Spam hash
Crispy potatoes, peppers and onions fried with golden cubes of Spam, a salty, satisfying skillet that turns one can into dinner.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.00 a serving
- 490 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 russet potatoes, about 1½ lb
- 12 oz spam, 1 can
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 green bell pepper
- 4 large eggs, fried, to serve (optional)
- 1 tsp hot sauce, to serve (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 pinch salt
Each serving has about 490 calories, 16 g protein, 40 g carbs and 30 g fat, and costs about $2.00 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 green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No hot sauce? Sriracha works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Scrub the potatoes and cut them into ½-inch . Put them in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a plate, and microwave 5 minutes, until just tender.
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.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: A head start in the microwave means the potatoes only need to crisp in the pan.Cut the Spam into ½-inch , and the onion and pepper.
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.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large over medium-high and cook the Spam 5 minutes, turning now and then, until . Scoop it onto a plate.
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.
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.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Add the rest of the oil and the potatoes, spread them out, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning every few minutes, until and .
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.
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
Add the onion and pepper and cook 5 minutes, until soft.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Stir the Spam back in with the paprika and pepper and cook 2 minutes more. Taste before adding the salt, since Spam is salty.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Serve hot with a fried egg on each plate and a shake of hot sauce, if you like.
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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