Breakfast Potatoes

I love breakfast and I love potatoes. I've been hacking on this recipe for a long time, and I think it's at a point where it's useful enough to share to the world.

Think of this a little more as a useful collection of notes rather than a rigorous guide to them. I don't ever measure anything for this. This recipe especially is as easy as it gets when it comes to experimentation.

Ingredients

• 2-6 potatoes. (See note on varieties)
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Ground pepper
• Olive oil
• Salt (larger-grained works better, e.g. Kosher or sea salt)
• Garlic cloves (optional, see note)
• Onion powder (optional)
• Cayenne (optional, see note)

Notes on ingredients

Potatoes: I have made great potatoes with Yukon Gold, red potatoes, and fingerlings. I have not tried it with Russet potatoes or the larger, thicker-skinned variety. I imagine it would work fine, but I think one with a thinner skin would work better.

Spices: As a rule, use what you've got. Garlic powder and salt are the most important, followed by black pepper.

Paprika: You don't have to use paprika, but I would find some sort of red pepper-adjacent spice to replace it if you can, and I think of that category paprika works the best. Be careful if you use cayenne – it's not hard to end up with potatoes that are just spicy but not super flavorful.

Garlic Cloves: You can do this with fresh garlic, although I usually don't bother. If you do, J. Kenji López-Alt has a technique where you boil the garlic with the potatoes.

Materials

• Spatula
• Cast-iron pan. You can do this with a baking sheet just fine, but if you have a cast iron, it works nicer and you can sometimes reuse the spice mix left in it for scrambled eggs.
• Small saucepan

Steps & Process

1. Fill a saucepan with water, salt the water, and bring it to a boil.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, wash and dice the potatoes. I usually aim for around 1" cubes, but up to preference.
   1. I also do not peel the potatoes unless I need to remove any weird or green spots – the skins end up textured really well.
3. When the water is at a boil, dump the potatoes in (and garlic cloves, if using).
4. Cook until you can stick a fork through the potato easily, usually around 3-5 minutes.
5. Drain the potatoes in a colander, and put them in a bowl
6. Important: Let the potatoes sit in the bowl. Do this for 10-20 minutes, but longer is better than shorter, and you can do this overnight if you wish.
7. As they cool, the starches that have broken down will form a crust on the outside of the potato that will caramelize in the oven into a really nice texture.
8. While you are waiting, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
9. Once they have sat, sprinkle the potatoes with a olive oil, paprika, pepper, garlic powder, any other spices you'd like to use, and a liberal amount of salt.
10. Bake until golden-brown, to preference (usually around 30 minutes of bake time). Stir once in the middle of baking.
11. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and serve.

Enjoy!