Preparing Ranch Potatoes
Personally I like to pan fry the potatoes, and we’ll get more into that in just a sec. But whether you’re pan frying or roasting the potatoes, the first thing you’ll want to do is parboil the potatoes. Parboiling the potatoes will extract starch, which in turn will help the centre go nice and fluffy, as opposed to gloopy.
Chicken Stock
I actually like to take things a step further and boil the potatoes in chicken stock. Mainly because I’m extra, but also because it’ll inject flavour into the potatoes as they boil.
Rough the edges
Once you’ve parboiled them, drain in a colander then give the colander a shake to rough up the potatoes. The rough edges will ensure the potatoes go extra crispy.
Steam dry
Potentially the most important step to prepping the potatoes is to allow them to completely steam dry. We want as much excess moisture to leave the potatoes as possible, and by allowing the steam to escape we can achieve this. Again, whether you’re baking or pan frying I highly recommend these steps!
Pan Fried Cheesy Potatoes
To start the frying process, like most things on this blog, we’re starting with bacon. By frying the bacon first, you get to use all that (liquid gold) bacon fat to begin frying the potatoes. Makes sense right?! Once you’ve fried the potatoes in all that goodness, sprinkle over cheese and pop under the grill to broil. I highly recommend a nice sharp cheddar – goes beautifully with potatoes, bacon, ranch. Some ranch potato recipes cook the potatoes in ranch, and I have actually tried this, but in my opinion you lose flavour and the potatoes turn greasy. In this case, I simply drizzle ranch over once the cheese has melted.
Ranch Potato Toppings
I like to keep it simple with bacon and spring/green onion. You could sub chives for the onion. Bacon non-negotiable, obviously.
How to serve these?
If I’m making them as a shared appetizer kinda deal I just hand out 4 forks and we dig the heck in! You can also serve them as a side dish to a main. In which case you can load them up in the pan and scoop out, or load up the individual portions.
Can I make these ahead of time?
I actually don’t recommend this, due to the potatoes losing their crispiness and the ranch going greasy upon reheating. You could parboil the potatoes, cool and store until needed though.
And there we have it! If there was a recipe that was a visual representation of the food that’s constantly on my mind, it would be this 😂 If you’re looking for another delicious ranch recipe then check out my Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad! For more similar recipes check out these beauties too:
Fun Potato Side Dishes
Spicy Potatoes Garlic Butter Potato Skins Crispy Smashed Potatoes Mini Loaded Potatoes Baked Potato Wedges
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the recipe for these cheesy ranch potatoes shall we?!
How to make Cheesy Ranch Potatoes (Full Recipe & Video)
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