What Is The Difference Between Potato Rosti And Hash Browns?

If you're an American and just started to discover the greatness of hash brown relative potato rosti, congratulations. There is probably no single item of food other than eggs that's as versatile and transformable as the potato, and the rest of the world has recognized this just as much as we have. Mash them, roast them, dice them, or make them into a salad, because potatoes can work with almost any meal and any ingredient you can throw at them, and almost every one of these dishes is going to be loved by everyone at the dinner table. And the fried potato dish rosti is just one of the many variations of crispy pan-fried potatoes out there that has developed from this love, and one that deserves a wider adoption in the States.

However, a potato rosti is going to seem suspiciously like a hash brown at first sight. They certainly share a history, and are both made from shredded potatoes, but actually eat them and you'll see how different even the most similar seeming potato dishes can be, even with slight changes to preparation and presentation. And these aren't superficial differences. Where hash browns ideally lean toward crispy all around, rosti is tender and soft, with a thin crispy shell holding in a rich and luscious potato center. In the end, the biggest thing rosti and hash browns have in common beyond the core ingredient is that they are universally loved in their home countries.

Potato rosti is a Swiss style of pan-fried potatoes. It is a Swiss-German dish, but its popularity has made it one of the national foods of the former country, and it is served all over as both a side and main course. On its surface, rosti is very much like a hash brown, but it has two critical differences: how the potatoes are cooked and how it is shaped. The big thing that sets traditional rosti apart is that it is made from potatoes that have been pre-cooked by boiling instead of from raw grated potato. This is done by boiling the potatoes whole and then letting them cool before grating. This step is key to rosti's signature taste, giving it a much softer and more tender texture than relatives like latkes and hash browns.

Rosti is made from just that cooked grated potato, which is seasoned and formed into cakes and then fried in fat. This also means it is different from latkes — another common mistake — as adding fillings like grated onion is optional. Clarified butter is a popular choice for cooking fat, but recipes will vary by family and taste.

Finally, rosti is shaped into a larger and thicker pancake-like form. This helps maintain the tender interior and also affects how the dish is served. Instead of being eaten whole, rosti is often cut into wedges or slices. And rosti isn't just a breakfast dish, as it's common as a side during all Swiss meals.

Hash browns are an American variation on the shredded fried potato, which can come in different forms, but share the distinction of being thinner patties of uncooked potatoes fried in fat. Hash browns have an unclear origin, but they started showing up on American menus as far back as the 1890s; early versions called browned hashed potatoes appeared in a Minnesota cookbook for farmers from 1835. That version actually sounds closer to the Swiss rosti, as it calls for chopping potatoes that have already been boiled and then frying them in clarified butter until browned.

Other recipes from the time and into the early 20th century continue to call for cooked potatoes, but at some point, the process was simplified, because most hash browns these days are simply shredded into a thin, flat layer and fried. There are other ways of preparing the potatoes, including cubing, and hash browns can also be formed into slightly thicker patties, but they are all distinct from rosti in being less thick and cooked raw. 

The cooking fat for hash browns is usually oil and not butter. However, they do still share one distinction with rosti, which is that they shouldn't have any added binders like eggs or flour, as that would make them potato pancakes instead. And while rosti is a common food at different meals, hash browns are almost exclusively eaten at breakfast in the U.S., although that's one tradition you're welcome to break.