Fried Potatoes (How to make them and when to eat them!)
There aren’t many cultures who haven’t, at one time or another, relied upon potatoes as a staple in their diet due to their availability, adaptability, taste, and tendency to be very filling. Southerners, of course, are no different. I remember my great grandmother, Lela, telling about how she used to be picking cotton in the fields with her kids (when you were a sharecropper, the entire family had to work the fields) and they would walk back to the house at lunchtime and dig up some potatoes to go in and fry for their lunch. Its hard to hear things like that and not look at this bowl of potatoes as a connection to your ancestors, you know?
~Sigh~ I miss Lela.
Alright, moving on to the food part…
Now y’all know that when a Southerner gets a hold of a something, there’s generally gonna be some frying involved if we can help it. There is a great misconception about frying in the south though. Folks seem to think Southern Food = deep frying. That’s not the case at all. In face, much of our “frying” doesn’t even include oil. How can it be frying then? Well, its just a matter of what we call “frying” differing from what those outside of the south define frying as.
You see, to us, a skillet has always been called a “frying pan”. Therefore, when a person in the south tells you to fry something, sometimes they are just telling you what type of pan to use. A great many of our dishes such as “fried corn” have nothing to do with oil, but are just cooked in a skillet! I actually seldom use oil in my cooking, I am much more likely to use it in my baked goods, instead.
Fried potatoes are not so very different. You are really just barely coating the bottom of your pan with oil as potatoes do have a tendency to stick. Myself and absolutely everyone I know loves fried potatoes. There is no meal they can’t pop up at, either. They are just as likely to be served at breakfast in the south as they are lunch or dinner. Despite what you may think, they do NOT taste like a baked potato or even mashed potatoes. Fried potatoes are a treat unto themselves. This is the potato flavor at its finest, better than any other, honest!
Still, they do tend to be a regional thing. You’ve either heard of them and love them or are entirely confused by the very concept. Once, when Granny Jordan was visiting us (who was the epitome of everything a Southern Lady should be), we had prepared a large breakfast at my mother’s house.
Mama put a big old bowl of fried potatoes on the table and Granny Jordan leaned in and asked in her deep drawl “Well now, those look interesting! What are they?” Mama and I hid our surprise as Mama responded that they were just fried potatoes. To which Granny Jordan replied “Well now, isn’t that neat. I bet those sure will be good!”.
Born and raised in Atlanta and had never had fried potatoes?
Lets get some on y’alls table as soon as we can, alright?
Fried Potatoes
Potatoes
Vegetable Oil
Salt
Pepper
Peel and dice potatoes into small cubes. Coat bottom of large skillet with oil, turn on medium heat and allow oil to get hot. Add potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and continue cooking over medium heat for about ten minutes, until potatoes start to brown on the bottom. Remove lid and stir, continuing to cook until potatoes are all tender and mostly browned.
*If you haven’t clicked the link to verify your subscription to my new email service, you will no longer receive emails from Southern Plate after tonight, that includes my weekly printable recipes I’ve been sending out! Be sure to verify today so you can also get the free e of Reader’s Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes!
Y’all have a wonderful day!
Gratefully,
Christy
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Smother-fry the little red (or new) potatoes and some sliced onions like in this recipe! YUM!!!!!!!
Southern Fried Potatoes with onions is one of my favorites. It makes a good meal itself and great as a side dish. Thanks for putting all this hard work together to share. I just love your website.
We LOVE Fried Potatoes. I make a spice up from my garden and add then to mine (gooood stuff!)
Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
Fried potatoes are a must in my household. I just wish they were better for your mid-section:)
what, no bacon grease from your trusty grease can? come to think of it, i don’t think i’ve ever had fried potatoes cooked in any oil BUT meat grease–it’s a wonder i have healthy cholesterol levels!
seriously, Christy is right, this style of potato really brings out a full potato flavor like nothing else. if you’ve never had fried potatoes, you’re in for a treat, especially with a speck of onion and some bacon grease, or best yet also flour gravy, oh yeah!
Oh, I’m groaning after reading this. I want me some bacon-fried potatoes, NOW!!!
These look good! I’ll have to try them soon!
We love fried potatoes too. We eat them for breakfast with eggs and bacon. We eat them for dinner with steak. We eat them for lunch with cheese and salsa on them.
I LOVE fried potatoes, but I usually dice or slice up an onion and add seasoning salt also. I could get them for enything. Yum. Now I am hungry
Yum, I love fried potatoes! I’ve tried cooking them a variety of ways, but this definitely looks good. Those potatoes look like fried potato perfection!
I can’t believe there is ANYONE who hasn’t eaten fried potatoes! Thanks for the crockpot cookbook. There are some delicious looking recipes in there.
Swedie
Fried potatoes, pintos and cornbread, one of my favorite meals.
Fried taters! Love them. I also add some chopped onion to them. Cornbread is needed along with them for sure.
Fried potatoes.. my hubbys favorite meal….I also add a little onion and make cornbread…sounds like I know whats for supper!
I made some for lunch today, though I used bacon grease (I always keep some in my fridge) One of my favorite quick meals. I also dip mine in Duke’s mayo!
Yum! I always tell people that potatoes are my favorite food so I’m sure I will love this! Now if I could just find a good potato soup recipe…
I’m a Kentucky Hillbilly “Suthern” Gal…and like some of the others have mentioned…bacon grease and add an onion chopped up ;D
Mine look more like matchsticks than cubes…any way you slice ‘em they are good with a pot of white soup beans w/ham and corn bread!!
Oh…and I have to have red gravy (ketchup) on mine…LOL!
I’m not blogging any more but still enjoy your site a lot!
Blessin’s to YOU!♥
We love fried potatoes are our house, it is my husband’s specialty. I am going to pass along the newsletter from today with this, he is always looking for better ways to fry potatoes.
I love fried ‘taters! I usually add some onion… and then my Grandma taught us to eat them with cottage cheese on top. I know it sounds weird, but it’s sooo good. Nice tutorial Christy!
Yum, these look so good. I had fried potatoes for breakfast once, and I have always wondered how to make them. I’ll be giving this recipe a try
Well Christy, Ya had to go and put this up and I just made a batch. Sure were good.
Thanks for this post. My grandmother always made these for me when I visited. This is my absolute favorite side dish.
I’m TN born and bred, and I was raised on fried taters.
Heck, they tell me that’s about all I ate until I was five. LOL
My daddy always told me to cook them slow to make sure they get soft inside first, then turn it up some to get them crispy on the outside like I like them.
We eat them for breakfast and dinner around here. They are the perfect side for a pot of beans. And I’v been known, more than a few times, to just fry up a pan and eat them AS dinner for just me.
Fried potatoes…my favorite! I love them with some pinto beans and corn bread. I noticed you didn’t use your cast iron skillet to cook these?
BTW, thanks for the slowcooker cookbook. I ran out of ink printing it…got some more today…now I have to finish printing.
Upstate NY here. Grew up eating fried potatoes and onions. Only instead of cubing them we slice them really thin. Cook them in a well seasoned cast iron pan to get a nice crisp crust, even a few of the onions a bit blackened, Yum!
Sheila
Thank you for the slow cooker contest. I hope I win.
I very much love fried potatoes! I sometimes add a few onions and I always add a little bacon grease
These sound delicious!!! I will definitely have to try them. When I read you refer to corn cooked in a frying pan as “fried corn”…I had to smile…big!!! When I was little, my Mom would cook corn (she would scrape it off the cob) in the frying pan…I always called it “french-fried corn”!!! I have no idea why I called that, but that’s what it became known as in our family…and YEP, I’m 100% born and bred Southern…from Birmingham, Alabama!! There ain’t NOTHING better than good ole Southern cooking!!!!
I love this site and I ordered the cookbook…my office mates and I have been pouring over the pages picking out some major awesomeness to cook!!! Keep up the great work!!
We eat fried potatoes all the time in my family! Ever since I was a kid my mum would make plain fried potatoes, such as yours, or more commonly we would have a dish of fried potatoes with beef mince. The fried potatoes would be fried separately, and then the beef mince also fried and after that they would quickly be combined back together in the pan.
Hey this is one of my favorite ways to eat potatoes. Especially with onions and cheese.:) When we ate beans though sometimes we had boiled potatoes with lots of salt, pepper and butter or fried potatoes. Oh yummo!!:) You make me hungry.:) Especially for some good ole southern food.:) HOpe you have a great night.:)
Sharon:)
We used to go camping all of the time when I was younger. There was a lady we camped with who would do the fried potatoes with onions at breakfast. We’d have homemade biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs and of course fired potatoes. The more starches the better when eating a good breakfast at the campsite. Those were the days. Thanks for the recipe.
Wow….I need some of these now! My mama (and my Nana) used to make fried potatoes all the time. I haven’t been able to find a ‘replacement’ for my Nana’s, as she is gone. Although it isn’t southern, there is a place in Delaware towards Bethany Beach I have found that can make a great runner up. Still miss my Nana though.
oh my word, i can almost smell and taste them… i think we’ll be having some for dinner tonight!
Fried potatoes, fried okra, fried corn – music to a southern girl’s ears!
Mmmmm…..we love fried potatoes here!
I'm not a southern girl, I'm a midwestern girl (Indiana),
but I sure identify with most everything you say. (well, except chocolate gravy…that's a new one to me. LOL) I call my skillets frying pans too.
I have made your southern steak & gravy, & will be making again in the next week or so. I will have to make fried potatoes to go with it, that sounds so good, gettin' that gravy all mixed in to the potatoes!
I fell into the same delicious "trap" -read this tutorial & HAD to have fried potatoes! I use my tall cast iron, toss in onion and near the end, diced red pepper. If we serve with ground sausage, my daughters call it "Who Hash" – from the Grinch…
Thanks , I am off to make some fried potatoes!
Well, this explains why my fried potatoes have never been great — I’ve always parboiled my potatoes (see, us New Englanders just love to boil the bejesus out of everything) and then wonder why they’re too mushy. Now I know. Thanks
I must go make some now…
So the comment about a skillet being called a frying pan made me want to ask a random question…
Am I the only southerner who calls tennis shoes “sneakers”? Born and raised in the south and grew up calling them that, but none of my southern friends seem to know what I am talking about when I say I’m looking for some sneakers. Just curious…
Wow are you ever bringing back memories for me today! I love fried potatoes! I do add onions to mine though. And you’re right about the hoe cake. My Grandpa made me for me when I was a little girl…no one ever knows what I’m talking about when I mention them though. They think I’m nuts!
I think I know what I’m cooking up tomorrow.
Hugs!
We love fried potatoes in our family. In fact, our girls ask for them several times a week! They are so yummy, especially when made with fresh-dug potatoes from our garden.
We love fried potatoes and we’ve never really put any time as off limits for eating them. I’ve been known to make up a pan of fried taters for a snack in the middle of the afternoon, especially when we are planning on a late dinner. Fried taters with cheese and a bit of ketchup is good anytime you feel the need for something Southern.
Fried potatoes were a staple for our family, growing up in South East Texas. Mama made them for breakfast, dinner or supper….they were good any time of day. My family loves them too, in fact the other day I woke up to a plate of fried potatoes on the kitchen counter. My husband had a hankerin’ for them, so he made them for breakfast. What a wonderful surprise! By the way, I taught him how to make them…..he’s from the North West.
I’ve been cooking for 40+ years, and these are the easiest and BEST fried potatoes I’ve ever cooked. Crisp on the outside, tender on the inside — just perfect. I always thought you had to semi-cook the potatoes before frying, so this is so much faster and the texture is so much better. Thank you thank you thank you!! I am such a fan of your recipes! This New Englander is now an official lover of southern food!
I was born and raised in Los Angeles but Mother was from the South. She was for the most part a terrible cook (thank goodness I didn’t take after her in that respect)but look out when she made fried potatoes. Absolutely the best comfort food and sooo delicious as a sandwich with Best Foods mayo and soft white bread. Gotta go I hear my potatoes calling.
I also was born in CA, but transplanted to NC about 43 years ago. I love fried potatoes for breakfast or dinner. I like to cut them up and put them in the microwave at the “baked potato” setting to let them precook a little. Put them in a hot skillet with a little grease, let them brown, salt and pepper them. Sometimes I add a little paprika. These sure are good with a fried egg or two!!!!
Guess what I’m having for supper tonight!!! Fried potatoes and eggs
I ordered your cookbook and can’t wait to get it!!!!
Awesome with onions cooked in the potatoes.
I love fried potatoes! I was raised on them, though just a little different. My mom sliced ours instead of cubing them. That made the potatoes crispier. MmmmM! That’s how I make mine today. In a cast iron skillet, of course! My DH and sons love the crispiest ones, so I have to leave them a little longer in the skillet to get nice and crispy. And yes, we have them for breakfast AND dinner.
Hey Christy,
I was raised on fried potatoes. Here’s a recipe my mom used to cook when we were young. Take those good ole fried potatoes with onions (or not if the kids don’t like onions) when almost done frying add cut up hot dog wieners or polish sausage. When done add some slices of Velveeta cheese and place in microwave for a minute or two til the cheese melts. Oh soooo good. We always added salt and ketchup before we ate it. We had this for lunch or supper or just anytime the kids got hungry. I also make a breakfast fried potato for the kids and cut the potatoes in thin slices and fry til brown. Tender in the middle. You can add onions and peppers if you like.
Fried taters are the best.
Cyn
Hey Christy! My Granny makes the same kind of potatoes and me and all my 5 siblings LOOOOOOOOVE her potatoes she’s 85 and when I go by to see her she makes me fried chicken strips, fried potoatoes and green beans! ^_^ I love my Granny! She’s the greatest!
In my house potatoes are one of the “food groups”!!
Actually, when I fry bacon, I always keep the drippings in a can in the fridge. There’s nothing better to use when frying potatoes. I always use bacon grease swiped on with a paper towel when making pancakes too (black cast iron skillet) and my grandkids say I make the best pancakes in the world. Just a thought.
My mom always floured the potatoes, then fryed them up. So good.
mmmmmm….love fried potatoes and so do my kids, i add garlic salto to mine…tasty
We always had fried potatoes with our Sunday breakfast and just about every night of the week also. The only time we would have something different was when Mom fixed mashed potatoes. I rarely have fried potatoes for my family. I do miss putting gravy over them for breakfast
My mother made these all the time. In fact, she made them so much that I finally got burnt out on them! I couldn’t look at a fried potato for years! Maybe I could eat some now. If they were cooked right!
I loved it when she made potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes, but that didn’t happen often! I guess we didn’t usually have enough leftover mashed potatoes to do it!
I loooove fried potatoes! I’ve had a love affair with them (and potato pancakes) since I was a little girl. I like to fry hot dogs in with them (till they are black!), and an onion and a green bell pepper. So yummy. Making my stomach growl just thinking/typing about it.
I have the same Corelle serving bowl that you served those potatoes in. And the set to match called English Breakfast. I got them for a wedding present in 1996, and they still look good, 13 years later! Gotta love Corelle!
Okay – I love you for posting this!
Just looking at that plate made me think of my Nanny. And boy, do I miss her! 
Howdy!
I just had fried tators tonight for supper. I was born and raised in Kentucky and have been eating fried tators since I was in diapers and sitting in a high chair.
I have fried tators at least 3 nights a week. I make them with my steak, chicken livers, fried tuna patties etc. But My all time favorite is with just macaroni & tomatoe juice, and lucks pinto beans (in a can, yes I know, they normally should be homeade but i like the can better its quick and easy)
If im home alone hungry and dont feel like fixin a whole meal, Ill just eat them by their selfs. Yummy. They sure are a southern comfort meal.
When I cut them up I do it differently depending on what time of day it is. I slice them for dinner, small french fry type for breakfast and cube them some times when I feel froggy. And for breakfast I usually dont like to brown them, just cook til tender.
Anyway, I love me some fried tators. And I just wanted to thank you for posting this with pictures and this is the best internet display I have ever seen of fried tators.
Thank you!
S. Lewis
Hazard, KY