The Best Hash Brown Recipe, According To Our Food Editor

I’m particular when it comes to potatoes, especially hash browns. Too often they’re limp and greasy—often a sad afterthought on a Southern breakfast plate, drowned in ketchup.

On the day this recipe was developed in the Southern Living Test Kitchen, I knew we had something special on our hands. As the Senior Food Editor, I taste every dish that goes into the magazine, and while all of them are good, some of them are absolute superstars—like these Waffle Iron Hash Browns.

A New Cooking Method

For the April issue and the first official month of spring, we knew we wanted something a little different for one of our breakfast columns. When Recipe Developer Julia Levy and I were brainstorming a fun twist on hash browns, we decided to skip the skillet and try them in the waffle iron. We were both a little hesitant. Would it actually work? Would it just be a hot mess? We knew it was worth a shot.

The Secret To The Best-Ever Hash Browns

After one bite, we knew we had a winner. These hash browns were incredibly crispy...and not just the edges—every single bite!

Julia snuck some matchstick carrots into the potato mixture, then blew my socks off with a punchy, springy topping of feta, mint, dill, and chives. Mint and hash browns? You bet your biscuits! Combined with a fried egg, it was absolute breakfast heaven.

The morning of the tasting happened to be scheduled right around the time of our weekly staff meeting. I dashed away from the Test Kitchen, and when I slipped into the conference room, our Editor-in-Chief Sid Evans said, “You smell like hash browns, Josh.” I laughed.

“Not just hash browns, Sid,” I replied. “The best hash browns EVER.”