A quick and easy yet FLAVORFUL recipe for crispy diced potatoes in air fryer will be your new go-to whether you’re serving them for breakfast OR dinner! Combined with peppers, onions, and lots of seasoning, you can get the fried air fryer diced potatoes on the table in just 20 minutes.
Air Fryer Potatoes O’Brien
We eat A LOT of potatoes in our house, maybe it’s because of my husband’s German heritage or maybe it’s just because we love potatoes! Usually, we cook them up plain and simple with salt, pepper, and olive oil, or on a sheet pan with roasted vegetables.
But I must say…cooking the diced potatoes in air fryer recipe with onions and green bell peppers mixed in has seriously made this one of our favorite recipes on our air fryer recipe website!
And did you know, these aren’t just basic air fryer diced potatoes, this recipe is actually called many names depending on what part of the country you’re from or even what part of the world you’re in! Other common names:
- Air fryer home fries
- Air fryer potatoes O Brien (or O Brian)
- Air fryer diced hash browns
- Air fryer cottage potatoes
My favorite way to enjoy air fryer diced hash browns is actually for breakfast with 2 fried eggs served over the top is with dinner. Bacon on the side never hurts either!
If you’re looking for even more ways to cook potatoes in your air fryer, be sure to try potato wedges, steak fries, and homemade french fries….all in the air fryer of course!
What Makes This Recipe So Good!
- Skip the deep frying, this home style fries in air fryer recipe comes out perfectly crisp on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside.
- Homemade means you can be sure they are made from fresh, raw russet potatoes and seasoned to perfection.
- Your home fries in air fryer recipe can be ready in as little as 20-minutes!
- This home fries in air fryer recipe is perfect for sticking to a vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and whole30 diet.
- This recipe is SO easy, its the perfect side dish to toss in and leave while you cook your other dishes.
Key Ingredients
The home fries diced potatoes in air fryer recipe uses kitchen basics like potatoes, added peppers, and onions if you want them in there, plus simple seasonings in your pantry.
- Onion/Bell Pepper– these can be omitted if you’re just looking for an easy air fryer diced potatoes recipe. They do add excellent flavor when included.
- Olive Oil-Avocado oil also works great in an air fryer
- Seasoning -Sea salt, black pepper, and garlic powder
- Potatoes – The recipe uses Russet potatoes but red potatoes or Yukon gold could be swapped instead.
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities *
Equipment
- An Air Fryer- We have a Cosori XL basket style air fryer, a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker & air fryer combo, an Instant Pot Omni Plus oven style air fryer, an Instant Pot air fryer lid, and a small 3.2L Farberware basket style air fryer. The Cosori unit was used in this recipe.
- Non-stick spatula
How to Air Fry Potatoes O’Brien
Prep Ingredients
Wash the Russet potatoes and cut them into ¾″ cubes.
To get the chopped potatoes to come out as crispy as possible, add the diced potatoes to a bowl and cover them with cold water. Let them sit for at least 1 hour. Drain the water and blot the potatoes dry.
***NOTE: Soaking the potatoes in cold water can be skipped if you’re in a hurry but you’ll still want to blot moisture from your fries after washing the potatoes.
While the potatoes are soaking, prep the remaining ingredients by chopping the green bell pepper and onion. Set them aside.
Combine the dried potatoes, oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a medium sized bowl. Do NOT add the peppers and onions yet, they’ll burn if they get added too soon.
Air Fryer Cook Time and Temperature
Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes.
The air fryer diced potatoes will cook for a total of 20 minutes, if you’re adding peppers and onions, they get added after 10 minutes. Add the seasoned potatoes into the air fryer basket and cook them for a total of 10 minutes, making sure to flip them or shake the basket after 5 minutes.
Add the peppers and onions to the air fryer. Continue cooking them for a total of 10 more minutes, flipping them after 5 minutes through cooking, or until they’re to your liking.
Variations
Skip the Peppers and Onions– If you want simple air fryer home fries, the peppers and onions can be left out. Increase the amount of potato being used or decrease the amount of oil and seasoning.
Skip the potato soak– For extra crispy chopped and diced potatoes, you can soak the cubed potatoes in water for 1 hour, making sure to blot them dry with paper towels before continuing with the recipe. Soaking removes some of the starch from the potato. If you’re short on time, you can still make the air fryer potatoes O Brien without the soak!
Sweet potatoes – instead of Russet potatoes, swap them for sweet potatoes to make them paleo and Whole30 or just to have a variation in your meal rotation.
Add cheese– melt shredded cheddar cheese on the diced potatoes in air fryer in the last minute of cooking.
Tips for Potatoes O Brien Air Fryer
- Don’t overcrowd your air fryer or the potatoes won’t get brown and crispy. Make more than one batch if needed.
- Soaking the potatoes for 1 hour in cold water before cooking helps get them extra crispy, but if you don’t have time for this you can skip this step. Just make sure you still dry the potatoes with paper towels!
- Toss or stir the fried potatoes every 5 minutes during the cooking process, which takes about 20 minutes in total.
- Wait on adding the peppers and onions until after 10 minutes of cooking time, otherwise, they will burn.
Common Questions
Serve roasted potatoes with protein like pork chops, ribs, steak, or roasted chicken. Adding a vegetable on the side is great too like adding more roasted vegetables to the potatoes when you cook them, or a sauteed or microwave simple vegetable like broccoli, or even a green salad.
Home fries aka potatoes O’ Brien or cottage potatoes are great for breakfast OR dinner. While many people eat fried or roasted potato cubes for dinner, when you add peppers and onions, they’re commonly served at breakfast with two over-medium eggs on top.
Yes. You can reheat leftover potatoes in an air fryer. Preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes at 400 F. Add the chopped, cubed, diced, sliced, or potato fries, to the air fryer, leaving space around each piece for best results. Cook them for 2-4 minutes in the air fryer depending on their size and your preference of cooking.
To make potatoes O’Brien crispy, we recommend to soak them for 1 hour in salted water before cooking. Drain the soaking water and blot the potatoes dry with a paper towel before cooking the potatoes in your air fryer.
More Air Fryer Potatoes
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📖 Recipe
Diced Potatoes in Air Fryer (Potatoes O Brien)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz Russet Potato
- ⅓ Cup Red Onion diced
- ⅓ Cup Green Bell Pepper diced
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil extra virgin
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Wash the Russet potatoes and cut them into ¾″ cubes.
- To get the chopped potatoes to come out as crispy as possible, add the diced potatoes to a bowl and cover them with cold water. Let them sit for at least 1 hour. Drain the water and blot the potatoes dry. ***NOTE: Soaking the potatoes in cold water can be skipped if you’re in a hurry but you’ll still want to blot moisture from your fries after washing the potatoes.
- While the potatoes are soaking, prep the remaining ingredients by chopping the green bell pepper and onion. Set them aside.
- Combine the dried potatoes, oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a medium sized bowl. Do NOT add the peppers and onions yet, they'll burn if they get added too soon.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes.
- The air fryer diced potatoes will cook for a total of 20 minutes, if you’re adding peppers and onions, they get added after 10 minutes. Add the seasoned potatoes into the air fryer basket and cook them for a total of 10 minutes, making sure to flip them or shake the basket after 5 minutes.
- Add the peppers and onions to the air fryer. Continue cooking them for a total of 10 more minutes, flipping them after 5 minutes through cooking, or until they’re to your liking.
Notes
- Don’t overcrowd your air fryer or the potatoes won’t get brown and crispy. Make more than one batch if needed.
- Soaking the potatoes for 1 hour in cold water before cooking helps get them extra crispy, but if you don’t have time for this you can skip this step. Just make sure you still dry the potatoes with paper towels!
- Toss or stir the fried potatoes every 5 minutes during the cooking process, which takes about 20 minutes total.
- Wait on adding the peppers and onions until after 10 minutes of cooking time, otherwise, they will burn.
Nutrition
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