Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

These potatoes are pan fried until extra crispy, loaded with cheese and grilled until gooey, then topped with ranch, bacon and spring onion.

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)

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

These potatoes are pan fried until extra crispy, loaded with cheese and grilled until gooey, then topped with ranch, bacon and spring onion.

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Servings (click & slide): 4

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Steaming Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Calories per serving: 529kcal

Author: Chris Collins

Cost per serving: £2 / $2.50

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Equipment:

• 12" Skillet & Wooden Spoon
• Large Pot & Colander
• Jug (for stock)
• Cheese Grater
• Sharp Knife & Chopping Board

Ingredients (check list):

• ▢ 1.6lb / 750g Potatoes, diced into small chunks
• ▢ 4 cups / 1litre Chicken Stock (see notes)
• ▢ 6 slices of Streaky Bacon
• ▢ 1 cup / 100g Cheddar, grated (or to preference)
• ▢ 1/3 cup / 80ml Ranch, or to preference (see notes)
• ▢ 2 Spring/Green Onion, sliced
• ▢ 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• ▢ heavy pinch EACH Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

Instructions:

• Add potatoes to a large pot and pour in chicken stock. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until they're JUST knife tender. Drain in a colander (don't rinse) and leave to steam dry until the steam completely stops. This is important to allow moisture to escape so they crisp up properly. If you want to rough them up in the colander to you can. Rough edges = extra crispy.
• Meanwhile, fry your bacon over medium heat until nice and crispy, ensuring you render out as much fat as possible. Remove from pan, leaving the fat behind, then dice just before serving.
• Add 1 tbsp veg oil to the bacon fat, turn heat up to high and add in your potatoes. Pan fry until they begin to crisp up, then add in a hefty pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder (to taste). Continue frying, shaking the pan regularly, until crispy on all sides then remove pan from heat.
• Sprinkle over cheese, ensuring all the potatoes are covered, then pop under the grill and broil for a few mins until the cheese melts.
• Drizzle over ranch (to taste) then sprinkle over bacon and spring onion. Dig in straight from the pan or serve up as a side to a main!

Quick 1 min demo!

Notes:

a) Chicken Stock - This is just to inject some flavour into the potatoes as they boil. It's subtle, but definitely still worth it if you've got some decent stock. Alternatively you can just use water and a hefty pinch of salt.

b) Can I roast the potatoes - Yep! Still parboil and steam dry, then just coat potato chunks in 1.5tbsp olive oil, spread out in a baking dish and roast for 20-25mins, or until golden crispy. From there you can either sprinkle over cheese and broil in the same dish, or transfer to a pan.

c) Cheese - I find a nice sharp cheddar works nicely here, but use any cheese you fancy!

d) Ranch - This really is down to preference. I recommend starting with less by drizzling with a tbsp, then adjust after. Easier to add more than take any away. Not that I'd ever want to remove ranch from anything, but this is me we're talking about...

e) Calories - based on the whole recipe divided by 4, using 1/4 tsp salt for seasoning.

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Nutrition:

Nutrition Facts

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

Amount Per Serving

Calories 529 Calories from Fat 336

% Daily Value*

Fat 37.34g57%

Saturated Fat 9.683g48%

Trans Fat 0.445g

Polyunsaturated Fat 5.672g

Monounsaturated Fat 4.605g

Cholesterol 34mg11%

Sodium 703mg29%

Potassium 1016mg29%

Carbohydrates 34.1g11%

Fiber 4.2g17%

Sugar 2.93g3%

Protein 15.74g31%

Vitamin A 372IU7%

Vitamin C 37.2mg45%

Calcium 225mg23%

Iron 1.8mg10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition is based on the absence of salt unless stated as a measurement in the ingredients. Cost is worked out based on ingredients bought from UK supermarkets, then divided by the number of servings. In both instances these values are just for guidance. Please check out my FAQ Page for more info.

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