These vegan hash browns are perfectly browned and extra crispy and so easy to make. Perfect for breakfast or brunch.
What’s better than a stack of vegan hash browns in the morning? Not a whole lot!
Also known as vegan potato cakes or vegan potato pancakes, they’re perfect for breakfast or brunch topped with vegan mayonnaise or ketchup.
And yes, I know hash browns are often vegan already, though sometimes they can be made with butter and eggs.
But it’s still worthwhile to make them from scratch because they just taste so darn good. The extra effort is entirely worth it.
For more delicious vegan breakfast food check out our vegan waffles, vegan pancakes and vegan quiche.
How To Make Vegan Hash Browns
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
Shred the potato in a box grater. If you want to make this part really easy you can do it in the food processor. We tried it both ways and both ways worked great, but I preferred the version where we grated it in the box grater because the more finely shredded potato created a better texture.
Triple rinse. Once you’ve grated the potato then do the triple rinse. This is to get rid of the starchiness from the potatoes and helps them to crisp up nicely.
Add the shredded potato to a bowl and cover with cold water. Let them sit for a minute and you’ll see the water will go cloudy.
Drain and rinse and add fresh water. Let them sit for a minute again and then drain and rinse and cover with fresh water for a third time. You’ll see that this time the water will be almost clear.
Drain a final time and squeeze the excess water from the shredded potatoes with your hands or by wrapping the shredded potato in a clean tea towel and squeezing out all the excess moisture.
Add the shredded potato to a mixing bowl.
Add chopped green onions, all purpose flour, olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper and mix into a batter.
Divide the batter into 6 balls and use a cookie cutter to mould them into patty shapes. Alternatively you can roll them into balls and then press down with the bottom of a glass to form a patty shape.
Heat olive oil in a wide frying pan and add all the hash browns to the hot oil. Fry them for around 3-5 minutes per side, until beautifully golden and crispy.
Your hash browns are ready to serve!
Double The Recipe
This recipe makes 6 vegan hash browns. If you need to make more, feel free to double the recipe.
If you do it that way, then preheat the oven to 210°F (100°C) and place some parchment paper over a grill rack on a baking tray. Place the first batch of hash browns in the oven to stay warm while you fry up your second batch.
Chef’s Tips
- Starchy potatoes – like Russet potatoes work best for hash browns.
- Squeeze as much moisture out of the shredded potatoes as you can. After your triple rinse, squeeze as much moisture out of the potatoes as you can. This makes for the crispiest hash browns. You can use your hands to squeeze the moisture out, or you can wrap the shredded potato in a clean kitchen tea towel and squeeze it until you have got as much moisture out as you can.
- Make sure your oil is hot – your oil should be hot before you add your hash browns to the pan. They should sizzle when they hit the pan.
- Gluten free – if you want to make these hash browns gluten-free, then try a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to replace the regular flour in this recipe.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers stored in the fridge in a covered container for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Breakfast Recipes
- Super Eggy Tofu Scramble
- Vegan French Toast
- Vegan Omelette
- Vegan Frittata
- Mango Chia Pudding
- Vegan Banana Waffles
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Hash Browns
Ingredients
For the Hash Browns:
- 1 ½ pounds Potato (700g) peeled weight, about 3 Large*
- ½ cup All Purpose Flour (63g)
- 2 Green Onions Chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- ¼ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
For Frying:
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and then shred them in a standard box grater. Add the shredded potato to a bowl and pour water over them. Let them sit for a minute. You’ll see the water will get quite cloudy. Rinse off the water and add fresh water, let them sit again for a minute and then rinse again. Repeat a third time and you’ll notice that the water will be pretty clear. Rinse a final time and then drain.
- Using your hands or a clean tea towel squeeze out the excess water from the shredded potato and then add to a mixing bowl with the flour, chopped green onions, olive oil, paprika, cayenne pepper, sea salt and ground black pepper and mix together.
- Divide into 6 portions and roll into balls. Press down into a cookie cutter and form into a patty shape, or use the base of a glass to press down from the top and form into a patty shape.
- Heat a pan with 1 Tablespoon olive oil and when hot, add in the hash browns. If you can fit them all in at once then you can do so. If your pan isn't big enough, then do half the batch and then the other half.*
- Fry until golden and crispy on both sides, around 3-5 minutes each side.
- Serve with a dollop of vegan mayo, some tomato sauce and some chopped green onions on top (optional).
Notes
- A starchy potato variety like russet potatoes will work best in this recipe.
- Green onions are also called spring onions, salad onions or scallions.
- If your pan isn’t big enough to do them all at once, then preheat your oven to 210°F (100°C) and place some parchment paper over a grill rack on a baking tray. Place the first batch of hash browns in the oven to stay warm while you fry up your second batch.
- Leftover hash browns can be stored in the fridge in a covered container for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
came out more like potato pancakes than hash browns.
I rinsed them off three times, tried squeezing the water out as much as possible.
the mix was a bit too loose, so I tried adding more flour and it made it sticky.
I had a difficult time cooking them in the frying pan so move them to the oven to cook better.
Sorry to hear that you had trouble with the recipe Syd.
Easy peasy recipe and delicious! I added one grated zucchini to mine and a little paprika. Love that you suggested chick pea flour, worked like a dream!
Yay that sound great Linda! Thank you so much for your lovely review!
I had to add a bunch of extra flour and it didn’t cook all the way through. The mixture was too wet so using a cloth to squeeze out potato water would have been better. I pan fried the initial 2 but for leftovers I air fried them to help dry em out a bit and its seeming effective.
That was great. Thank you!!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe Shae!
Can you freeze these?
Hi Amber, I am sure you can. I would just let them thaw in the fridge and reheat in the frying pan.
So easy to make! I was worried at first as the mixture didn’t seem to be sticking together. But once they were pan frying it all came together nicely.
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing the great review Amber! 🙂
Can you use gluten free flour?
You can try a gluten free all purpose flour blend. It should hopefully work fine (though we haven’t tried it). All the best! 🙂
I use the Pampered chef plastic Veggie Strip Maker (no knicked knuckles with this tool)! Then after soaking the potatoes, I use the Pampered chef salad spinner (with the smaller insert, it has a finer mesh so potato shred stay in the basket). Making hash brown has never been easier!
And the air-fryer does a wonderful job BTW!! Crispy outside and tender inside without all the oil!!
Thanks for sharing Mark! And that’s awesome to know about the air fryer! We need to use ours more. 🙂
Hey Mark, how long did you put them in the air-fryer for?? I’m thinking of getting one
These were awesome, simple to make too.
So glad to hear that! Thanks for the great review. 🙂
I hate to leave a less than stellar review, but this recipe didn’t work out for me as written. First off, it made a *lot* more than I expected. My potatoes weighed out at 698 grams, but I ended up with 11 hash browns [3 batches in a 12″ skillet — I would’ve been hard pressed to fit them in 2 batches and a single batch was out of the question]. I did use gold potatoes because I didn’t see the note on the recipe until later and I swear the potatoes in the pictures looked like gold potatoes. I otherwise followed the recipe exactly as written. My hash browns didn’t come together as pictured and seemed like there was too much potato that was too coarse [I did use a box grater, not a food processor] and I had trouble getting the middle of the cake cooked through. Maybe some of this is my fault for assuming that what I saw in the photo was a gold potato, but if I made the recipe again I would likely try it as written but reduce the potato to 1lb/450g or so and grating the potatoes then chopping them a bit before adding a full 1/4c flour.
Nice and crispy, love eating it as a snack.
So so delicious!
Thanks Jackie! 🙂
Can you use an air fryer for these ?
Hi Nina! You probably can! I think an air fryer works pretty great for frying anything! 🙂
These look so yummy, my son loves hash browns so will definitely make them for weekend breakfast. Thanks so much.
Thanks Lynne! Hope you enjoy them. 🙂