For a supposed side dish, breakfast potatoes regularly steal the show. But not because they’re fancier than the omelet or the benedict—in fact, just the opposite.

“They’re so good because they’re so comforting, almost generic,” says Yoni Levy, chef at San Francisco’s beloved breakfast spot, Outerlands, where he serves 700 covers during weekend brunch.

Breakfast potatoes run the gamut: from golden diner-style shreds, to cubed potatoes cooked up with spices, peppers, and onions, to even made-in-a-lab McDonald’s patties that are uniformly salty and golden.

The idea of "hashing" things is an old one: you take day-old potatoes and cook them with day-old meat and seasonings to revive something into a new dish. Sometime in the 19th century, the tradition of putting potatoes into hash gave way to a new recipe: the hashed brown, potatoes molded into a cake as they browned. That update pushed the breakfast potato towards textural nirvana.

“You have the part that’s starchy, and a part that’s gooey,” says Christian Page, formerly the chef at L.A.'s Short Order and now helming the kitchen at Cassell’s, a cult burger joint where the traditional diner hash brown receives the nuanced touch from a highly skilled professional.  

Of course, he’s not the only one perfecting potatoes. Turns out there are as many methods for making standout versions as there are cooks looking to tinker with them. Luckily we’ve got three of them—Neil Kleinberg from New York’s Clinton Street Baking Company, Page, and Levi—with instructions on how to master the genre, whatever your preferences for the tuber may be.

First, know this: the type of potato you use matters. "It all starts with the potato," confirms Levi, who picks up 150 pounds of potatoes from a nearby farm every week. A starchy potato, like a Russet, crisps up beautifully in the fryer and develops a pillowy softness in the middle. Yukon Golds have less starch but more flavor. Waxy potatoes, like little red ones, hold their shape but take a little more effort to crisp. For the tastiest dish, find a local potato purveyor and pick out a starchy variety you like to cook with.  

Breakfast potatoes are supposed to be a little oily, says Page: "Like a fry, but greasier." So don’t use fat sparingly. Most of the chefs use either a neutral oil or clarified butter to cook their breakfast potatoes. At home, regular melted butter is fine, though you can purchase ghee or clarify your butter the night before. For a true diner experience, cook potatoes in bacon fat leftover from your strips. 

At your average diner, the shreds of potatoes can be mind-bogglingly good or sadly soggy—it’s often a crapshoot. Know a few tricks and the good kind can always be yours. Levi has a foolproof method he relies on when he’s craving them. The day before brunch, put Russet potatoes in a pot of cold water and bring it up to a boil. When the potatoes are tender but not soft, remove them and chill in the fridge overnight. Then grate the potatoes, season with salt and pepper (plus herbs if you’re feeling chef-y), and cook them until golden in oil, in a nonstick pan. Keep the heat at medium ("slow and low for longer is better," he says), and don’t move them around at all; that cools the pan and prevents a crust from forming. When the bottom is crispy, invert the pan over a plate to flip, then slide back into the pan and cook until the second side is crisp and the inside is almost creamy.

Kleinberg has a slightly different take. He bakes his Russets in a 350°F oven for 40 minutes until cooked, but firm. He cools them completely, then pushes them through a cooling rack to wind up with potato fluff instead of shreds. That’s what he fries up in a cake, achieving both crispiness and softness because of the twofold cooking method. "When you make a twice-cooked potato, you don’t have to worry about burning," he explains. "I’m very vigilant with the guys on the line, making sure that every dish gets a crispy part and a soft part. I’ll send stuff back if they don’t give me enough crispy on the hash brown."

At Outerlands, Levi roasts potatoes (often Yukon Golds or something similar from his favorite farmer) in oil and salt, or boils them in herby water. Then he cuts them into small pieces and drops them in the fryer when orders come in. He seasons with confit garlic oil, fennel pollen, and fresh dill (though this changes often) and serves them with a dollop of house-made mayo. You can borrow this idea for home, but avoid the deep fryer by tweaking the method: boil the potatoes until tender, then toss with oil and salt and cook in a preheated 450°F oven for about 30 minutes, flipping once, until very crispy.  

A McDonald’s lookalike sounds like the holy grail of home cooked hash browns—until you remember that the golden ovals are manufactured, not cooked. Good thing there’s a much simpler method that comes close, taste-wise, and it’s what Page deploys at Cassell’s. To make, you shred a raw Russet potato and combine the shreds with melted butter and salt. Form that mixture into small patties and cook in a lightly oiled nonstick pan over medium high heat until golden on both sides. Transfer to a rack set above a baking sheet. You can do this in advance. Then, when you’re ready to serve, cook these off at 450°F for about 10 minutes, until very crisp. "It’s an old school handmade homemade hash brown," he says—one part crunchy, one part almost creamy. 

If you have leftover potatoes, you can chop them up and fry them in some oil, then add paprika (smoked or sweet), minced onions, diced red or green pepper, and salt. That’s the most typical, age-old hash brown, and it stands the test of time.

If you don’t have any leftover potatoes though, Levi has an instant-gratification method. "You chop up potatoes and throw them into a pan with maybe some herbs, some cold water, and salt. Top off with a decent amount of oil," he says. The water should be about ¾ of the way up the potatoes. Simmer until the water evaporates, leaving the potatoes cooked (add more water if you can’t easily crush one with your hand) and ready to fry in the oil. That’s the point when you can add spices, onions, peppers, or other vegetables. "I got the idea from potstickers," he said.

You can also add cooked meat right to your hash—leftover corned beef is obvious, but look to ham, sausage, and pulled pork for variety. 

These hash brown masters have figured out ways to coax out the perfect texture from a sack of potatoes. But while all three profess to love the neutrality of the potato, they’re also not afraid to spice up the tuber when they serve it at breakfast. Both Page and Levi add herbs to their otherwise plain shredded hash browns; Kleinberg likes to garnish with chives, which complement omelets particularly well, he says. If you’re boiling the potatoes in advance, perk up the water with herbs or garlic, as Levi does. Season home fries with smoked paprika and chopped garlic. You can coat finished roasted potatoes with harissa, another Levi suggestion. "Any combination of good flavors is also good on potatoes," he reminds us.

"They’re great with ketchup," says Kleinberg of his hash browns. In other words, don’t overlook the obvious. Mayo is a winner, especially when tweaked to match the seasoning on your potatoes (try herbs, hot sauces, or grated garlic). Page is known to mix hot sauce with either ketchup or mayo, as does Levi: "I love potatoes," he admits, "but I really love hot sauce. And I love crispy. Sometimes I feel like I’m just making potatoes so I can have a crunch in my mouth with hot sauce."