Crispy Pan-Fried Lemon Pepper Potatoes

Fresh lemon, cracked black pepper, and a hot skillet transform simple potatoes into a flavor packed side dish for breakfast or dinner. Crispy pan-fried lemon pepper potatoes are a vibrant, delicious spin on classic skillet potatoes that are easy to throw together.

• Potatoes – I used russet because I love how they crisp in the pan. You can use red potatoes as well. I’ve found that yellow potatoes tend to stick, so you may need to add more butter to prevent that.
• Lemon – Fresh lemon is the way to go because we want the zest and juice. It’s a particularly good skillet potato recipe for late winter when Meyer lemons are in season!
• Pepper – I’ve been using fresh ground pepper in all my recipes for years and I highly recommend you do the same. Peppercorns are sold at any grocery store, and the pre-ground stuff can’t touch it on flavor. Get a pepper mill like this one to let you adjust how fine or coarse it is.
• Salt – I use coarse kosher salt (Morton) for 99% of my recipes. I even use a pepper grinder like recommended above to grind it finer in my baking recipes. I’d recommend that or sea salt.
• Butter – I always recommend unsalted butter. You’re able to control the seasoning that way, which is always better. If you want to make this vegan, feel free to use a vegan butter spread, or oil.
• Parsley – This is optional, but highly recommended. A sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley makes these lemon pepper potatoes sing, and look spectacular too! You could also use dill or chives.
• Mayonnaise (optional) – If you want to make the quick sauce to go with them, all you need is a bit of mayonnaise. Go for vegan mayo if you like, it works just as well!

• Use a quality, heavy duty pan – I don’t recommend (or own) a non-stick pan. Not only are they lined with gross things I don’t want my kids ingesting, but you’ll never get a good crisp in them. Instead I use a cast iron skillet. My 10 or 12 inch both work for this recipe as written. A stainless steel pan (this is the one I own) is another good option, as are ceramic coated dutch ovens.
  
• Don’t skimp on the fat – Fat not only equals flavor, but it’s essential for creating the brown crispy edges that make skillet potatoes sooooo irresistible. If it looks dry, add more.
  
• Melt the butter with the lemon juice – Before you add anything into the pan, you want to let the butter and lemon juice mingle in the pan until it’s stopped foaming. It ensures the butter is hot enough to crisp the potatoes (no sticking), and adds lemon flavor from the get go.
  
• Start high, finish low – Get your pan hot, then add in the butter and lemon, then the potatoes. As soon as the first side of the potatoes has turned into that beautiful golden brown color, reduce the heat to low and stir them. That will let the rest of the potatoes brown and the middles to become tender and pillowy soft without burning.

FAQ’S

I hope you find these stovetop potatoes as yummy as we do. The crisp edges, pillowy soft inside, vibrant lemon, and kick of black pepper are a great variation on classic skillet potatoes. Let me know how it goes, and as always, Happy Eating!