Two breakfast classics come together to create a unique dish chock-full of crispy deliciousness!
When it comes to breakfast fare, hash browns and donuts are classics, which is why this recipe for Hash Brown Donuts is so fun! It combines two popular breakfast staples into one unique dish! In addition to being super creative, Hash Brown Donuts have some other great qualities. They’re baked in the oven (versus fried in a pan), so there’s no splattering of grease to deal with, and no being tethered to the stovetop. And, they’re easier to eat than regular hash browns because you can pick them up with your hands. This makes them a great party appetizer too. Hash Brown Donuts are super crispy and delicious even though they’re made with much less oil than typical hash browns. A standard hash browns recipe using 1 pound of potatoes will usually call for ¼ cup or more of butter or oil. This recipe for Hash Brown Donuts uses only 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a little bit extra to spray the pan.
You’ll need to finely shred the potatoes for Hash Brown Donuts. (You can leave the skins on if you want – I chose to peel them.) A food processor makes quick work of the shredding. I own and love the Breville BFP800XL Sous Chef Food Processor, but a box grater and a little elbow grease will do the trick too. Just use the side of the grater with the finest shred. After you shred the potatoes, rinse them under cold running water to remove the excess starch that can sometimes make the texture of cooked potatoes gummy.
To ensure that Hash Brown Donuts are as crispy as possible, remove as much liquid as you can from the shredded potatoes. There are a few methods for doing this and they all work well, however, I’ve found that using a potato ricer will extract the maximum amount of liquid from the potatoes. You can also wrap the potatoes in a clean dish cloth, or put them in a nut milk bag, and then twist/squeeze it until you can no longer wring out any additional liquid. Here’s a great little video that’s demonstrates each of the 3 methods described. Zucchini is being used in this video but the method is exactly the same for shredded potatoes.
Garnish Hash Brown Donuts with fresh chopped parsley or chives, and serve with Roasted Garlic Ketchup and/or sour cream. Another great serving suggestion is to crack an egg into a ramekin and place a Hash Brown Donut on top, so that the yoke is poking up through the donut hole. Then, microwave on high for 30 seconds or until the egg is cooked to your liking. I developed the recipe for Hash Brown Donuts using a single non-stick donut pan with 6 cavities, but I have since ordered more donut pans so that I can make bigger batches of Hash Brown Donuts. They’re that good!
- Olive oil cooking spray
- 1 ounce of cooked bacon (about 3 slices), chopped
- 1 large russet potato weighing about 1 pound (see notes #1)
- 2½ tablespoons finely shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- Fresh chopped parsley or chives (optional garnish)
- Sour cream
- Ketchup
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and liberally spray a standard 6 cavity, non-stick donut pan with olive oil cooking spray.
- Sprinkle a little bit of chopped bacon into each donut cavity. Set aside.
- Peel and finely shred (or grate) the potato and rinse it under cold running water in a fine mesh strainer until the water runs clear.
- Squeeze as much liquid out of the potatoes as you can (see notes #2).
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the rest of the bacon, along with the remaining ingredients. Stir/toss everything together thoroughly with a fork. Fill each donut cavity right up to the top edge of the pan, pressing the mixture down with the back of a spoon to compact it.
- Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 20 minutes.
- To remove from the pan, gently loosen around the edges with a plastic knife or spatula.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley or chives and serve with ketchup and/or sour cream.
2. To remove liquid from the shredded potato, use a potato ricer (works great), or wrap the potatoes in a clean dish cloth or a nut milk bag and twist/squeeze it to extract as much liquid as possible.
3. Nutrition facts (listed below) do not include ketchup or sour cream.
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Pretty sure I’m going to be obsessed with these! How clever and absolutely scrumptious!
This is very creative!