Gluten-Free Hash Browns

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Naturally Gluten-Free Hash Browns are the ultimate way to serve potatoes at breakfast or brunch. This recipe will ensure you can achieve a perfectly crisp crust with gentle fluffy insides every time.

this recipe

If you are craving something a little more hearty at breakfast time then a serving of Hash Browns alongside your bacon and eggs can be all it takes to dust off the cobwebs. This Gluten-Free Hash Brown recipe was created to be a slight cross between your homestyle pan of fried shredded potatoes and the fat little patties you might find in road side cafes.

What are Hash Browns?

Hash Browns are usually served as a breakfast food. Shredded potato is shallow fried until crisp and golden. Often the shredded potato has been shaped into patties before frying.

Commercial Hash Browns are often made from reconstituted potato and have a rather mealy texture. They are worlds apart from the immensely preferable rustic affair you can achieve at home. However there are certain tricks you need to bear in mind when making them at home if you want to achieve the perfect alchemy of a creamy potato filling with a buttery crisp crust.

Where did Hash Browns originate?

Hashed Brown Potatoes originated in America and the first mention is in Maria Parloa’s Kitchen Companion in 1887. However, they became popular in the 1890s in cafes all across New York. Since then the name has been shortened to Hash Browns and they are now synonymous with breakfast time the world over. Even here in England you would not be surprised to find them offered as part of your traditional English Breakfast.

Are Hash Browns gluten free?

Hash Browns can be made simply with potatoes, salt and pepper. However, along with an egg, sometimes wheat flour is included as an ingredient to ‘glue’ the grated potato together. It’s always worth checking the labelling of commercially produced versions.

However, Home cooked versions of Hash Browns vary as to whether they include flour in the recipe. This version does, but we use tapioca flour/starch which makes them gluten-free.

Why you’ll love this Gluten-Free Hash Brown recipe

• Perfectly crisp crust. Evenly cooked on a low temperature to ensure the potato insides are soft and fluffy with a crunchy golden buttery exterior.
• Tapioca flour. Starchy tapioca flour helps hold the Hash Browns together so they don’t crumble in the pan. It also gives the Hash Browns an extra crisp crust.
• Red onion. Just half of an onion, sliced impossibly thinly, is enough to give a hint of piquant flavour.
• Well seasoned. The salt and pepper are essential here for flavour.
• Quick and easy. Just 5 ingredients plus seasoning. The Hash Browns don’t take long to cook, although you do have to fry them up in batches.

What are the best potatoes to use for Hash Browns?

Floury potatoes are best. Try and use Maris Pipers if you can as they are both floury and dry. They will ensure a lovely crisp texture on the outside of your Hash Browns whilst giving a lovely fluffy inside.

Other floury potatoes like King Edwards, Rooster and Russet potatoes are also good choices. However, waxy potatoes do not give the best results for this recipe so do steer clear.

What oil is best to cook your Hash Browns in? 

Actually this recipe uses ghee. Ghee is clarified butter which you can buy or use homemade ghee, which is a lot more cost efficient. It has the same rich taste as butter but a much higher smoke point and doesn’t burn as easily as butter.

Ghee is an excellent fat for sautéing or shallow frying as it heats at a lower temperature to other frying oils. This means the Hash Browns can cook at a lower temperature so you reduce the risk of them burning on the outside with an uncooked middle.

If you want to substitute the ghee you can use half butter / half olive oil which gives the same buttery taste and the oil helps prevent the butter from burning.

Gluten-Free Hash Brown Ingredients

Potatoes – using floury potatoes like Maris Pipers work best.
Red onion – half an onion, very finely sliced just adds a little bit of extra flavour. The red onion is milder and sweeter than white onion but you can substitute one for the other if you need.
Eggs – this recipe uses medium sized but always make sure they are free range.
Tapioca flour – makes the exterior ultra crispy
Seasoning – salt and pepper here are so important.
Ghee – using the right amount of fat, heated up correctly, will ensure non-greasy Hash Browns.

How to make Gluten-Free Hash Browns

For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.

The steps are simple:

1. Grate the potatoes.
2. Squeeze the excess water out of the grated potatoes by wrapping in muslin or a clean tea towel and wringing it out.
3. Mix the grated potato with sliced red onion, eggs, tapioca flour and seasoning.
4. Heat the ghee in a large skillet pan until hot then lower the temperature.
5. Form the potato mixture into little balls in the palm of your hand and drop into the skillet. Flatten each Hash Brown with a spatula.
6. Cook for 4-5 minutes each side until crisp and golden.
7. You can fit about four Hash Browns at a time in the pan so you’ll need to cook in batches.

Tips for making Gluten-Free Hash Browns

Remove excess moisture. For really crisp Hash Browns that don’t go mushy you must remove the excess water content from the potato. Once grated roll up the potato shreds in a muslin or clean tea towel to squeeze out the moisture. It might stain the fabric so use something you don’t mind getting grubby. You could use a potato ricer but I find this an extremely cumbersome affair with shards of shredded potato everywhere. Finally pat the grated potato with a paper towel before adding the other ingredients.

Pre-heat the pan. If the pan and fat are hot then the Hash Browns won’t stick.

Size. Don’t be tempted too cook them too large or too thick or they won’t cook evenly. Small balls of the mixture should be dropped into the hot fat then immediately pressed with the spatula to get them thin and circular.

Heat. Keep the heat on low-medium. Too high and the outsides will burn before the insides are cooked properly.

Don’t crowd the pan. The Hash Browns won’t cook evenly if there are too many patties squeezed into a pan. Four at a time is plenty.

Move them. Move your Hash Browns once or twice around the pan during cooking. This avoids any hotspots and patties which are more overbrowned than others.

Fry in batches. Wipe the pan with a piece of kitchen towel to clean up any potato debris in between batches. Then add 1 tablespoon ghee before you start the next batch.

Ghee. Make sure the fat is hot before beginning each batch otherwise it will be absorbed by the Hash Browns making them greasy.

Keep warm. To ensure the Hash Browns are lovely and hot when you serve them you might like to keep them in a warmed oven, set on the lowest setting, whilst you are finishing making the rest.

Recommended Equipment

To achieve the perfect potato shred the grating attachment in your Food Processor is easy and produces uniform potato. However, alternatives are a julienne peeler which is a little more labour intensive or a manual grater.

The best way to cook these Hash Browns is by using a cast iron skillet which heats very evenly so you don’t achieve any hot spots plus it’s easy to clean.

Hash Brown Recipe Variations to try

You can swap the white potato for the following choices or a mixture of them:

Sweet potato
Butternut squash
Carrot
Pumpkin
Beetroot
Parsnip
Swede

Can you make Hash Browns in advance?

Yes, you can make the Hash Browns a day or two in advance. Store in the fridge and re-heat in a greased skillet for a minute or two each side. 

Can you freeze Hash Browns?

Yes, wait until the Hash Browns have completely cooled then place in the freezer in layers in an airtight container. Place baking parchment between the layers to stop them sticking together. Defrost completely before re-heating them on the stove top. Melt the ghee in a skillet then cook for 4-5 minutes each side until piping hot.

What to serve with Hash Browns

• Bacon and eggs!
• Chicken Thyme Fennel Sausages
• Gluten-Free Chicken Schnitzel
• Steak with Dairy-Free Peppercorn Sauce

More Breakfast/Brunch recipes you’ll love!

• Sweet Potato and Bacon Rosti
• Bubble and Squeak
• Cheesy Oat Bacon Breakfast Muffins
• Maple Galettes with Ham and Gruyere

I urge you to give these Gluten-Free Hash Browns a try. If you do then please leave a comment below and give the recipe a rating which helps others find the recipe on Google. If you then go on to use this recipe as a launch pad for your own culinary creation then I’d also love it if you’d share it and tag me on Instagram. It is so lovely for me to see your versions and variations of my recipes.

Gluten-Free Hash Browns

Georgina Hartley

Naturally Gluten-Free Hash Browns are the ultimate way to serve potatoes at breakfast or brunch. This recipe will ensure you can achieve a perfectly crisp crust with gentle fluffy insides every time.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 4 people

Calories 161 kcal

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 500 g potatoes
• ▢ ½ red onion - sliced paper thin
• ▢ 2 eggs - medium*
• ▢ 30 g tapioca flour
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 3 tablespoons ghee

Instructions

 

• Peel and grate the potatoes. A food processor with the grating attachment is the easiest way to do this but you can grate manually if you prefer.
• Place the shredded potato on a clean muslin or tea towel which you can then roll up to wring out the excess moisture. Blot the wrung potato shreds with kitchen paper for good measure.
• Place the shredded potato in a large mixing bowl with the red onion and mix together which a fork so the shards of onion are evenly dispersed.
• Whisk in the eggs, tapioca flour and salt and pepper.
• Heat the ghee in a large skillet pan for a minute or so over medium-high until melted and shimmering.
• Turn the heat down to low-medium then scoop up a small ball of potato mixture, roll between the palms of your hands and drop into the skillet, towards the edge so you can fit in another 3 hash browns.
• Press each potato ball down firmly straightaway with a spatula so that they flatten out to form circular patties.
• Cook the Hash Browns for 5 minutes on the first side until golden and then cook for 4-5 minutes on the other side until golden.
• Remove the Hash Browns from the pan onto a baking tray and rest them in the oven on the lowest setting to keep warm whilst you prepare the rest of the Hash Browns.
• Wipe the skillet with kitchen towel to remove any potato debris then add another tablespoon of ghee to the pan to heat up. Once heated cook 4 more Hash Browns in the same way as before. Repeat until you have used up all your potato mixture.
• Serve the Hash Browns hot as soon as they are all ready.

Video

Notes

Ingredient Substitutions

• Ghee. You can substitute for half butter/ half olive oil.
• Eggs. The eggs used in this recipe are medium size, 60g with shell and 50g without shell. If you can't get hold of medium eggs I suggest you weigh the amount.
• Potato. You can substitute for sweet potato, squash, swede, beetroot, carrot.
• Red onion. You can substitute for white onion.
• Tapioca flour. You can substitute for cornflour or potato starch.

Cooking Tips

• Pre-heat the pan. If the pan and fat are hot then the Hash Browns won’t stick.
• Size. Don’t be tempted too cook them too large or too thick or they won’t cook evenly.
• Heat. Keep the heat on low-medium.
• Don’t crowd the pan. The Hash Browns won’t cook evenly if there are too many patties squeezed into a pan.
• Fry in batches. Wipe the pan with a piece of kitchen towel to clean up any potato debris in between batches. Then add 1 tablespoon ghee before you start the next batch.
• Ghee. Make sure the fat is hot before beginning each batch.
• Keep warm. To ensure the Hash Browns are lovely and hot when you serve them you might like to keep them in a warmed oven, set on the lowest setting, whilst you are finishing making the rest.

Make Ahead

You can make the Hash Browns a day or two in advance. Store in the fridge and re-heat them on the stove top. Melt the ghee in a skillet then cook for 2-3 minutes each side until piping hot.

Freeze

Wait until the Hash Browns have completely cooled then place in the freezer in layers in an airtight container. Place baking parchment between the layers to stop them sticking together. Defrost completely before re-heating them on the stove top. Melt the ghee in a skillet then cook for 2-3 minutes each side until piping hot.

US customary measurements

These US measurements for the ingredients provided are based on a conversion calculator. This recipe was tested with metric measurements and I recommend using a digital scale to weigh ingredients for the most accurate results. READ MORE >>> Why you should always weigh vs measuring with cups 

Nutrition information

Please note that the nutrition information provided below is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients you use. Please seek a professional nutritionist’s advice for further clarification.

The nutrition serving is for 1 hash brown.

Nutrition

Calories: 161kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 3gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 111mgSodium: 177mgPotassium: 50mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 119IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 15mgIron: 1mg

Have you tried this recipe?Head to the comment section and let me know what you think!