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?
Ingredients Instructions
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Y’all have a wonderful day!
Gratefully,
Christy
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Oct 24 2008. Filed under Side Dishes, Southern Classics.
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My Mom was a Southern lady, my Dad is German, so we grew up eating fried potatoes and German sausage, with dill pickles on the side. So good! My Dad had a connection to someone who made sausage “the right way”, and unfortunately that person passed. I’ve never found sausage like it again
At least once a week growing up, we had pinto beans with a ham hock and fried potatoes for dinner. Yumm
My mom cooked these alot when I was growing up. One difference is she dusted hers with just a little flour before she put them in the skillet. The menu usually included dried beans, cole slaw, and cornbread along with the potatoes.
fried potatoes, gravy and biscuits
Yum, yum, yum!
Can ya’ll believe my Buckeye husband had never had gravy and biscuits till he met me?? Now he loves it as much as I do!
I’ve never heard of anybody who hasn’t had fried potatoes! Wow! I grew up in the South (Florida Gulf Coast), spent a few years in Central Texas, and have lived in WV for the last 23 years. Never saw a recipe for fried potatoes, either.
However, I have noticed differences in the way different regions make them…..sliced vs. diced vs. just plain cut up potatoes, onions vs. no onions, etc. However, one thing I have found in common is that they are definitely liable to pop up at any meal (or snack) of the day. I personally cook chopped onions in them and use lots of pepper and a bit of salt. I also add some bacon grease to the oil (you know, gotta have that little bit of “extra flavor” and everything’s better with bacon!). Sometimes the bacon itself pops up in my fried potatoes, and if you add some beaten egg during the last 5 minutes or so off cooking, why, you’ve got yourself a skillet breakfast ready to serve with some buttermilk biscuits!
I think during these times of rising prices and all that folks need to be getting back to learning how to fix potatoes, rice, beans, etc. for more frugal meals. A few potatoes can make a meal–like the skillet breakfast I mentioned, or made into potato soup…and don’t forget to throw an extra tater in the pot when an unexpected chair is going to be filled with a warm body around the dinner table!
I grew up in eastern KY and it was always a mainstay for us. They were served year round, with garden food in summer and pinto (soup) beans and corn bread in winter. And served with a variety of meats, as you said.
Grew up eating fried potatoes only we added onion to them! Some of the best eating ever, along with beans, cornbread, and slaw!
Thats funny cause I just had them last night. I havent had them in a long time and just wanted some. I do add onions sometimes. I added a porkchop I cooked the same way as the potatoes and some turnip greens I had canned. Good eating…
Lordy! I can’t get over Granny Jordan not knowing what fried taters were! Poor in deprived woman!
If you ain’t had a fried tater sandwich .. ya ain’t lived. Put taters into a slice of white bread and add a little ketchup – then fold it over and eat – YUMMMY ♥
Good gravy you’re makin me hungry!! On my way to the kitchen to make some! **drooling a bit**
Fried taters are the BEST! I grew up in Oklahoma and we always had potatoes every day. Occasionally they were mashed but mostly fried and almost always had bacon grease. I know what we’re havin for dinner!
i always add bacon dried onions and garlic salt and pepper of course- in my fried potatoes– and we cant forget — a little butter too! but yes to the oil- i scatter sliced cut up bacon first on the bottom of the pan then pile the sliced potatoes and then season them– sometimes shallot salt works if you are out of garlic salt.
when the potatoes have been browned i flip then season the other side — i put in sliced polksa kielbasa too at the very end to crisp up! thats more of a meal than a side.. fried potatoes and bacon were a staple raised in Nebraska with a cook from Iowa. frozen hashbrowns make a quickie side in a pinch but mainly it was potatoes when i grew up. on the grill wrapped in foil. in the frypan. in the oven. and pretty much any kind works russet yukon gold and reds– . oh and its sliced potatoes not diced how i was taught.. but they all taste yummy just the same ! loved this post!
I have one question! At times I have trouble with them sticking to bottom of pan. Is that because I’m not getting the grease/pan hot enough?
Up North, we call ‘em raw fried potatoes. With the new red potatoes, I scrub the skins thoroughly and slice thinly. Otherwise, the cooking is the same. Raw fries always remind me of my younger son, who really appreciates having them at any meal.
I enjoyed your post <3
Love fried potatoes. We had them frequently when I was a child in southern Indiana. I add onions and green peppers to the skillet now and some capers when they are done. Very good!
At our house these are called “Pappy Taters” my grandpa “Pap” always wanted his potatoes cooked this way. Sometimes he’d want my “Ma” (grandma) to throw in some onion. Yummm!
Fried potatoes are one of my favorite things. I slice mine and most of time add onions now. Great on a biscuit also. Put just out of the pan or bowl is great. We all will need to be using more of the old staple cooking due to increase in grocery prices. Have a great day.
In my family, we put onion in our fried potatoes. And more often than not, they end up on some fresh white bread with mustard. Heaven on a plate! Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
Yummy!!
Love those fried potatoes!! Wanted to write about that the other day when you were writing about the sauerkraut & weenies. We always had fried potatoes and beans and cornbread with the sauerkraut & weenies. Of course, being from the South Plains of West Texas, we had potatoes with everything, but our favorite was fried potatoes. My, how I wish I could have some of my Mommie’s fried potatoes, somehow mine just aren’t the same. Thanks for reminding me, Christy!
I have that problem too Jolene, there are just some things that I can never make like Mama could!
Love, love, love fried potatoes. They were my Daddy’s favorite. His mother stopped frying much in the 40′s. She had heard in a home demonstration club meeting that it was unhealthy. She was way ahead of her time. When she would go to work, Daddy would talk his sister into frying potatoes for him. He also liked them with onions in them but I always preferred them without. Another way that we loved potatoes was to boil and peel new potatoes and then brown them in butter with salt and pepper. Yum! makes me hungry just thinking about all those taters!
It makes me hungry too Teresa. I say we should go make ourselves some fried potatoes for breakfast!
Love my fried taters. Been eating them for most of my 65 years. I fry them with a little bacon grease and onion. They go with anything and everything. I like them best with soup beans, cornbread and a little applesauce to go with them. A meal made in HEAVEN!
That sounds like Heaven indeed!!
I love me some fried taters for sure!! LOL… My Nanny Mac made them for me because I couldn’t have mashed or anything with butter on them. She’d saute an onion and throw in there with them, I haven’t made this in years, now I’ll have to buy some taters and have us a breakfast dinner complete with your Hoe Cake that my Mom dearly loves you for bringing into her life! : )
Not sure how to verify my email addy, just hope I don’t end up not getting your emails, would break my heart for sure! Lot’s of hugs, spread them around to you and yours!!!
Hi Marianne, you should receive an email, there will be a place in that email to click for verification. That is all you have to do! Thank you so much for being such a great supporter and give your sweet Mom a hug for me!!
Have to comment on these. My wonderful grandmother used to make “Thursday lunch” for any of us who were able to stop by. Fried potatoes were almost always on the menu–these look very familiar! I probably should get around to making them while she’s still here to help me get them right! Central Illinois girl all the way here, although I say I’m geographically misplaced! (Hey, my grandpa was from Arkansas; I say that’s where the southern influence comes from.)
Oh my goodness, I love that…Thursday Lunch!!
Well I have to add my two cents here. I love fried potatoes anyway you fix them but one way we really enjoy is I slice the potatoes, chop onion, green pepper, and hot peppers, and I buy a package of smoked sausage and slice it in half moon slices and through it all into my cast iron skillet with some oil, add salt, pepper and garlic.. When done I serve it with nice slices of tomatoes.
Yummy, that sounds wonderful Melanie!!
just had some over at a friends house and she used her french fry cutter for cutting them .they came out real good .I slice them uneven .which made them cook uneven .so will try the french fry cutter this Thursday making riblets with it and green beans .
We always called smothered potatoes, I guess b/c you put the lid on and let them smother down.
They were sliced thin and the onion were even thinner and layered in the black skillet (cast iron) with salt and lots of pepper. I don’t think we ever went camping that these taters weren’t served.
My husband grew up in Louisiana and had never had them. The first time I cooked them for him he said he fell in love with me all over again. lol
OK…now I’m wanting fried taters.
Fried potatoes today with pinto beans and cornbread! Yummy!