Season’s Choice Shredded Hash Browns + Breakfast Potato Pancakes Recipe

We’re generally fans of what Aldi does for breakfast: the eggs, the French toast, the sausage, the pancake-and-sasusage-on-a-stick … all of it. And we like Aldi’s hash brown patties, even if they’re not as good as they used to be.

One other breakfast staple in Aldi stores are shredded hash browns. In fact, not only are they a staple, but they have also long had a recipe on the back.

Let’s talk about the main product first. Season’s Choice Shredded Hash Browns — or, as they’re called on the packaging, Season’s Choice Hash Brown Shredded Potatoes — are a Regular Buy in Aldi’s frozen section. You can get them all the time, at all seasons of the year. We usually find them near other like-minded breakfast and potato products, although we also sometimes spot them in the Aldi Find frozen section if the Regular Buy freezers are too full. The package notes that they should be kept frozen at home and are cooked from frozen.

The hash browns come in a 30-ounce (1 pound, 14 ounces) bag and, as of early 2025, cost $3.59 at our store, or about 12 cents an ounce.

The hash browns consist of three ingredients: potatoes, dextrose, and sodium acid pyrophosphate. Each 2/3 cup serving has 90 calories and 20 grams of carbohydrates, including 1 gram of sugar. The potatoes have no fat and just 5 milligrams of sodium, although they are cooked in oil and most people will end up seasoning them before eating.

To cook these, you will need cooking oil, although the instructions note you can use cooking spray in place of oil. (Years ago, these bags used to also have instructions using water as a less recommended option to oil, but as of 2025 that is no longer the case.) You will also need a large skillet or fry pan with a lid.

To cook, put 3 tablespoons of cooking oil on the skillet, then heat to medium (350 degrees). Next, add a single layer of hash browns to the skillet. Be very careful here as the ice crystals can cause the oil to splatter. Once you have them in the skillet, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes, turning once for uniform cooking. A light golden brown color is a sign the hash browns are done.

Although we like the ease of hash brown patties, these are fun to cook. We like topping them with over-easy eggs, salt, and pepper, but you can do all kinds of things with shredded hash browns.

Including making …

The Recipe: Breakfast Potato Pancakes

The packaging came with a nifty recipe for breakfast potato pancakes. Aldi currently sells all of these ingredients.

Ingredients: 

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped cooked bacon
• 1 chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup chopped spinach
• 1 cup Season’s Choice Shredded Hash Browns, thawed

Note that, unlike when you normally cook these hash browns, you are actually supposed to thaw them for this recipe.

Before we get into the actual package directions, there are a few things you’ll want to do first.

One, you’ll want to make sure you cook and chop the bacon. We found that five slices of Aldi bacon was about right, and we cooked it over medium-low to medium heat, turning frequently, to make sure it came out crisp but not burned. When it’s done, we set it on a paper towel to drain the bacon grease and let it cool.

Two, you’ll want to chop the onion and spinach. While the bacon is cooking and cooling, we chopped up the onion, then chopped up enough spinach to make a half cup.

So, once you have your bacon, spinach, and onion all chopped up and ready, here’s what’s next.

1. Scramble 2 of your eggs in a medium bowl.
2. Add the hash browns, 2 remaining eggs, cheese, bacon, spinach, and onions to the scrambled eggs and stir.
3. Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat.
4. Take a 1/2 cup of the hash brown mixture, form into a round patty, and CAREFULLY (emphasis from the packaging) place into the hot oil.
5. Reduce heat, cook for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown.
6. Repeat until all mixture is gone.

Chef’s Thoughts:

When we first made the mix, we took one look at it and determined there was no way we were going to be able to form a round patty out of that concoction. It was simply too liquid. So we took a 1/2 cup measuring cup and used it to ladle the pancakes.

We used a griddle to cook them, although a skillet works fine. We found that 2 to 2 1/2 minutes was about right for each side.

Once done, we pulled them out and prepared to serve.

Taste-testing was done by two adults and two children. The two adults, myself included, really liked them. One of the children didn’t like it, while one of the children said it was merely “okay” (before eating up the part the other child didn’t eat). I thought the flavor and texture were both good, with the bacon in particular adding enough flavor that I didn’t feel the need to add salt or pepper, although you could.

Also, I tried cooking these with and without the spinach, and I couldn’t really taste a huge difference in flavor. So if you’re on the fence with these over the spinach, we think you can safely add the spinach for a health boost without sacrificing taste.

One other note: the recipe yields four decent-sized pancakes. We’re not sure they’re enough for more than 2-3 people, though, so if you’re feeding a larger brood you’ll probably want to either double the recipe or add some other side items to complete the meal.

The Verdict:

We really like the Season’s Choice Shredded Hash Browns on their own merits. They’re not too hard to cook, and they serve up well with all manner of breakfast options. But we also really like the Breakfast Potato Pancakes recipe on the bag. The pancakes are a little different from your traditional breakfast food but are also quite tasty. We recommend both.