Bacon Fat Hash Browns Recipe

Of all the oils you could cook with — from olive oil to butter — there's something particularly decadent about cooking with bacon fat. While olive oil and vegetable oil are good for cooking, a great way to infuse flavor into the food you are cooking is with some good, old-fashioned bacon grease. This recipe is filled with wonderful and filling ingredients, including diced russet potatoes, green and red bell peppers, onions, and a layer of crispy bacon on top. If that doesn't sound like a good meal to start your day with, we don't know what does.

Recipe developer Michelle McGlinn came up with this rich and easy recipe that will change the way you cook your hash browns. "I love that this is easy enough for a weekday morning (albeit, a slower one) and saves well, so you could also prepare it on a Sunday and keep it through the week. It's easily customizable, so you could add different proteins, veggies, or even swap potatoes," McGlinn says.

While McGlinn usually serves this for breakfast, she has a few other recommendations. "I think it would go well in place of roasted or mashed potatoes in many dinners, especially involving the grill, like burgers or steaks," she shares. With potatoes this tasty, there's no limit to how or when you can serve them.

The first thing you will need to do is make a grocery list and head to the store. For this recipe, you will only need a handful of items, including bacon strips, russet potatoes, salt, black pepper, paprika, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, Vidalia onion, and garlic cloves. McGlinn says you can use gold potatoes instead of russets, or you could even sub in sweet potatoes. "If swapping with sweet potatoes, I recommend swapping the onions for red onions and the bacon with chorizo — so delicious," McGlinn says.

Grab a deep skillet from your stash and place it on your burner. Turn the heat to medium, and then add the chopped bacon to the skillet. Continue cooking for about 8 to 10 minutes, ensuring the bacon gets nice and crispy.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon bits from the skillet, and be sure you don't remove too much of the bacon grease. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease in the skillet for cooking. 

"The potatoes are cooked in the bacon fat. Technically, if you were serving bacon for breakfast, for example, you could cook the bacon, remove, and eat separately instead of sprinkling into the hash," McGlinn shares. "The idea is that you're creating the flavorful base fat with the bacon instead of oil or butter, so the potatoes have a great depth and deep saltiness. You could even use seasoned bacon for added flavor." 

Now's the time to add your diced potatoes to the mix. Stir the potatoes in the bacon grease to coat and then cover the skillet with a lid. Continue cooking for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the potatoes turn a beautiful golden brown color.

Once you see the potato tops browning, remove the cover and continue cooking the potatoes until they get nice and soft — this should take about 5 minutes. Be sure to frequently stir the potatoes to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the skillet. "If you are working with less bacon fat than 2-3 tablespoons and potatoes begin to dry out and scorch on the skillet, add a drizzle of neutral oil," McGlinn shares. "As potatoes soften, they will stick to the skillet; constantly stir to avoid breaking or smashing soft potatoes."

Quickly test the potatoes to make sure a knife can go through easily. If it can, you're ready for the next step. Just add some salt, pepper, and paprika for flavor. Then, toss in the bell peppers and stir everything to combine. Allow the peppers to soften up a bit, and toss in the onions once they do. 

Continue cooking everything together until the onions turn translucent. Then, you can add your garlic.

Once you add the garlic to the mix, cook everything together for about 30 more seconds, until fragrant. Then, go ahead and remove the skillet from heat. Top the potatoes with the crispy bacon pieces, and now it's ready to be served!

This dish is excellent on its own (because who doesn't love bacon and potatoes?), but McGlinn also provides a few additional serving suggestions. "Definitely eggs! I love a runny yolk to loosen up the hash a bit, but scrambled works just as well. Toast, omelets, country fried steak are my other hash-paired favorites," McGlinn says. "Also, I recommend topping with hot sauce, ketchup, or even barbecue sauce — feels like hash browns aren't complete without a good sauce!"