Beef and Carrot Potato Hash
Diced potatoes and carrots pan-fried until deeply browned, then topped with seasoned ground beef and sweet onions. A hearty one-pan dinner with crisp edges and a savory finish.
- Total
- 36 min
- Prep 10 · Cook 26
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Searing · Dicing
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Dice the potatoes into 1.5 cm cubes. Dice the carrots into 1 cm pieces. Finely chop the onion.
~10 min
Dicing Cut pieces to a uniform size so they cook at the same rate. Keep the knife vertical and guide it with your knuckles for even, safe cubes.
-
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and carrots in a single layer. Cook undisturbed for 5 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown.
~5 min
A single layer and undisturbed contact with the hot pan lets the potatoes and carrots brown through the Maillard reaction instead of steaming.
Let the potatoes sit undisturbed in the pan before stirring. That untouched contact with the hot surface is what builds the golden crust.
Searing Use medium-high heat and leave food undisturbed until it releases easily and is deeply browned. Crowding or stirring too early steams the food and prevents crust formation.
-
Stir the potatoes and carrots, then cover the skillet and cook for 8 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife and the edges are crisp and browned.
~11 min
Covering traps steam to cook the dense potato centers through while the pan bottom keeps the exteriors crisp.
If the potatoes are browning too fast before they turn tender, lower the heat and add 1 tbsp water, then cover. The steam finishes the cooking without burning the exterior.
Searing Use medium-high heat and leave food undisturbed until it releases easily and is deeply browned. Crowding or stirring too early steams the food and prevents crust formation.
-
Push the vegetables to one side of the skillet. Add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and the chopped onion to the empty side. Cook for 3 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent.
~3 min
Cooking the onion in the empty side lets it soften and sweeten without steaming the already-browned vegetables.
-
Add the ground beef to the skillet with the onion. Break it apart with a spatula and cook for 5 minutes until no pink remains and the beef reaches 71°C/160°F. Season with 0.5 tsp salt and 0.25 tsp black pepper.
~5 min
Breaking the beef apart keeps it crumbly rather than clumped, and cooking to 71°C/160°F ensures it is safely done.
-
Stir the beef mixture into the potatoes and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes more, pressing the hash down with the spatula, until everything is hot and the bottom layer is crisp. Serve directly from the skillet.
~2 min
Pressing the hash against the hot pan creates a final crisp crust and reheats everything through.