For Crispier Hash Browns, Use This Small Kitchen Appliance

Is there anything better than crispy hash browns in the morning? I personally struggle to find a better breakfast food. That's why I was delighted when I found out that one simple, relatively cheap appliance is the perfect vessel for this starchy delight: The waffle iron. If you've ever made hash browns from scratch, you know that getting the perfect level of crispy outside and silky, fluffy inside is a culinary juggling act. Using a waffle iron simplifies this process because it cooks both sides simultaneously. However, you still need to do a bit of prep work.

Always soak potatoes in water before any kind of frying – you have to get rid of the excess starch! Not doing so is one of the mistakes people make when cooking hash browns. Water is the enemy when frying, though, so make sure to squeeze them out, or use something like a salad spinner, to really get the moisture off after soaking your grated spuds. Heat up your waffle iron during your prep work so you can strike while the waffle iron is hot by the time you're done. If you want to skip all the prep work, this method of hash brown cooking is still perfect from frozen (which is acceptable and even encouraged).

Waffle irons aren't the only small appliance with a strong hash game. Some internet users are starting to speak the gospel of the air fryer. I was flummoxed at first since I'm personally a fan of my carbon steel pan for making hash browns, similar to our advice for making the world's crispiest hash browns. Still, I was intrigued to see how you can go from shredded potatoes to air fryer to hash browns. I am specifically talking about shredded potatoes here; you can find endless advice on cooking hash brown patties in the air fryer.

For shredded hash browns in the air fryer, you pretty much just need to lightly oil the basket, dump the shredded potatoes in, flip once, and you're done. It's probably best to use frozen and not fresh here, but whatever you have on hand should work. Just make sure your fresh, shredded potatoes have no moisture! Small kitchen appliances seem to dominate our culinary lives now — such as Instant Pots and air fryers — so it seems whichever one you have handy can (probably) make some decent hash browns.