You Should Skip The Butter For Your Breakfast Potatoes. Here's Why

Potatoes are the ultimate addition to any breakfast, whether it's hashbrowns, home fries, or somewhere in between — but not if they're mushy or soggy. So how do you make sure your breakfast potatoes have the perfect amount of crunch? You should start by skipping the butter (shocking, we know!) and use oil instead.

That's because butter isn't ideal for high-heat cooking, which is what you'll be working with if you want crispy breakfast potatoes. Butter has a lower smoke point compared to most oils, so it's only good for recipes that use low or moderate heat to not burn too quickly. As for the case for breakfast potatoes, it will melt quickly and release the dairy into your pan, which will lead to a mushy or soggy texture before they're finished cooking. Remember, potatoes are already about 80% water.

Butter does caramelize foods, so if you can't resist using a bit of the spread, you can add some toward the end of cooking your breakfast potatoes to amp up the flavor and get them golden brown on the outside. But, you probably won't even want butter after these other alternatives.

What fat should you use to cook your crispy breakfast potatoes? One option is to use bacon fat, which you probably have on hand if you're in the middle of cooking breakfast. Bacon fat will give your potatoes plenty of crunch and add layers of savory, meaty flavor, such as bacon fat hash browns for a more decadent breakfast offering.

It's easy to render bacon fat, especially if you're using a cast iron pan or baking sheet. Once the clear fats seep out of the bacon during cooking, you can carefully transfer it to the pan. If you don't have enough bacon fat to crisp up your potatoes, you can use what you have and mix it with vegetable oil. And if you have too much bacon fat left for what you need, you can store it in your fridge in a glass jar for your next potato recipe.

You can also use your preferred cooking oil, including avocado, canola, peanut, olive, or vegetable oils. All of these oils have high smoke points, so you'll get those breakfast potatoes to crunchy perfection without smoking up your kitchen.