Poor man’s meal (hot dogs and potatoes)
Crispy fried potatoes, sweet onions and browned hot dogs in one skillet, the old-school budget dinner that tastes much better than it has any right to.
- 40 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.60 a serving
- 480 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 4 russet potatoes, about 2 lb
- 1 yellow onion
- 6 hot dogs
- ½ cup shredded cheddar (optional)
- ¼ cup ketchup, to serve (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ cup water
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 480 calories, 14 g protein, 48 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $1.60 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Scrub the potatoes and cut them into ½-inch . the onion and the hot dogs into ½-inch coins.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Heat the oil in a large that has a lid over medium. Add the potatoes, salt and water, cover, and cook 10 minutes, stirring once, until nearly tender.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 10 min
Uncover, turn the heat to medium-high, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the potatoes are and at the edges.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Give them a few minutes between stirs. That’s when the crust forms.Add the onion and cook 4 minutes, until soft.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min
Add the hot dogs, garlic powder, paprika and pepper and cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the hot dogs are and hot through.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Scatter the cheddar over the top, cover for 1 minute to , and serve with ketchup.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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