Fried potatoes known as patatas bravas are furious in texture, flavor, presentation, and enjoyment. Really, how fierce depends on you and your inner Spanish person. This is merely my most recent version of the numerous patatas bravas recipes that exist in Spain.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic, minced, or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- ¼ teaspoon ground chipotle peppers
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground chipotle peppers
- 2 quarts cold water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Make dipping sauce: Combine garlic, smoked paprika, and salt in a mortar and pestle or food processor; process until smooth. Mix in mayonnaise, sherry vinegar, tomato paste, chipotle chile powder, and cayenne pepper until combined. Cover and refrigerate sauce.
- Make spice blend: Mix together salt, black pepper, paprika, and chipotle chile powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Make potatoes: Pour water into a large saucepan. Stir salt, smoked paprika, cumin, and bay leaves into water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cover; simmer for 10 minutes.
- Stir potatoes into seasoned water, bring to a boil, and simmer until potatoes are tender but not fully cooked, 4 to 5 minutes. The tip of a paring knife should easily insert into the center of a potato cube. Drain potatoes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 45 minutes.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Add cooled potato cubes and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer potatoes to a baking sheet lined with paper towels to cool slightly. Toss in a bowl with spice blend and serve with dipping sauce.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the salt used in the cooking liquid and spice mix. The actual amount of the salt consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 678 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 43 g |
| Cholesterol | 21 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 3885 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 55 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this to pair with Chef John’s Grilled Spanish Mustard Beef recipe from this site. Wowza! Is this good!! Followed exactly except I didn’t have sherry vinegar (for the sauce) so I used 1/2 TBLS of sherry wine and 1/2 TBLS white wine vinegar. I also didn’t bother mortar and pestle or food processor- just mixed together and let sit in the refrigerator until we needed it. Great, great smoky flavor! And great pairing with the steak! I would absolutely make this again. Super fun and tasty! Thanks Chef John!!
Chef John, I think the word you were looking for was Deliciosamente Bravas!
Way too salty, I would recommend a tsp of salt rather than a tbsp.
My picky family loved it. Only complaint was I cut my potatoes too small. I knew I cut my first potato too small but felt committed to that size for the rest of them. I liked the dipping sauce but no one else tried it after my teenager excitedly proclaimed that I made “French fry bites” and they went for the standard ketchup.
Perhaps my favorite recipe:) Life changing
Waaaay too salty. The dip was great but the dry mix of seasoning to toss in ruined them. After all the work involved to make these this was very disappointing. The tablespoon of salt should be half that. Maybe don’t toss in the bowl and sprinkle on instead so you can control the amount. My husband could barely eat them and he over-salts everything.
Just made these potatoes for Fathers Day dinner! Seriously the best potatoes I’ve ever tasted! Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside! The garlic aioli is spectacular! Even my “no condiment” daughter ate them like they were trying to get away from her! Sadly, no leftovers for tomorrow! Thank you for another one, Chef John!
Wow! So yummy! I made this on “Try a New Recipe Saturday.” (My own personal holiday.) I followed the recipe exactly. Took quite awhile, but the results were worth it. Feared it would be too spicy, but it worked out fine. I almost prefer the potatoes without the dipping sauce, only because if I do start dipping, I can’t stop. Will definitely make these again.
Delicious! My picky-eater husband, who claims he does not like mayonnaise, asked for more of the dipping sauce to go with chicken I served with it! I can think of lots of uses for this – made with homemade mayonnaise – made with cooked egg yolks.
I followed this recipe perfectly. A tablespoon of salt for the spice blend makes it inedible. I spent over an hour with high hopes only to have to throw it out after a few bites of misery.
Good recipe. I would use a teaspoon or so of salt in the spice blend. That way you get more spice, less salt.
For me it was tasteless and not different than a square French fry. Sorry
Life changing recipe! OMG, so, so good and really not difficult, you just have to give yourself the time for the potatoes to cool. I found the spice dressing for the cooked potatoes a little too much, but I put all of it in my serving bowl. Next time I will be a little more judicious. Of course, the aioli is divine and will complement anything, like asparagus, chorizo, etc.
Loved them!!
Amazing. The dipping sauce is good alone as well. I used an air fryer instead and the results were so good. Thank you for this recipe. It is a winner recipe
These were amazing! The texture was perfect, and the sauce is the closest I’ve found since being in Spain. My boyfriend and I wanted to reminisce about traveling in the thick of COVID-19 and this helped us get out of our house, in some sense. The potatoes really are perfectly creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I will be making these again soon.
These are great, with or without the sauce. The sauce is really versatile and I want to eat it with a spoon! Great accompaniment to the Chef John Grilled Spanish Beef.
Turned out AWESOME. The potatoes were crunchy outside, and very fluffy inside. I used similar spices for all of the steps. For the sauce though, I had pre-made a garlic infused oil so I used that as my base for starting it and instead of a mortar/pestle (couldn’t find mine), I used a spice grinder which I wouldn’t recommend. Just make more and use a food processor. I didn’t measure out ingredients for the sauce, just kinda sprinkle this sprinkle that, etc and it was good. I’m wondering if for future usage, I can parboil potatoes, freeze them, then take them out and fry on demand? Just a thought I had. I had a full 6qt pot of diced potatoes parboiling and my dad was saying I should have made more. By using the cooling tray to cool the potatoes after parboiling, then putting a paper towel on the tray for after frying, they didn’t get soggy at all. I tried to put them in a huge bowl (biggest one I have is 13qt) while still warm to let the seasonings stick and toss them easily. Highly Recommend everyone try this method with any spices you like for your next potato endeavor. Thank you Chef John!
Also try them with Chef John’s Romesco Sauce (add some cumin though).
This was the best Bravas potatoes I’ve found. I’ve made it several times now with a few alterations. My changes: Sauce: 3 cloves garlic, 2 T. sherry.
I made this for a school project, and would make it again. I didn’t make any changes, and liked it just fine.