There's nothing like experiencing authentic food in the country of its origin! But having means to travel? That's a different story! Luckily, you don't have to travel far, maybe just to your local grocery store, to still enjoy world cuisine. German pan - fried potatoes and eggs are local's favorite meal for brunch or supper and are super easy to make. Best of all, using sweet potatoes makes this dish a healthy choice too.
Ever wonder what Germans like to eat? In my six years living abroad, I learned one thing about Germans and their food - they love quick meals and lots of potatoes. They even put them in their pancakes.
Trying to balance life's demands I'm all about quick meals. That doesn't mean we have to sacrifice on flavor, does it? And let me tell you, although a simple dish, these easy German pan-fried potatoes and eggs are not lacking flavor.
Now, if you ask my brother in law about flavors of German food, he's got a different experience. The brave soul ordered something authentic Bavarian from the menu while we were visiting Germany a couple of years back. I warned him though, but he insisted on the experience. They served him a big plate of assortment head cheese salad.
If you're wondering, head cheese is meat jelly. Ew.
That didn't even look good. Needless to say, he didn't touch it and we all shared our food with him. To return it and order something else was out of the question. Embarrassing, I guess. We still laugh about that. He would've been better off with pan-fried potatoes and eggs. It's easy, it's German, simple and yummy. Oh, well. Next time he'll know better.
But I guarantee you, there is nothing weird about German pan-fried potatoes aka Bratkartoffeln. I tested the dish substituting regular potatoes with sweet potatoes and I love it. What's not to love when you have an easy, tasty dish you can feel good about?
You can add bacon to it, as Germans sometimes do (see "get creative" section below), but I wouldn't recommend adding head cheese if you've never had it before, ha!
Easy German Pan-Fried Potatoes and Eggs Recipe
[bctt tweet="Authentic #German #potato dish made healthy #bratkartoffeln #friedpotatoes " username="via all_thats_jas"]
Ingredients:
Serves 2
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 4 tablespoons oil, divided
- ½ cup chopped onions
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 eggs
- Fresh parsley (optional)
~ Free Tip ~
This easy German pan-fried potatoes and eggs recipe is simplified, but you could kick it up a notch by using butter, spices like turmeric and cumin, or add bacon. Try the recipe with regular potatoes too! Have leftover boiled potatoes from a previous day? Use them up here.
Directions:
- Wash and dry potatoes; do not peel. Wrap each potato in a paper towel and microwave until al dente, about 5 minutes (depending on potato size). Cool completely or until able to handle then slice.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute for 3 minutes. Add potato slices and fry until browned, turning once, about 4 -6 minutes per side. Do not crowd the potatoes or they will fall apart when turning. Brown them in batches if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a medium pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggs and fry to your liking. Serve the fried potatoes topped with eggs and garnish with fresh parsley if desired. Guten Appetit!

Easy German Pan-Fried Potatoes and Eggs
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 4 tablespoons oil divided
- ½ cup chopped onions
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 eggs
- Fresh parsley optional
Instructions
- Wash and dry potatoes; do not peel. Wrap each potato in a paper towel and microwave until al dente, about 5 minutes (depending on potato size). Cool completely or until able to handle then slice.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute for 3 minutes. Add potato slices and fry until browned, turning once, about 4 -6 minutes per side. Do now crowd the potatoes or they will fall apart when turning. Brown them in batches if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a medium pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggs and fry to your liking. Serve the potatoes topped with eggs and garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Do you know of any easy German dishes? Or have another recipe for pan-fried potatoes? Do you ever put fried eggs on your potatoes? Tell me in the comments, I would love to know!
Pin it: Easy German Pan - Fried Potatoes and Eggs
This looks amazing! Thanks for linkin' up with What's Cookin' Wednesday!
Thank you, Karly! Have a super duper week!
Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner link up!
Jas this is such a simple yet tasty meal. My husband has a Greek variation where he fries potatoes and then adds the eggs scrambled with feta cheese in to make it like an omelet. But I personally love sweet potatoes.
Oh, I love the sound of that, Mary! I might steal that recipe to add to my Greek menu 😀
Thank you so much for linking at #overthemoon! I look forward to seeing what you share every week. Please come back for #WonderfulWednesday or #ThursdayFavoriteThings. Enjoy your week ahead.
Same to you, Marilyn!
These look delicious and make me miss Germany!
Thanks, I miss Germany too!
This is next on my menu with bacon.
I am of Polish and Sicilian decent. So lots of different food in my house growing up. And my dad was a chef.
Anyway 1 more thing ..I love head cheese. There is sour and sweet and both are good . Also love blood sausage. . Lol ill let you look that one up..
Hi Barbara, bacon would be a wonderful addition. Everything is better with bacon! Head cheese and blood sausage is also a staple in Bosnian cuisine, however, I could never acquire the taste for either. 🙂 Thanks for stopping in!
Thanks for linking up with us at #overthemoon and sharing some insights into German food. I've pinned and shared.
Thank you, Sue! Wishing you a wonderful day!
This is a delicious skillet of potatoes and eggs, can't wait to try it! Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at Full Plate Thursday and come back soon!
Miz Helen
Hope you like it as much as we do, Miz Helen!
This looks delicious!! Definitely going to give it a try. I love ALL ingredients so it can't go wrong haha.
Ha ha, Rebekah! I guarantee, it won't go wrong 😀
This looks delicious! Thank you for sharing with us at the To Grandma's house we go link party - you're going to be featured when the next party starts tomorrow morning!
You just made my Monday! Thanks so much 😀 Hope you had a lovely Easter!
Thanks so much for joining us at Celebrate Your Story and I hope you're having a lovely weekend.
Thank you, Sandra! same to you 🙂
This looks delicious, Jas! Unfortunately, my husband doesn't like sweet potatoes so I would have to go with standard potatoes.
Hi, Carol. Standard potatoes are in the traditional recipe and quite good!
Anything with a fried egg is a winner in my book, yum!
Thanks, Allison! I'm a big fan of fried eggs too. Happy Easter!
Oh wow.... this looks so good, Jas! I'm almost half German, but have no idea about the food. Apparently it all got tossed out when they came to America lol
I loved your Easter decor post and the artichoke dip sandwiches... good God! I really need to explore your recipes more, but I'm afraid I'll weigh four hundred pounds just by looking 😉
Anyway, I hope you have a fabulous Easter 🙂
xo,
rue
Lol, it must have. Everything but the beer, ha! Thank you and have a very happy Easter, Rue! 🙂
This looks so delicious! I LOVE german Potato salad, so I know I'll love this - - and this looks so healthy! Thanks so much for sharing at I DIYed that! I hope you come back and share again!
Thanks, Jen! I'm sure you'd like this dish too!
This is very similar to what I eat for breakfast almost every morning. My extras are spinach, bell peppers, and onions. My husband loves a variation of head cheese called souse. I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole, but whatever makes him happy. Do you have more German recipes to share? We would love for you to share this one at Celebrate Your Story, here’s the link for this week’s party. Hope you can join us!
http://www.thesweetsensations.com/celebrate-story-link-party-2/
Spinach and peppers, yum! Lol, I'm with you on the head cheese - thanks, but no thanks 😀
I sure do have more German and other recipes from around the world. Thanks for the invitation to your party, I'd love to join!!!
I'd not heard about wrapping a tater in paper towel (probably because I'm still using my oven); do taters in the microwave explode or something? I know, right now you are impressed/astounded by the depth of my kitchen knowledge - please, no applause.
You always make me giggle. I think wrapping the taters in a paper towel keeps the moisture in or speeds up the cooking process. Who knows...I don't always question things I'm told to do, lol. I also poke them with a fork few times so they don't explode. That I do know, ha!
I cannot live without potatoes and I will not leave till I get some! And eggs You just kneed me on my weakest spots of taters and eggs! LOL
I love your new logo by the way. So creative! Forking your way to the world! Brilliant! 😀
Hahaha, forking my way to the world! I'm still laughing out loud, Ann. Only you can come up with things like that and I love it! That should be my tagline, ha! 😀 😀
You know, somehow I have this thing in my head when I saw your logo that you have this one signature fork with you that you have all the time in your pocket. Then when it suits you, you just walk around the tables that you see and start forking food from random strangers' plates! LOL
But hey..now that you said it, it's cool for a tagline! Use it. 😀 😀 😀
I'd totally do that, ha ha. Just watch out, if you're too close, you might get forked 😛
Please stop it now Jas, I had to wipe and deep clean the keyboard before I could comment. That's so not fair 😉 my German blood is going ballistic right now thinking about your süßkartoffels and trying to figure out who I can call to make me some. Damn you woman. I'm pinning for when I find that someone
Lol! Es tut mir leid 😛 Thanks, Michelle, but these are so easy even you could make them, ha! If you can't find anyone, come visit and I'll make them for ya 😉
Okay, see you in a bit 😀 I'll wash the dishes to say herzlichen dank
Ha, ha - DEAL!
My favourite go to meal!
Yay! Mine too 😀 Thanks for stopping in, Jackie!