Skillet Red Potatoes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do you have to boil potatoes before frying? ›

Do I need to boil my potatoes first? Trust us: You seriously don't need to boil these spuds (or pre-cook them at all) before pan-frying. Slicing them thin allows them to cook through in the same amount of time that they need to get brown and crispy on the outside.

To keep red potatoes red, steam in a steamer rather than boiling in water. Turn this recipe into an appetizer by omitting cutting the potatoes into quarters. Place on a baking sheet; sprinkle with bacon and cheese. Bake for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

When the pan is properly preheated, add a generous amount of oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Then, carefully add the dried potatoes to the pan in a single layer, ensuring they have enough space between them. Overcrowding the pan can cause the potatoes to steam, increasing the chances of sticking.

How much Mashed Potatoes should you make? As a side dish, you should plan on ½ pound of potatoes per person. That means if you are planning on 10 people, use 5 pounds of potatoes. 4 people use 2 pounds of potatoes.

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.

Place them in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Allow them to soak, 2 to 3 hours. (You can also stick them in the fridge and let them soak overnight.) When you're ready to make the fries, drain off the water and lay the potatoes on 2 baking sheets lined with paper towels.

Give them a cold water bath: Once your potatoes are chopped, toss them into a large bowl. Then cover the potatoes completely with cold water and let them soak for at least 30 minutes (or up to overnight). This will help to rinse off the excess starch and help the potatoes crisp up beautifully in the oven.

How Do You Know When Potatoes Are Boiled? A good indicator of when a potato is done boiling is if you can pierce it with a fork. You want the potatoes to be tender all the way through, with a fork easily sliding through to the center. If you get resistance, boil for another few minutes and check again.

If you cook the potatoes over medium heat and keep them covered for most of the cooking time, the lid traps in steam, which helps cook the potatoes through.

Do not crowd the pan with too many potatoes. Ideally, you want at least half of the potatoes touching the bottom of the pan. If you have too many potatoes, the potatoes in the middle layer will start to steam and turn into mush.

Why do potatoes stick to skillet? ›

Make sure the skillet is clean. If there is anything stuck on the bottom of the skillet when you try to start cooking crispy potatoes they will stick. If the pan is well seasoned this shouldn't be a problem. Do not use a lid.

Red potatoes are smaller than russet potatoes but closer in size to Yukon Gold potatoes, which are often medium in size. In other words, two medium-size red potatoes equals one pound. Four or five small-size red potatoes equals around one pound.

For a big spread with lots of side dishes, you'll want to have about four ounces (125 grams) of potato (that's precooked weight) per person. If you're serving fewer sides, you can up it to about eight ounces (250 grams) per person.

Not only does parboiling save you time, but can help your kitchen run more efficiently and effectively as well! Because your potatoes will cook faster when parboiled, their cooking time will be more in sync with whatever other ingredients you are using.

Once your soon-to-be fries have expelled some of their starch, it's time to begin the blanching stage. This step keeps the potatoes from oxidizing and turning dark during the frying process.

Fries are completely cooked during the blanching stage at a lower temperature to allow the potato to cook slowly without becoming golden brown. After blanching, allow fries to cool to room temperature or, preferably, refrigerate in uncovered containers before the final fry to a golden brown.

This sure sounds a lot like potatoes that have been stored too long, in too cold of an environment before cooking. When potatoes are held below 41°F for too long a period, the starches convert to sugar and it changes the cooking chemistry.