Pan Fried Potatoes and Onions-Lyonnaise Potatoes

Delicious pan-fried potatoes and onions are a way to up your game in the kitchen. Perfectly browned on the outside and tender on the inside, these potatoes will be a hit with your family.

I’m always looking for ways to change up potato side dishes. Like: Garlic Salt and Oregano Baked Potato or Caramelized Onions Mashed Potatoes or Au Gratin Potatoes.

Mashed russet potatoes and oven browned red potatoes are great too, but these pan-fried slabs of gold potatoes combined with caramelized onions are terrific. It’s a perfect side dish with chicken, pork, or beef. 

This dish is also known as Lyonnaise Potatoes, from Lyon, France. So if you serve these for company, they are not just fried onions and potatoes, they are Lyonnaise Potatoes! Impressive to be sure.

Simple Ingredients for Fried Potatoes and Onions

First off, the potatoes you use are important. Yukon golds are the perfect potato for this dish. They are generally medium-sized and have a slightly waxy texture that holds together well when fried.

Russets are not recommended because they have a lot more starch and when cooked they start to get really soft and flake apart. That’s why they are great for mashing. 

Next, in order to get a crispy exterior and creamy middle, start with pretty hefty slabs of potatoes. Slice them so that they are 3/8″ to 1/2″ thick. They will take some time to get nicely browned and the extra thickness allows the interior to cook through and be tender in the middle. 

For the onions, I like to slice them lengthwise from the root to the head. They will separate well and leave you with nice-sized strands of onion. 

Frying Tips

Start with a large skillet. At least a 12″ diameter. The pan in the photos is a 12″ stainless steel. 

Melt the butter on medium heat. I like using butter rather than vegetable oil because the flavor is better. But butter can burn if it is fried at too high of a temperature. A lower frying temperature is okay since the potatoes are rather thick and will take some time to cook all the way through. Given the extra time will allow them to brown nicely too.

Place the potatoes into the skillet in a single layer if possible. If there are too many to do this, use some tongs and a fork to rotate the potatoes to equally brown. 

Once the potatoes are nicely browned, toss in the onions and give them a stir to combine. Lower the temperature of your stove and cover the skillet. About every two minutes uncover and give them another stir. After about ten minutes the onions should be softened and start to get some nice browning.

Add the minced garlic right at the end of cooking and let the garlic get some fragrance by stirring it in and letting it cook for a couple of minutes.

When you serve this, it would also be nice to sprinkle on some fresh chopped parsley to give the dish some nice color. 

Serving the Potatoes

The fried potatoes and onions could be part of a hearty breakfast with fried eggs. But I think they are best served at dinner with savory meat.

We had the Lyonnaise potatoes with a bone-in pork chop that I browned on the stove-top and finished in the oven. Fried chicken or a nice steak would be perfect too.

Give this recipe a try…I think you’ll like it.

Pan Fried Potatoes and Onions-Lyonnaise Potatoes

Pan fried potatoes and onions..Lyonnaise style. Perfectly browned Yukon gold potatoes and caramelized onions.

4.5 from 4 votes

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: French

Keyword: Lyonnaise potatoes, pan fried potatoes and onions

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 251kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced to 3/8" to 1/2" thick slabs
• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced thinly, lengthwise
• 4 tbsp butter
• salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

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Instructions

• Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Carefully add the potatoes in a single layer to the skillet. Salt and pepper the potatoes.
• Brown the potatoes by turning and rotating their positioning in the skillet with a pair of tongs, until all the slabs are nicely browned. This will take 15 to 20 minutes depending on the heat of your stove.
• Set your stove heat to low and add the sliced onions, salt them slightly, and stir into the potatoes. Cover the skillet and every 2 minutes, uncover and stir. After about 10 minutes the onions should be softened and starting to brown.
• Stir in the minced garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Serve hot garnished with chopped parsley.

Notes

1. If you have too many potatoes for a single layer in your skillet, rotate the potatoes using tongs until all are browned.
2. Keep the temperature of your skillet no more than 350° F to prevent the butter from burning. Use a laser thermometer to monitor this if you have one.
3. This recipe is adapted from Cook's Country and Emeril Lagasse. 

Nutrition

Calories: 251kcal