If french fries and onion rings ever got together and had a love child, I think it would be something like this…a light and crispy on the outside + creamy and luscious on the inside potato ring! Two things I can’t stress enough is: 1) the importance of having the potatoes completely coated; no holes please, or the mashed potatoes will pour out of the holes once they hit the oil and you’ll be left with nothing but a mess. 2) the importance of the rings being frozen solid before entering the oil…it just helps with the frying, that’s all.
We made a simple and delicious buttermilk ranch dipping sauce bc let’s face it, ranch is pretty much good with anything, amirite? It only seemed natural to pair these savory, fried treats with a quick and easy homemade ranch sauce. Enjoy!
xx Jenny
Here are some more yummy potato recipes you might also enjoy!
Potato Rings with Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dipping Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 3 large russet potatoes, cleaned peeled and chopped into large pieces
- ⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (½ stick), softened
- ½ cup caramelized yellow onions, chopped
- 3 tablespoons chives, thinly sliced
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup rice flour
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 quarts vegetable oil
buttermilk ranch sauce
- ½ cup light mayonnaise
- ¼ cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1 ½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, minced
- 1 tablespoon chives, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon dill, minced
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the potatoes in a large pot and fill with water.
- Bring to a boil on medium-high heat and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, 20-25 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes into a colander and pour back into the pot.
- Pour the cream and butter over the potatoes and mash with a potato masher until smooth (Add more cream 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed).
- Fold in the caramelized onions and chives until fully incorporated. Season with salt and pepper and stir.
- Spread the mixture onto a sheet pan, about ½ inch thick and place in the refrigerator until the mixture has cooled down and hardened, 4-6 hours.
- While the potato mixture cools place both flours, garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika into a shallow dish and stir together until fully combined. Set aside.
- When the potato mixture has cooled, remove from the refrigerator and using 1-1 ½ inch circle cutters, cut out as many circles as possible (usually makes about 32-40).
- Using a ½ inch circle cutter, cut out a ½ inch circle from every 1-1½ circle, creating a small donut shape.
- Dip the potato rings into the flour mixture followed by the egg mixture and finally again in the flour mixture (make sure the rings are completely coated).
- Place the coated rings onto a clean sheet pan, lined with parchment paper and place in the freezer and allow the rings to freeze completely, 4-6 hours.
- Once the potato rings are frozen, preheat the oil, in a large pot, to 375°F.
- While the oil heats up, place the ingredients for the dipping sauce into a mixing bowl and whisk together. Season with salt and pepper.
- When the oil is hot, carefully drop a few of the rings into the oil and fry for 4-6 minutes or until golden brown.
- Drain onto a large plate lined with paper towels and season with salt with pepper.
- Repeat with the remaining potato rings and serve immediately with the dipping sauce.
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Deep frying something frozen isn’t a great idea. I don’t normally comment on this sort of thing, but I thought I should this time. It must not be too big of a deal with small potato rings, since nobody on this post has burned their house down, but typically it’s not so great of an idea.
Lots of people burn their houses down on Thanksgiving and Christmas when they try to deep fry turkeys. It’s not so dangerous…unless the turkey is frozen. Then, you essentially have a gigantic turkey bomb that splashes hot oil everywhere.
Don’t burn your houses down please :)
Hi Jill, actually this isn’t true at all. Frying things when they’re frozen will actually give you the best results. The problem with frying frozen foods isn’t that the food is frozen, but how high people fill their pots/deep fryers. Frozen foods definitely have a stronger reaction when they hit the oil, but as long as you haven’t overfilled your vessel, you’re
golden.
Oh come on,,,,,,,,,,,,, If i had a freaking staff to cook this this.
If you’re complaining about the process, please don’t. It’s obnoxious. Just don’t make it if you’re too lazy.
These look amazing! But I’m having a difficult time believing that you can cut mashed potatoes into rings and triple dip without falling apart after they have cooled in the refrigerator. Are you sure you didn’t freeze them before you cut and dipped them intead of after? I wish there were photos of the whole process and not just the finished product. :(
Yes, this is totally doable! Just so long as your mashed potatoes aren’t super soft ( this recipe goes slightly lighter on the cream and butter for that purpose). The potatoes get quite stiff in the fridge, but should still be handled with care.If you’re still nervous you can stick them in the freezer for a bit, but I wouldn’t freeze them completely or they’ll crack when you cut them and the coating won’t stick well.
you could also try cutting them, freezing them, then dipping them.
OMG THese look amazing–like over the top amazing.
Hi Jenny,
I would really like to try these for my egg allergic 7 yr old, any idea what I could substitute for the egg and still have the coating stay intact?
Thank you!
i want to try putting bacon in them
I need it to be gluten free and I am new to cooking GF – do you think if I used all rice flour it would turn out ok? Looks yummy! Thanks
I’m sure actually making these is not as daunting of a task as it looks from all of the directions :/ They look absolutely delicious and, even if there were an additional 50 steps, I’d still Pin it!!
What does 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons mean? Do you put all of that into the potatos when you mash them or is the 2 tablespoons saved for later? I’m in the process of boiling the potatos now.. These looks extremely delicious just a bit hard for me.. As I’m still learning but I’m willing to give them a try! Thanks for the recipe! :-)
Hi Jessa! Yes, the whole 1/3 cup and 2 tablespoons goes into the potato mixture for mashing. Hope this helps and good luck!
Thanks!! :-) I want to know would you think these would be okay to freeze over night and fry up the next day? They turned out great so far , but it’s getting a little too late too eat them tonight I was thinking to have them for lunch tomorrow!
Yes! If they’re rock hard they actually fry the best. Hope you like them!
These turned out to be fantasticly YUM-O!! Family loved them! Thanks 4 the creative recipe! :-D
lovely!!!
I’m tempted to try making these in the oven! We’ll see if it turns out well :)
And to everyone making comments about these being unhealthy– if you fry anything in good oil (coconut is best, but expensive), frying isn’t unhealthy!
These sound scrumptious!! One question though…. How many caramelized onions? Is it 1/2 half of one onion?
Its half a cup! Sorry about that!
I think I’m making these today! I know they’ll be a hit
Wow! I can hardly wait to try this recipe! And looking forward to more great stuff from you via email. (BTW, found you via Pinterest…) :-)
Do you think you could fry them, freeze them, & reheat in the oven??
these sound so good- great party food- I just hate being in the kitchen futzing while people are over!
Thanks much!,
Okay, here’s the thing.. I’m not sure. Most of our recipes are really versatile and you can tweak and adjust them without any issues, but these in particular need to be done according to the recipe, for the most part (people have not had very much success otherwise)… You could always make them up until the frying point, then fry them up a few minutes before guests arrive. If you do try the reheat method please let us know how it turns out. Good luck!!
Could you ‘shallow fry’ these with oil in a pan?
I’d love to know this too!
Love this idea, however what is the egg mixture? I’m literally in the middle of making these but I have no idea what the egg mixture is. =S
The egg mixture is just the two eggs lightly beaten.
Oh my god this seems amazing. Saw it on pinterest and had to check out the recipe. I love it so much I posted it on my website (http://www.raxelradprojects.com/)
Thank you so much for creating these. And I’m definitely going to subscribe.
I saw this picture on Pinterest and had to come and investigate. My dad will LOVE these.
These sound amazing…….My husband lives for deep fried anything. Quick question: the ingredients list “½ caramelized yellow onions, chopped”. Is that 1/2 cup or 1/2 an onion? I will be making these SOON! Thanks for a great sounding recipe.
seriously? SERIOUSLY?! my head just exploded. Dinner donuts…*tummy rumbles*
These look sensational!!! I stumbled on your blog from a link on pininterst. SO GLAD I DID.
Beautiful food styling, photography, recipes. I’m in heaven!
Ah damn .. there goes my diet agian….
I’m not sure if I made the rings thick enough or what but when I cut them into rings they fell apart. :( I pretty much just made them into little balls after my failure but that was the only thing that didn’t work for me, they ended up being superb, scrumptions, and savory addition to my party! I made these over 3 days and would do it again and were just as delicious reheated in the oven! :) Excellent blog! Thank you!
Hi Marisa! Just curious…did you let the potatoes get nice and stiff in the fridge before cutting them into rings? It’s a really important step to ensure the rings stay together.
I’m glad you were still able to get them to fry up as little balls…great way to improvise!
Yeah, I left them in the fridge for almost a whole day. I’m not sure why they fell apart. What do you suggest for the left overs after cutting the rings? I reconstituted mine into the balls. For my next attempt should I re-refridgerate the leftovers on a pan before making them into rings? Thanks for the help!
Hm…if your rings still fell apart, I would recommend making a stiffer mashed potato (less liquid). This should help them keep their shape. They are delicate, so you do need to work carefully, but quickly.
When I made my rings, I reformed the leftovers into another mass, stuck them in the freezer (I was totally impatient that day) and made more rings. I repeated this until I had about 1/4 cup potatoes left. I really like your idea for balls. It’s easier to do and after people have made their first set of rings it’s a great way to quickly use the rest. Sure they’re not technically “potato rings” then, but who cares, right?! :)
Oh yes, so delicious! After all, it’s what’s on the inside that counts! ;)
In Argentina we make something like this. We make the balls, like you did Marisa, but we also add muzzarella cheese in the middle! Yum! I’ll have to make some soon.
Isn’t it, like, impossible to pick up mashed potatoes and have them hold their shape? I was trying to picture how I would do this and it seems like they would just fall apart. They look really delicious though…
Nope, they’re so nice and crispy on the outside that it’s almost like eating a tater tot with soft, creamy mashed potato insides! Definitely wouldn’t have posted this recipe if it didn’t work! :)