas and some random tv show on in the background. Well now that I don’t travel as much, I still crave those crispy home fries so I had to recreate my Mom’s recipe. Let’s get started!
Grab Your Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients:
- Oil
- Butter
- Yellow Onion
- Bell pepper
- Large red potatoes
- Seasonings
- Water
Let’s Make Home Fries!
- First, you need to saute up your onions and peppers. Now you don’t have to use them if you aren’t a fan. I add them as they are kind of a staple in diner home fries. Plus I love the flavor they impart into the potatoes.
- While the veggies are sauteing, you need to par-boil the potatoes for a bit.
Why boil the potatoes?
By doing this, you’re removing some of the starch from the potatoes. It also does 2 things:
- Helps them cook evenly
- By pulling some of the starch out, you’re forming almost a gelatinous layer on the potato. So when it cooks, it helps to dehydrate the potato thus giving you a crispy potato!
- Once the potatoes are par-boiled, add the butter to the pan with the sauteed veggies, add in the potatoes in a single layer.
- WITHOUT stirring, allow them to cook for 4-5 minutes. You want to move the potatoes during this time as you want it to brown up.
- Then, carefully flip and continue cooking.
- Once all sides are brownd, add the seasonings and enjoy!
Home Fries Suggestions
- Plated with sunnyside up eggs over top
- Covered in chili, cheese, and onions
- On a breakfast pizza with bacon, egg and sausage
- In a wrap or breakfast burrito
- In a bowl with chicken or ground beef, cheese and veggies
Ultimate Crispy Home Fries
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 25
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: potatoes
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: breakfast, side dishes
Crispy diner-style home fries from your kitchen are easier than you think with my recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped into small pieces
- 1/2 cup red pepper, seeded and chopped into small pieces
- 4 medium-large red potatoes, skin on and cubed
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2–3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy 12” skillet over medium-high heat. Do not let it smoke. Add the onion & pepper and cook until browned about 8-10 minutes. Do not let this burn. Stir frequently. When done, remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.
- While the onions and peppers are cooking add the potatoes into a large saucepan. Add just enough cool water just until the tops of the potatoes are covered and they float slightly. Place the pan over high heat. As soon as the water begins to boil, remove from the heat and drain the potatoes in a colander. ~5 minutes.
- In the pan, the onions and peppers were sautéed in, place it back on the burner to medium-high and add the butter and remaining oil. When the butter foams, add the potatoes in a single layer, making sure each potato is touching the surface of the skillet. Allow to cook for 4-5 minutes WITHOUT stirring. You want the sides to brown. Once browned on one side, carefully flip and brown the other sides. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
- Once all the sides are crispy brown, add the onions and peppers back in and gently stir. Next add in the salt, black, pepper, and paprika. Stir gently and remove from heat.
- Enjoy!
Notes
If you’re a fan of smoked paprika, this is really good with garlic powder or hot sauce. Maybe some cumin or just plain salt and pepper.
Keywords: home fries, crispy potatoes, breakfast potatoes
When do you cut the potatoes? When par-boiled? Before sauteeing I assume?
Hi Wesley,
Before you parboil them. Viewing the list of ingredients, you start with “4 medium-large red potatoes, skin on and cubed”. Therefore you’ve already cut the ‘taters up ahead of time 🙂
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I made this recipe with some variations for what I had on hand, etc. Cut it by 3/4’s. Used an Idaho russet rather than red potato, and roughly half to 3/4’s of an onion (I love onion with home fries). Only had yellow and orange bell, so went with that. This is the first time I’ve tried parboiling the potatoes for home fries – and I goofed, let it boil for 5 minutes (rather than just bringing it to a boil then draining). Also added 1/4 tsp of rosemary.
They turned out great! The texture was great – far better than without parboiling. It’s also far easier to sautee the onion/bell peppers well without burning or undercooking them when done by themselves before the potatoes than trying to time their addition to the potatoes as the potatoes are cooking… and the flavor was also quite good!
Thanks so much for the excellent recipe!
★★★★★
Huge hit in our household. I microwaved redskins instead of par boiling and added some minced garlic during the sautée. To finish I topped with leftover chili, cheese, sour cream and chopped shallots. So good! 😋
★★★★★
I’ve made these a few times and it is 100% my go-to recipe for home-fries- they turn out perfect every time!
★★★★★
Didn’t really work for me. Probably my fault for adding too much ghee (which is what I used instead of the olive oil and butter), because they were too wet for my liking. They took much longer to cook through than stated in the recipe despite small cubes and parboiling.
★★★
I’ve not used Ghee so I’m not sure if that’s what caused your issue.
I know the recipe, as written, produces the best home fries. Sadly I don’t have ghee on hand so I can’t test it.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Yum, I made these to go with Sunday breakfast, they were delicious. I used Yukon potatoes and no pepper (my family is not a fan of peppers) But par-boiling the potatoes really worked they were super crispy, had the leftovers today and they were so good! Thanks Lori for another great recipe .
★★★★★
Best gome fries ever made. In my opinion, of course.
★★★★★
The ingredient mix in this is really good. I needed to transport these to a brunch. I trippled the recipe and roasted on two sheet pans in a hot convection oven stirring once to get all sides crispier. Meanwhile, had my crockpot heating up so I could get my potatoes to the brunch hot. Obviously these will be better fried and eaten right away but these potatoes were awesome!! If you try the transporting method make sure you take the lid off as soon as you can so they dont steam too long. There werent ANY leftovers.
★★★★★
Thanks much! My first par-boiled anything, works great!