Easy Skillet Breakfast Potatoes

Homemade diner-style skillet breakfast potatoes are perfect to whip up for breakfast. You can prep these from the night before, so they take less time to serve up in the morning. These taste just like home fries from your favorite breakfast place!

Take it from someone who’s always had a love-hate relationship with potatoes; these are the BEST breakfast potatoes of LIFE. Golden brown on the outside and deliciously tender on the inside.

I’m so excited to be bringing you one of my family’s favorite breakfast items. They’re easy to whip up, can be prepped ahead of time, so they take less time in the morning, and are perfect with a side of eggs or wrapped inside breakfast burritos. And it sure beats the basic breakfast staple of potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper. Serve them up with pancakes, crispy turkey bacon, sausage, and lots of ketchup to dip them in!

The list of ingredients on this recipe isn’t big and once you cook them up in a skillet, these breakfast potatoes developed the most delicious outer crust that’s delicately crispy and dusted with things like garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika and a hint of cayenne.

Take a closer look at ’em with me.

Skillet Breakfast Potatoes Video:

See all those little brown bits, that’s all butter mingling with spices and crisping up the outside of your breakfast potatoes.

I wanted to share these skillet potatoes with ASAP, but no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get that same taste and texture that they do when you order them at your favorite breakfast joint. I tried parboiling the potatoes first, then roasting them in the oven. Don’t get me wrong, they were decent, but they were missing that golden outer layer that gives skillet potatoes their umph. Not to mention, I couldn’t call them skillet potatoes if they weren’t prepared in a *hint hint* skillet.

So then I tried dicing the potatoes and coating them in a little cornstarch, you know, cornstarch on tofu worked out pretty well, plus it dries up all that excess moisture. GENIUS, right? Wrong. They were meh. You know how diner-style breakfast potatoes are always that ideal balance of crisp, well-seasoned, and tender? These certainly were not.

Back to the drawing board!

The winning combination? Steam the potatoes, dice them, and cooking them up in a skillet.

Ingredients for homemade breakfast potatoes:

• Potatoes: I like to use russet potatoes for this recipe as they have the best texture for skillet potatoes. You can use other potatoes as well, such as red potatoes, if that’s what you prefer.
• Butter + Oil: You’ll want a couple tablespoon of butter and olive oil to help fry the potatoes.
• Seasonings: I use a pinch of cayenne pepper for heat, a ½ teaspoon garlic powder, onion powder, and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. The smokiness help give these potatoes the most amazing flavor! You’ll also need kosher salt and black pepper.
• Fresh herbs: these are optional, I like to have a stem of rosemary, a few sprigs of fresh thyme, and a smashed clove of garlic if time permits. This helps infuse the flavors into the oil before you fry up the potatoes.

How to steam potatoes when you’re making breakfast potatoes:

Peel potatoes and quarter them first. Then use a steamer basket! You know that weird-looking metal basket with a bunch of holes in it? The one that sits way in the back of all of our pots and pans cabinet. Just fill a pot with a couple of inches of water, bring it to a rolling boil, toss peeled and quartered potatoes on top and let steam for 6-10 minutes. The potatoes are done when the knife goes through them with just a little resistance. I have to be honest, before this recipe, I had never steamed potatoes. And for those of us that refuse to get out a pot and a steamer basket just to steam potatoes: this can also be done in the microwave. Just a few minutes on high.

How to prep easy breakfast potatoes ahead of time:

Let the potatoes cool after steaming them; at least one hour at room temperature. That’s the part that makes this the BEST breakfast potatoes recipe ever. Because this allows you to do some of that prep work ahead of time. I usually do this part the day before. Steam the potatoes, let them come to room temperature, dice them, and place potatoes in the fridge overnight.

Then, it takes 10 or 15 minutes tops to get these on the table. How perfect is this side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas breakfast and also for every brunch you ever plan on hosting.

How to make the best crispy breakfast potatoes:

1. Infuse the oil. Heating the oil and butter up with a smashed clove of garlic, a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary. That one minute of time when the oil heats up and the herbs start sizzling and frying is just enough to flavor these breakfast potatoes. I don’t do this all the time. But whenever I’ve got fresh herbs around the house for other meals, I sneak a few sprigs into my skillet to really make these breakfast potatoes a little more special.
2. Ensure there’s plenty of space. Make sure to use at least a 12-inch skillet if you’re making the full recipe for these potatoes. You want them to sauté in a single layer so they have enough room to move around and crisp up.

Lazy Autumn Saturday morning breakfast wouldn’t be complete without a stack of homemade pumpkin waffles and these hearty skillet potatoes. And it sure beats the hockey puck hash browns from the grocery store! If you’ve got leftovers, you can pop them into an airtight container and and store them in the refrigerator. Reheat them in a skillet, air fry them, or heat them in a toaster oven for a few minutes.

Eat until your fall heart’s content.

if you like this recipe, you might also like:

• Garlicky Extra Crispy Roasted Potatoes
• 20-minute garlic herb instant pot mashed potatoes