My partner is an avid hobby fisher and loves the outdoors. Because of his interest in outdoors, and my interest in cooking, we often watch outdoor cooking videos. One of our favourite channels, Firebox Stove, often serves up fish on dehydrated hash browns shreds and my partner always talks about how good it looks.
This week I was home sick and he was headed out on a camping trip on the weekend, so I decided to make use of all the potatoes we have to put out a dehydrated hash browns recipe.
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What Do You Need to Make Dehydrated Hash Browns?
Honestly? Just potatoes. I really do recommend having citric acid to give a more stabilized product that is less likely to brown but isn't 100% mandatory. Obviously, having a dehydrator helps, but you can do this in your oven if it'll heat as low as 125F/52C.
Other than that, if you want to make potato shreds and not potato "chips", I recommend a food processor. You can use a cheese grater, but since discovering the shred function on my food processor, I never ever use my cheese grater unless I have to.
For recommended appliances, I am 100% an Excalibur person. My dehydrator is a 5 tray Excalibur dehydrator that I got at Costco on sale. You can find it here (US) (Canada). I can't find the 5 tray one anywhere and suspect it was so cheap because it was being discontinued. I kind of wish I had the larger storage one, anyway, so I've linked the 9 tray in the same model I use. I had previously had one I purchased on Amazon from Hamilton Beach and it was made really cheaply and we ended up returning it after a single use.
For a food processor, I did cheap out and it's been going strong for the last 2 years without any problems. I bought a relatively cheap (around $100) food processor from Hamilton Beach (US) (Canada). It's actually only $49 USD so if you're in the states I'd snatch that up immediately. I use the shred blades at least twice a week.
Dehydrated Hash Browns Recipe: Steps
First and foremost, you need to cut or shred your potatoes into their desired size/shape. Personally, I liked shreds because they can overlap a bit and give you more bang for your buck in terms of space. It also cooks and dehydrates faster. If you decided on slices, however, you can make a really good scalloped potato dish with them.
Secondly, and immediately after shredding, you need to place the potatoes into a water bath to prevent oxidation. Potatoes will turn brown/black almost immediately after the flesh is exposed to oxygen. After shredding, I rinse all the potatoes and then place them in a large bowl with a few sprinkles of citric acid.
The first time I made these potatoes, I made the mistake of putting in WAY too much citric acid. They dehydrated fine, but the flavour was concentrated and made the potatoes taste like pennies. Not a great try. So don't make that mistake. I'd say scale the citric acid to about ¼ teaspoon per 10 medium potatoes and 10 cups of soaking water.
Next, you're going to blanch the potatoes until they're semi-translucent and fork tender. This should be about 4-6 minutes with water at a rolling boil. Once the potatoes are fork tender, place them in a fine mesh sieve and run under cold water until you can handle them comfortably. Drain as much water as possible over a bowl, and bring them to the dehydrator.
For the actual dehydration process, you're going to want to place them evenly spread over the trays. It's okay for shredded potatoes to overlap a bit, but any other shape they shouldn't have any overlap.
Set your dehydrator to 125 degrees Fahrenheit and set a timer for 6 hours. The hash browns may take as long as 8-10 hours depending on your individual climate and how dry they were before you put them in. You want them to be crisp and translucent and have no sign of dampness.
I stored all my hash browns in mason jars and I used 12 medium-small potatoes (unpeeled) and it yielded 4 250ml mason jars full of dehydrated hash browns.
How to Cook with Dehydrated Hash Browns
In order to rehydrate dehydrated hash browns, you need to soak them in water for about 15 minutes. After they're rehydrated, you just need to cook them like you would any other fresh shredded potato. I love them in some kind of fat (bacon grease is my favourite, but a combination of butter and canola oil works, too).
Season them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. Serve them with your favourite breakfast foods or bring them camping to serve with fish or any other protein you bring out on the road with you.
Want Hash Browns at Home?
Try out my highly rated Diner Style Hashbrowns!
Dehydrated Hash Browns
Equipment
- Dehydrator
- Food Processor (optional)
Ingredients
- 10 potatoes medium
- ¼ teaspoon citric acid
Instructions
- Take your potatoes and scrub them well. Remove any dark spots and shred them, either manually, or with a shred blade of a food processor.
- Immediately after shredding, place them in a large bowl filled with cold water and the citric acid. Allow them to soak while you bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Once the water is boiled, transfer the potatoes to the boiling water with a slotted spoon. Allow them to cook for 4-6 minutes, until they are translucent and fork tender.
- Once cooked to the desired doneness, dump the contents of the pot into a fine mesh sieve and run cold water over the hash browns until they are cold enough to be handelled.
- Place the fine mesh sieve over a bowl and squeeze out any excess water. Allow them to dry as much as possible.
- Once they aren't soaking wet, transfer the potatoes to a dehydrator. You will need about 7 sq ft of dehydrator space - my 5 tray Excalibur fit them perfectly.
- Set the dehydrator to 125 degrees F (52 degrees C) and set a timer for 6 hours. Check them, and see if they are completely dry. They may need up to 8 or 10 hours, depending on your climate and how much water you removed in the drying process.
- Place the finished hash browns into a food storage container of your choice. I used mason jars. This recipe yielded 40oz of dehydrated potatoes - about 4 250ml mason jars full. This is about 66 servings compared to the 0.589 oz serving size of pre packaged goods, but realistically I'd say it's closer to about 20 servings.
Rehydrating
- In order to rehydrate, allow the potatoes to sit in water for about 15 minutes. Drain the water and cook them as you would in any dish requiring fresh shredded potatoes.
Nutrition
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Bjha
Great article! My kids love hash browns
Maritime Glutton
They’re my favourite, too!
Lilian
I need to try this out! Thanks for sharing
Maritime Glutton
Thanks Lilian! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Cindy
This is interesting! Will need to try it on our next camping trip.