Name: Toaster-Oven Sheet-Pan Hash Browns
Total time: 1 h
Ingredients: 1½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes , unpeeled, shredded; 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; ½ teaspoon table salt

Why This Recipe Works

For a mostly hands-off approach to this essential breakfast side, we turned to the toaster oven, giving us plenty of time and space to focus on the rest of the morning’s feast. We found that shredded starchy potatoes made for tough, chewy hash browns, so to keep them crispy and tender, we used Yukon Gold potatoes for their lower starch content and quickly soaked the raw shreds in water to remove excess surface starch. Wringing out the potatoes in a dish towel helped eliminate moisture that would inhibit good browning. A 450-degree oven was hot enough to crisp the top and bottom of the hash browns, but not so hot that the top and bottom browned before the middle cooked through. To avoid a messy flipping procedure, we flipped the hash browns in even sections with a spatula and returned the sheet to the oven for a crispy final result. These hash browns are great topped with sliced American cheese, chopped ham, and sautéed onions and peppers.

Before You Begin

We prefer to use the shredding disk of a food processor to shred the potatoes; if using the large holes of a box grater, begin checking potatoes 5 minutes earlier than stated in recipe. The air-fry or convection setting helps to achieve deeper, more even browning on the potatoes; if your toaster does not have these functions, use the standard bake function.

Instructions

Adjust toaster oven rack to lowest position, select air-fry or convection function, and heat oven to 450 degrees. Place potatoes in large bowl and cover with cold water. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Lift potatoes out of water, one handful at a time, and transfer to colander; discard water. Rinse and dry bowl. Place half of shredded potatoes in center of clean dish towel. Gather ends of towel and twist tightly to wring out excess moisture from potatoes. Transfer dried potatoes to now-empty bowl. Repeat with remaining potatoes.

Add oil, salt, and pepper to potatoes and toss to combine. Distribute potatoes in even layer on small rimmed baking sheet, but do not pack down. Cook until top of potatoes is spotty brown, 30 to 40 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking.

Remove sheet from oven. Using spatula, flip hash browns in sections. Return sheet to oven and continue to cook until spotty brown and dry, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.