Homemade McDonald's Style Hash Browns

About this recipe

Make crispy, golden hash browns just like McDonald's at home! Our easy recipe reveals the secrets to perfectly shaped, crunchy hash browns that rival your fast food favorite.

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Yay for a fast-food inspired recipe! I love preparing a breakfast, but as I always am on the blog, I’m totally transparent. There are times I sleep in and it’s almost lunch. Unless I’m planning for a feast for brunch, I’m a three square meals kind of guy. If it’s getting late and my tummy is growling, I just can’t concentrate on making myself a breakfast.

I don’t know about you, but I have so many childhood memories from fast food. Back in India, we’d have plenty of McDonald’s breakfasts from McDonald’s India. Even in Canada, I just love to pick up a good McMuffin with the hash brown, egg and sausage to warm me up and get my day started with a big smile on my face and my tummy satisfied. I love having fast food inspire me for recipes! I love the Egg McMuffin with sausage so much that of course I’ve had to make it myself, and if you want another awesome savoury breakfast option, then be sure to check out the recipe here!

This hash brown recipe has been a long time in the making. If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve definitely seen me testing these out a couple of times recently, but I think I’ve been on the quest for the perfect hash browns literally since I’ve started to cook in Canada. Woohoo, the time has finally come, and I’m so excited to share this recipe with you! If you love the warm and crispy hash brown in your breakfast sandwich or farmer’s wrap (be sure to check out my recipe featuring the hash browns here!) or even breakfast burritos, then you can make it at home and it’ll be so hot and fresh and made without all the chemicals! As I mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, going out to eat is an excellent source of inspiration to get out of your comfort zone in the kitchen and try new recipes! McDonald’s has actually been a key source of inspiration for me, not only with breakfasts, but with lunch and desserts! McDonald’s India is famous for its vegetarian burgers, particularly the McAloo Tikki Burger (potato-based patty). I’ve also replicated McDonald’s desserts, McDonald’s Oreo McFlurryand the limited edition Canadian Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry! What can I say, McDonald’s always puts a smile on my face!

Make sure you check out the video recipe to see all the steps in making this delicious McDonald's hash browns recipe! If you’re not already, please be sure to subscribe to YouTube! Hit the bell so you’re notified when the recipe videos go live! I love recording the recipes to make a fully tangible recipe and set you up for success in bringing fast food to your home! Let’s get cooking!

Crispy golden McDonald's-style hash brown held in paper wrapper with more hash browns on a white plate in background

Equipment for Crispy McDonald's Hash Browns

We’ll need a couple of tools to make the best McDonald's hash browns at home. Let’s review what you’ll need:

Two golden-brown homemade McDonald's style hash browns on a white rectangular plate.

Ingredients for McDonald's Hash Browns

While the hash browns from McDonald’s are delicious, the ingredient list will give you a shock. Here’s the ingredient list, taken directly from their website.

Maybe you feel queasy or maybe this doesn’t phase you. I have to admit I’m the latter - I’ll still enjoy these in moderation because honestly it’s called fast food for a reason! They do taste so good, but yes, super processed! Unlike the hash browns from McDonald’s, ours will have very minimal ingredients.

Two homemade hash browns held in hands, comparing a lighter golden one on the left with a darker, crispier one on the right.

The FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD is at the bottom of this post, and it includes all ingredients and their quantities and the recipe instructions! The recipe card is awesome because you can save the recipe for later, and the card allows you to scale the recipe based on how much cookie dough you want to make! It does all the work for you - no math on your part!

Ingredients for homemade hash browns arranged on dark surface: potatoes, canola oil, flour, cornstarch, salt, paprika, and water.

Potatoes: I’m using Yukon gold yellow potatoes, and we’ll be parboiling, grating and freezing our potatoes. To use Russet potatoes instead, check out the modifications in the next section below.
Corn starch and rice flour: Helps bind the potatoes together and adds the crispiness.
Seasonings: Cayenne Pepper, salt, white pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
Canola oil: To fry our potatoes. I’m using canola oilhere, but you can use any neutral oil that has a high smoke point. You could also use vegetable oil, grape-seed oil or peanut oil.

What Type of potato is best for Mcdonalds hash browns?▼

Traditionally russet potatoes are used for preparing McDonalds hash browns since they have more starch and lesser moisture when compared to Yukon gold potatoes. This allows fried potato recipes such as hash browns to easily become crispy. However, I really enjoy how Yukon gold potatoes taste, nothing beats the true potato aroma and the creamy texture of Yukon gold. Luckily, using some extra rice flour, we can combat and absorb the extra posture and we can boil the potatoes, just a but more to help soften the waxy texture in Yukon gold potatoes.

If you instead want to use russet potatoes, and that’s what your heart desires, then just reduce the rice flour amount from 5-6 Tbsp to 4 Tbsp, parboil the potatoes for 8 minutes instead of 10 and freeze the prepared oval sized hash brown portions for 45 minutes instead of 1 hour before frying.

How to Make Fast-Food Style Hash Browns

Preparing the Potatoes

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In the meanwhile, peel and cut the potatoes into large chunks.

Hands peeling and slicing a yellow potato on a wooden cutting board with a knife.

Hands cutting parboiled potato chunks on a wooden cutting board for hash browns.

Peeled and chunked potatoes on a cutting board with knife and seasonings nearby, ready for parboiling.

Salt the water and parboil the potatoes for 8 minutes (not fully cooked).

Salt being added to boiling water in a pot for parboiling potatoes.

Hand pouring parboiled potato chunks from a bowl into boiling salted water in a large pot.

Drain and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Parboiled potato chunks being drained in a colander held over a pot.

Parboiled potato chunks in a glass bowl, drained and cooled before grating.

Grate the potatoes using a box grater into a large bowl. Add cornstarch, rice flour, salt and cayenne pepper. Mix everything together, in case mixture is too crumbly, add cold water 1-2 Tbsp at a time and mix well.

Grating cooled potatoes on a box grater into a glass bowl for hash brown mixture.

Grated potatoes mixed with cornstarch and seasonings in a glass bowl, ready to form into hash brown patties.

Hand sprinkling cornstarch from a small bowl into a glass bowl of grated potatoes for hash brown mixture.

Hand sprinkling cornstarch over grated potatoes in a glass bowl for hash brown mixture.

Adding cayenne pepper to shredded potato and cornstarch mixture in a glass bowl for hash brown patties.

Hand mixing shredded potatoes with cornstarch and seasonings in a glass bowl for hash brown patties.

Mixing grated potatoes with cornstarch and seasonings in a glass bowl using a spatula.

Form into oval patties and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze for 1 hour.

Hand holding a clump of golden hash brown mixture in a bowl during preparation.

Hands in plastic gloves holding a formed potato hash brown patty before frying.

Golden-brown crispy hash brown patty held in hand, showing the finished fried result.

Six golden-brown oval hash brown patties on parchment paper, ready to be fried.

Frying Your Hash Browns

Heat oil to 350 F and fry for 4-5 minutes per side or until golden brown and crispy.

Oil heating to 350°F in a stainless steel pan on a stovetop for frying hash browns.

Golden crispy homemade hash brown being held above a serving container during frying process.

Golden hash brown being fried in oil in a stainless steel pan on an induction cooktop.

Two golden-brown hash brown patties frying in oil in a stainless steel pan with a slotted spatula lifting one patty.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Tips for Hash Browns Like Mcdonald’s

Keep a close eye on the potatoes while cooking in the pan to ensure they don’t cook all the way. Otherwise, they will turn to mush later.
If the “dough” mixture of the potatoes, corn flour and rice flour is too sticky, add more rice flour to adjust the consistency.
After adding the hash browns to the oil, allow them to cook for 1-2 minutes before gently shaking them in case they are stuck to the bottom of the frying vessel.
Fry until light golden brown for a crispy outside and soft potatoes inside.
Fry until rich golden brown (as above) for an extra crispy hash brown.

Other Crispy Potato Recipes!

Why parboil the potatoes first?▼

Parboiling the Yukon golds, then cooling and grating them, gives the hash browns a fluffy interior while a coating of cornstarch and rice flour binds them so they hold their shape and crisp up.

How do you get them crispy like McDonald's?▼

Three tricks: bind the grated potato with cornstarch and rice flour, freeze the formed patties for about an hour so they hold together, then deep-fry at 350°F for 8 to 12 minutes until deep golden and crisp.

Can I make these hash browns ahead and freeze them?▼

Yes — the recipe already freezes the shaped patties for an hour before frying, so you can keep a batch in the freezer and fry them straight from frozen whenever you want fast-food-style hash browns at home.

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!

Recipe by Anadi Misra