Use up leftovers
What to Do With Leftover Baked Potatoes: Crispy Breakfast Hash
Turn cold baked potatoes into a crisp skillet hash with onions, flexible vegetables, and optional eggs in just 25 minutes.
- TIME
- 25 min
- SERVES
- 4
The best answer to what to do with leftover baked potatoes is a skillet hash: crisp at the edges, fluffy inside, and sturdy enough to carry vegetables, eggs, beans, or a small amount of cooked meat. Because the potatoes are already tender, they need only enough time to brown and heat through.
Leave the skins on unless they are damaged. They help the cubes hold their shape and add contrast to the soft centers.
Cold potatoes make better hash
Warm baked potatoes tend to break when cut and moved. Chilled potatoes firm up, so they can sit against the pan long enough to form a crust. Use a wide skillet, add enough fat to coat the surface, and resist constant stirring. Three undisturbed minutes on the first side does more for browning than ten minutes of tossing.
If your leftover potatoes are mashed instead, make crispy potato cakes; that softer mixture needs a binder rather than the hash method.
Turn it into breakfast or dinner
Eggs can steam directly in wells in the hash. For more ways to use a carton nearing its date, this flexible guide to what to make with eggs includes a fridge-clearing frittata. Beans make the hash filling without meat, while diced cooked sausage, chicken, or steak can be added near the end just long enough to reheat.
Peppers, mushrooms, corn, zucchini, and finely chopped broccoli stems all work. Stir tender spinach through during the last minute so it wilts without releasing too much water.
Baked potato safety
Remove foil after baking and refrigerate potatoes within two hours; foil-wrapped potatoes should not be left cooling at room temperature. Use refrigerated cooked leftovers within three to four days and heat the potatoes and any cooked meat to 165°F / 74°C. Discard potatoes left out for more than two hours, showing mold or an unusual odor, or with an uncertain storage history. The USDA leftovers guidance covers prompt cooling and reheating.
From fridge to table
How to make it
- 01
Remove any foil from the cold potatoes. Cut the potatoes, with their skins, into ¾ inch / 2cm cubes.
- 02
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and pepper and cook for 4–5 minutes until beginning to soften.
- 03
Add the remaining oil, potatoes, paprika, garlic, salt, and pepper. Spread into one layer and cook without moving for 3 minutes.
- 04
Turn the potatoes and continue cooking for 6–8 minutes, turning only occasionally, until crisp on several sides and hot throughout.
- 05
Add beans or cooked meat for the final 4 minutes and heat to 165°F / 74°C. For eggs, make 4 wells, crack in the eggs, cover, and cook until the whites and yolks reach your preferred doneness.
- 06
Taste for seasoning and finish with any herbs, cheese, or hot sauce.
