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.
Servings: 4
Calories: 529kcal
Cost: £2 / $2.50
Equipment
- 12" Skillet & Wooden Spoon
- Large Pot & Colander
- Jug (for stock)
- Cheese Grater
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Ingredients
- 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!
Video
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.
Nutrition
Calories: 529kcal | Carbohydrates: 34.1g | Protein: 15.74g | Fat: 37.34g | Saturated Fat: 9.683g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5.672g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4.605g | Trans Fat: 0.445g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 703mg | Potassium: 1016mg | Fiber: 4.2g | Sugar: 2.93g | Vitamin A: 372IU | Vitamin C: 37.2mg | Calcium: 225mg | Iron: 1.8mg