SOUTHERN FRIED POTATOES
Southern Fried Potatoes are a staple at our house. We love this dish and have always believed simple dishes are the most delicious. You only need a few ingredients and these fried potatoes are wonderful. We always serve these with our Salmon Patties. It’s a meal that we run to the table for!
Southern Fried Potatoes Simple Ingredients:
Potatoes, peeled, washed and sliced. (I always fry a lot because we like them leftover. You can cut down on the amount of the potatoes)
Cooking Oil
Onion
Minced garlic
salt and pepper (I like a lot of pepper and not much salt)
Bacon grease (optional)
As you can see from the photos we like our potatoes to get a little brown and crispy combined with the onion and seasonings this is a real treat. We always make a lot because we love them cold the next day on a biscuit with mustard. If you have never tried that..you need too.. it’s so good!
Now I cook with quite a bit of oil because we like the potatoes to brown well and you can use as much or as little oil as you prefer to get the texture of the potatoes to your liking. We love the addition of the bacon grease because it adds a wonderful flavor to the potatoes and the onion.
We make this fried potato recipe in a very seasoned cast iron skillet but you can use a nonstick pan of your choice. We also use just russet potatoes, which has always worked very well!
Possible additions:
- Green Pepper
- Smoked Sausage
- Hamburger
- Cheese
Handy tip: If you want to speed up the frying process, you can always slice your potatoes, boil them until tender and then add them to a skillet and fry them. It will save you some time. You can also boil some potatoes, keep them in the fridge and just fry a few each morning for breakfast if you don’t want to make a big amount at a time.
“This recipe brought back so many happy memories. I was a small child during World War II, and on wash day (Monday) after scrubbing laundry on a washboard in a galvanized tub outside, my mother would make us a lunch of iron skillet fried potatoes and onions along with a hoecake of cornbread also cooked on top of the stove in another iron skillet. This sumptuous meal would be washed down with fresh cold buttermilk. Oh, how I wish I could turn back time. Thanks for the recipe and the memories.” -Shirley
Country Fried Potatoes
Ingredients
- 10 medium potatoes peeled, washed and sliced.
- 3/4 to 1 cup oil I use Canola
- 1 medium onion peeled and chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- salt and pepper
- 2 to 3 tablespoons bacon grease optional
Instructions
- Have your grease and oil hot.
- Add potatoes, onion, garlic, pepper.
- Fry uncovered for about 45 minutes turning down stove after potatoes have browned and cooking until done.
- Remove from stove, add salt.
Notes
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I grew up with fried potatoes & onions (without garlic) as a staple! Simple & classic! Thanks for sharing.
The bacon grease makes this dish. It gives so much flavor. My recipe is almost like this except I sometimes add a little green bell pepper. If you have a seasoned cast iron skillet, use it and you’ll get a much nicer ‘crust’ on the potatoes.
Which pan works best for fried potatoes? Everything sticks in my cast iron skillet, I can’t figure out why.
I use my cast iron pan with no issues. However, it is very seasoned. You can make them in any nonstick pan.
Sometimes Momma would use leftover Sunday roast, carrots and pan fried potatoes together. Make some kind of gravy and call it all HASH. It was so good we just knew it would heal any ailment !! TRULY the good old days in East Texas.
I’ve been trying to find a “recipe” to make my dad’s fried potatoes. When we were kids he made these with ground beef and sprinkled with cheese. It seemed so gourmet, not like he was just trying to feed us on a budget. He died when I was a teenager so I never really paid enough attention while he made them. I haven’t gotten it right in the decades I’ve been trying. So, thank you for this. It was perfect!!
We are thrilled this recipe was a hit! So glad you found it!
I grew up eating these. I’m now 70. We called them Pan Fried Potatoes. So good. I still make them. Yummy! I learned to make them from my grandmother who was born in 1901.
I made this for dinner…and only this. We were very happy. I have made fried potatoes before, but your directions helped me make them so much better. Thank you for sharing your method with us.
You’re so welcome, Leslie! So glad you enjoyed them.
Love these taters!!! Been making these all my life same recipe as you. Funny the nite before you posted this recipe. I made these fried taters good old white beans green onions, and all my family loves when I make this meal Then I opened this recipe and saw you made my taters!!!!! Great minds think alike!
I love this! My grandma used to make them often for supper. Feed many on budget..My husband and I still make them. We add a little liquid smoke… Good smoky flavor without needing to add meat..
I love the idea of adding liquid smoke! Thanks for the suggestion.
This recipe brought back so many happy memories. I was a small child during World War II, and on wash day (Monday) after scrubbing laundry on a washboard in a galvanized tub outside, my mother would make us a lunch of iron skillet fried potatoes and onions along with a hoecake of cornbread also cooked on top of the stove in another iron skillet. This sumptuous meal would be washed down with fresh cold buttermilk. Oh, how I wish I could turn back time. Thanks for the recipe and the memories.
Shirley, thank you so much for sharing this wonderful memory with us. I loved reading it. I hope you enjoy these potatoes 🙂
I grew up with 8 siblings and my daddy grew potatoes. Believe me, we had potatoes in everyway imaginable. Boiled and fried cut into cubes fried up the same way and sometimes…we’d tear up old bread and add it to beaten eggs then poured over the fried potatoes. It was really good with bacon or sausage or ham diced up. Good PA. DUTCH FOOD.
Is there a shelf life for refrigerated bacon grease? I have had some in the refrigerator for about three weeks and wondered if I could still use it to fry potatoes.
I think you will be ok using it Linda since it has been refrigerated. I use it to fry potatoes, too. I have kept it for a couple months in the fridge but it will become rancid after too long.
Have you ever tried adding whipping cream to them when almost finished? It is a must try if not! They are fabulous
i freeze it in plastic containers for a very long time its ok. back in the 50s my moma just covered it with a lid and it sat on the counter/ we all still here thank goodnesss
I enjoy reading the memories of the folks that respond to your recipes almost as much as the recipes themselves I grew up in “Lapland” My Dad said it was where KY lapped over into IN. I too grew up with a wood burning stove in the kitchen and some of the meals that came out of there are beyond heavenly.
what I do sometimes that cuts down on the time of cooking, is I already dice them and boil them til tender, you have to keep an eye on them to make sure they do not go to much. then drain and the next morning just get the oil ready and cok lower temp and resist turning so much… delicious…
Was raised on a farm with my grandparents and have to say fried potatoes are great love them more when cooked in a cast iron skillet but where I live now only has electric stove so hard to do wi tdd h that part but love the idea of liquid smoke added
I always use a lid at the beginning. Helps the potatoes cook faster since you are cooking from raw.
I love these potatoes. I remember my mom cooking these along with a big bowl of long cooking rice with lots of butter , salt and pepper. Then we would have sausage or bacon and chocolate gravy. Yes that gravy is for more than just biscuits. People squawk today because of the starches and carbs but my grandmas was 96 and my mom 86 when they passed away and my dad is going on 91. They worked hard in the fields and this just good comfort food. I’ve seen my grandma many times eat salt out of her hand and butter on her finger. Awwww such great memories southern Lady. Thank you!
Thank you Phyllis. So happy to have you here and happy you are enjoying the site.Have a great week.
Do you flip to brown on each side?
Yes, you do Judy.
Everyone is talking about how their fried potatoes aren’t as good as their Mom’s or Dad’s or Grandma’s, and I’m just gonna say it, mine are better than my mother’s!
I live in Kentucky and have for most of my life! I love all of your recipes and some of them are just like mine! I started cooking at 8 years old, right beside my Momma! We cooked on the old coal stove and even though it put out a lot of heat in the summer, the fried potatoes, soup beans, saur kraut and corn bread had a special taste. There’s nothing like a Southern cook! I really enjoy your recipes every day!
Thank you so much Billie Jean. Happy to have you here and happy you enjoy the recipes.
Also use a cast iron skillet if you have one.
I loved these potatoes as a kid. My mother always made a big pot of red beans with bacon and a pan of cornbread. Add sliced tomatoes, sliced onions and maybe a pickle. Yum.
I love cold fried potatoes on a slice of bread with catsup
Love These, I grew up on them, reminds me of My Sweet Mama, she use to fry them up in a cast iron skillet..! 🙂
I live in the north and we grew up on fried potatos with a fried egg cooked just so the yolk drizzles down all over the potatos love it
I remember my Mama’s fried potatoes done in an iron fry pan which I now own. Funny that pan doesn’t turn them out as good as Mama’s. I am from North Carolina and was raised on Dukes Mayo. As far as I am concern mayo doesn’t come any better than Dukes. A dish I always served fried potatoes was can tomatoes ( or chopped up fresh tomatoes) with diced wieners, chopped onions and okra seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper and worstershire sauce. Combine all in a fry pan with bacon grease or oil and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or more. This makes me hungry.
I can tell all of these families are from the south! It makes fun, familiar, memories come to mind. There is nothing more heart warming than Grandma, Dad or Mother’s home cooking! Who doesn’t like fried or oven baked potatoes. I am so limited to the amount of carbs I can have due to diabetes. I could sit down with any of you and enjoy every minute of these meals! I crave potatoes, biscuits and gravy! My guilty pleasure! Love your recipes and all the comments!
I love fried potatoes! I just came home to the south and I am so so happy to have found your blog and wonderful recipes that remind me of my childhood with all the family-my grandparents being the center that held us close together. Thank you. 🙂
Ten potatoes? Really? How many people does this feed? Can you please reduce the recipe to one that is suitable for a couple of empty nesters? Thanks! 🙂
I make this for 6 people for breakfast. You can reduce to suit your needs.
I could have really done more than 10 pounds for my husband and three sons..LOL When they left just me and my husband I did 5 lbs so we could eat on them a while..They didn’t last long..
My husband and I are also empty nesters and I just made this recipe, which by the way was delicious and reminded me of my moms and grandmas fried potatoes. I sliced up three potatoes and after they fry up they will break down some. This was plenty for me and my husband with no leftovers.
This is the only way to enjoy fried potatoes .I makeem this way .. When my children was young this was the only way they would eat them,,Today they wait for mama to make them for them and I love it..Thank Yor for the sharing…
thats how i fry mine except the garlic
When I was a kid, my Daddy used to fry them up in an iron skillet. Lots of salt and pepper was all he used for seasoning. They would have some parts that were cooked kind of browned up and crunchy…..they sure were yummy. I cook them sometimes now, they’re good but they aren’t dad’s, lol
Duke’s Mayo is the best thing I ever had I swore by Hellman’s til my son in law introduced me to Dukes I must try the corn salad I love this site it has so much good food on it I love the Southern Lady cooks. I love to cook glad to see someone else who loves Dukes. I get 10-12 jars every time they come up to IL from TN.
Rita, don’t know how close you live to St Louis…but I’ve been able to get Duke’s at Schnuck’s Markets here. You’re right…beats Hellman’s hands-down!
never heard of it here in Ohio, im a hellmans girl also but i would like to try dukes reading all these replies about it
I just got a bodacious bunch of collards at Ingles, and this potatoe recipe will round it out for me tomorrow. Pone of cornbread, and maybe even some salmon patties. Whew, don’t you just love good ole home cooking?
Bill Clay
Yes, Bill, and your meal tomorrow sounds delicious. Another thing we love is salmon patties, too. Enjoy your meal and your weekend and thanks for being a part of my site.
When I was a kid my dad would make fried potatoes for breakfast on the weekends. My favorite part was the browned crusty parts that were almost burned, lol. I love to make them now, and they are good, but were better when Dad made them. I think it’s because there was a lot of love cooked in with those taters. Lots of pepper is the key too. I remember him cooking breakfast on the weekends and having almost every dish in the kitchen dirty, lol. always made me chuckle.
Hi Brenda, Such great memories of your dad. I am sure my children will remember by country breakfasts as well because they are a favorite thing when they come home. Mine would rather have breakfast than Thanksgiving dinner I think! Have a great weekend and thanks for being a part of my site.
I had mine yesterday morning with corn bread. It was really good, I almost ate too much!
I cook this for my grandsons all the time, a great addition to any meal. thanks for posting.
Leigh is right, these are the stuff dreams are made of. The two best meals they go with are “The Full Breakfast” and “Soup Bean Supper” (soup beans, fried taters, cornbread, salmon patties, kraut and weinies,and some kind of homemade relish). Now I’m hungry……. 😉
Aw…this post reminds me of those special moments having dinner with my Mom. She made the best Country Fried Potatoes (and the best soup beans and corn bread)! I wish I would of spent more time paying attention to how she cooked and the ingredients she used.
I LOVE these potatoes!! Best food in the world!!
-Anne
I love Leigh’s comment. I think I’d have sweet dreams about these, too, Judy. They look so good. By the way, I’m like you—I like lots of black pepper (and the garlic, too, of course). I think using a lot of the pepper enables you to use less salt.
Thank you for your kind comment, Judy—I really appreciate it. Since I’d quit my blog, I was surprised (but very, very grateful) to get comments.
Best potatoes in the entire world!!! I have dreams about them!
Love you Mom!
Leigh