We love-love-LOVE breakfast here in the Casa del Muehli’s and generally go the sweet route with pancakes or French toast (especially now that we have a griddle again after our last one melted down.) But some mornings, we’re craving something with a little more heartiness behind it, so we scramble some eggs, grab some potatoes, onions and ham, and pour on the ketchup to make a more substantial meal.

Home fries are very easy to make, especially if you have leftover boiled potatoes. Since we almost never have any of those, I usually cook the potatoes for a few minutes in the microwave first and then we fry them up. If you can your own potatoes or buy them in a jar, you can also use those to make home fries without needing to pre-cook.

To prepare potatoes in the microwave, wrap them in plastic wrap, put them in a non-ziptop baggie or place them in a glass dish and cover. Poke holes in the potatoes, through the plastic, or if in a dish, provide a vent. You’re going to be more or less steaming the potatoes. Cook about 5 minutes for small potatoes, 10 minutes for two large potatoes and then test by squeezing potatoes WITH A TOWEL between your hand and the potato. They will be HOT! The potatoes should break apart or be squishy. If they still feel hard, cook for another 5 minutes but be careful not to overcook them as they will get very chewy and firm. (By the way, once you are done cooking potatoes in your microwave, take a rag and wipe away any dirt, grime or cooked in stuff easily from the inside of your microwave. All the steam loosens everything up and makes it a cinch to clean the inside.)

You can customize home fries to based on what you have in your fridge or whatever you’re craving. Before Mackenzie, we used to throw in some sliced jalapeños — but now we just use homemade jalapeño hot sauce to our own liking. If you don’t have a thick slab of bacon, you can use ham or corned beef hash…or any other sort of meat instead. You could cut up some fresh tomatoes or add some cheese or bell peppers…the possibilities are endless. Some people also scramble the eggs in there together and make what is often referred to as a Bauern Frühstuck (Farmer’s Breakfast) — but we prefer our eggs on the side.

No matter how you make your home fries, don’t forget the ketchup!

Print Recipe
Homemade Home Fries
Cuisine German
Servings
depending on portion size
Ingredients
Cuisine German
Servings
depending on portion size
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Fry bacon in a medium-sized skillet. Once it starts to brown after a couple minutes, add the onions and cook until they are clear. If not cooking with bacon, add the oil and/or fat and cook onions until clear, about 3-4 minutes.
  2. Add potato chunks, salt and pepper. Spread them out so that as many potatoes as possible get contact with the pan since you want to fry and brown them. After about 3-4 minutes, stir the potatoes and try to get the another side of them in contact with the pan. Repeat after another few minutes and add more oil or fat if need. When at least 3 sides are browned, remove from heat and serve.
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