How to fry potatoes

Frying perfectly golden potatoes with a crust is easy if you know a few important subtleties. Life hacks and tips from chefs – in the manual

Fried potatoes are a versatile and popular dish. It is served solo or in combination with other products, as a side dish or separately – you can come up with many variations. However, in order to achieve the right taste and texture, you need to know which varieties of potatoes are ideal for frying, which oil is best to choose, and what cooking steps to follow. Together with the chef, we have compiled detailed instructions that will tell you how to fry potatoes properly.

How to fry potatoes in a pan

The most popular way to cook fried potatoes is in a pan.

Step 1. Choose the Right Potato

Ideal for frying – tubers with moderate moisture and starch content. Medium-sized red and pink potatoes work best, such as Romano, Red Scarlett, Bullfinch, and Ryabinushka.

About which potatoes are best for frying, KP told Alexey Razboev, brand chef of Ersh restaurants:

– Choose special varieties for frying. They are low in starch. Most often it is yellow and pink potatoes. In some stores, you can immediately find a mark on the package or price tag: “For frying.” By the way, to make it more convenient to cut, and the cubes are the same in size, choose hard and smooth tubers.

Step 2. Choose the right frying pan

The frying pan must have a thick bottom. So it will evenly distribute heat and keep the temperature for a long time. Wide, high-sided cast-iron or steel pans are ideal.

Step 3. Decide on the frying oil

Refined sunflower oil is best for cooking fried potatoes. You can also use butter. You can also fry potatoes in olive or coconut oil, but they have a bright specific taste that not everyone likes.

“At this stage, the first field for experiments opens up for you,” comments Lyudmila Yakovenko, chef of MY BIG LOVE bar. – You can choose vegetable oil, butter, refined from the dairy part (sold in stores with Indian goods, ghee butter), pork or beef bacon, rendered fat from chicken or duck skin, or maybe fat tail. In general, any combination will make the taste of potatoes even more interesting. My favorite is smoked beef bacon.

Step 4. Prepare the potatoes

Wash and clean tubers. Cut each potato into thin slices. The optimal thickness of each is about 7-8 mm.

– It is better to cut the potatoes into medium-sized ones, – advises Alexey Razboev. – Thin slices or straws are fried faster from the inside, better retain the crust. Want big bars? Then boil them for five minutes before frying. Ordinary water will help get rid of excess starch: cut, put in a bowl, soak for half an hour. Then blot with a paper towel, dry and send to the pan.

Step 5. Fry the potatoes

– Pour oil / fat into a confidently heated frying pan and check if the frying pan is well heated (when hot, the oil instantly becomes fluid and slightly smokes, it’s time for potatoes), – explains Lyudmila Yakovenko. – Put all the potatoes at once (it can be quite a lot, but the maximum is as much as you can mix in the process). Confident “roasters” of potatoes are able to mix a huge mountain on top of the pan, but for the first time we recommend starting with a small hill above the side of the pan.

Slightly reduce the heat, but leave at a medium level. Pour all the potatoes at once (a signal that you are doing everything right is a characteristic loud crackling of oil and sizzling). Do not touch the potatoes for 5-7 minutes and do not cover. At this point, the first level of caramel crust is formed. You need to wait for a uniform golden color at the bottom. As soon as it forms, the potatoes should be gently mixed, making as few movements as possible. Our goal is to simply flip the layers. Repeat the same with the second layer after 5-7 minutes. Depending on the number of potatoes in the pan, this maneuver can be repeated a few more times. We want the well-done surfaces to visually make up about half the mass of the potatoes in the pan.

At this point, you can evenly salt the potatoes, lower the heat almost to low, and then cover loosely (so that no steam builds up inside, but there is enough even heat to cook the potatoes). Potatoes should be cooked until soft for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness and level of cooking in the early stages.

Step 6. Serve the finished dish

It remains only to serve potatoes to the table. If desired, greens or additional ingredients can be added to the dish.

What to serve with fried potatoes? My favorite combination for the warm season is variations on the theme of ranch sauce, – says Lyudmila Yakovenko. – This is a dressing from equal parts of mayonnaise and yogurt or low-fat sour cream, finely chopped greens (dill, parsley, green onions) and sweet onions, as well as drops of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.

How to fry potatoes with a crust

The process of cooking potatoes with a crust is not much different from the previous one, but it has its own nuances.

Step 1: Prepare Potatoes and Pan

Wash, peel and cut into thin slices potatoes of a suitable variety. To further reduce the starch content, potato tubers can be soaked in water for 40-60 minutes before slicing. Next, you need to choose a spacious frying pan with a thick bottom and pour vegetable or butter into it. Heat up the pan well.

Step 2. Cook the potatoes

In order for the potatoes to become crispy, you need to fry them in batches. Lay one layer of potato slices after another in the pan, frying each of them on both sides for 5-7 minutes.

Step 3. Serve the dish

Salt the potatoes just before serving. If done too soon, the potatoes will overcook and not be crispy.

How to fry potatoes with onions

Fried potatoes go well with onions. Onions give dishes a more interesting and juicy taste.

Step 1. Prepare the ingredients

Proper preparation of the ingredients is already half the battle. Potato tubers need to be washed, peeled and cut into thin slices. Remove the skins from a medium sized onion and chop finely.

Step 2. Fry the potatoes

Pour potato slices into a preheated pan with oil. Fry potatoes until half cooked and season with salt.

Step 3. Add the onion

Add onions to potatoes. Fry the vegetables in a pan until the onion becomes soft and acquires a golden hue.

Step 4. Serve the finished dish on the table

Put the finished dish on a plate and serve. If desired, you can sprinkle the potatoes with herbs or your favorite seasonings.

— Do not forget about tasty additives, — comments Alexey Razboev. – I like to put onions, hunting sausages, mushrooms, greens with potatoes. Fry onions and mushrooms separately, and mix for five minutes until cooked. Put the greens fresh and already before serving.

How to fry potatoes with mushrooms

Another product that goes well with potatoes is mushrooms.

Step 1: Choose Ingredients

Delicious fried potatoes are obtained with many mushrooms, especially porcini, champignons and honey mushrooms – choose to your taste.

Step 2: Prepare Food

Wash potatoes and mushrooms, peel and cut. Put the pan on the fire, pour oil on it and heat well.

Step 3. Prepare the dish

We send the potatoes to the pan first – it takes more time to cook. When potatoes are almost ready, add mushrooms to it. Then you need to salt, pepper and fry all the ingredients until cooked. The cooking time of mushrooms usually depends on their type and quantity. For example, a small amount of champignons takes 6-8 minutes on average, and porcini mushrooms – about 15 minutes.

Step 4. Serve the potatoes on the table

The dish can be served as is, or if desired, add sour cream and herbs.

Chef’s Tips

Alexey Razboev, brand chef of Yorsh restaurants:

Choose potatoes that are suitable for frying.
A prerequisite for a frying pan is a thick bottom.
Never put potatoes in a cold pan and in cold oil.
For a special taste, add a piece of butter to vegetable oil. Don’t forget to reduce the heat and lay out carefully.
For a particularly crispy and golden crust, try to lay out the potatoes in one layer and not stir too often. Put, wait five minutes, carefully turn over, wait another five minutes, do not cover with a lid. Done right, the inside of the potatoes will be soft and cooked, while the outside will be crispy.
My main secret as a chef is practice. The more often you try to fry potatoes, the better they will turn out.