Dehydrated Hash Brown Shreds
Shredded potatoes dried at home, rehydrated and crisped in a pan at camp.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 2.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 132
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Russet potatoes | 10 medium | about 5 lb, yields roughly 1 lb dried |
|---|---|---|
| Citric acid | 1/4 tsp | dissolved in 10 cups of soak water; optional but keeps them pale |
| Oil | 2 tbsp | carried in a dropper bottle, added at camp |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- At home: shred the potatoes on the coarse side of a grater or a food processor shred disc. Move them straight into water or they go grey in under a minute.
- Rinse the shreds, then hold them in a bowl of cold water with the citric acid stirred in. Measure the acid. Too much and the potatoes taste metallic.
- Blanch the drained shreds in boiling water 4 to 6 minutes, until they turn semi-translucent and a fork goes through with no crunch. Drain and spread them thin on dehydrator trays.
- Dry at 125F/52C until the shreds snap instead of bending, usually 8 to 10 hours. An oven on its lowest setting works if it goes that low; leave the door cracked.
- At camp: cover about 1 cup of dried shreds with 300 ml of just-boiled water. Lid on, 10 minutes off the heat.
- Drain off whatever water is left. This step matters. Wet shreds steam instead of browning.
- Put the pot or pan back on the flame, add the oil, and press the potatoes into a flat layer. Leave them alone 4 or 5 minutes, then flip in sections. Salt and pepper at the end.
Store-bought dried hash browns exist, but a bag of them costs more than five pounds of russets and comes with a longer ingredient list. Doing it yourself is mostly waiting. The blanch is the part you cannot skip: raw dried potato stays hard and chalky no matter how long you soak it, because the starch was never gelatinized.
Citric acid is insurance against browning, not flavor. A quarter teaspoon across ten cups of water is enough. In camp, the only real technique is draining hard before the oil goes in. Potatoes that are still holding water will never form a crust; they just sit there and steam.
Packing
Store the dried shreds in a jar at home and portion into freezer bags before a trip, one cup per person. Push the air out; oxygen is what turns them yellow over months.
Variations
- Dry them as slices instead of shreds and they rehydrate into scalloped potatoes.
- Pack a foil pouch of fish or a hard sausage and cook it on top of the crust.
- Stir in dried onion and paprika before drying so the seasoning rehydrates with the potato.
https://www.maritimeglutton.com/dehydrated-hash-browns-recipe-for-camping