Order Your Waffle House Hash Browns This Way For The Crispiest Results

Waffle House is known for a lot of things. For starters, it has its own museum, and the chain was also one of Anthony Bourdain's favorites. But to most regular customers, it's a great hangover cure, a post-church Sunday tradition, or somewhere in between. No matter who you are and when you go to Waffle House, it's hard to leave without at least one order of those delicious hash browns. The chain says that it annually serves 153 million orders of the tasty spuds, which is second only to 272 million orders of eggs.

While you could always make your own tasty hash browns using Gordon Ramsay's method, it's hard to beat the convenience of a hot order off the grill at Waffle House. One of the great options about ordering hash browns here is the wide variety of toppings you can choose from — all of which come with their own lingo (we'll get to that in a second). But before you choose your toppings, you'll want to start with the crispiest hash browns possible. That option all comes down to one simple word when ordering: "scattered."

When you order scattered hash browns at Waffle House, your chef will spread the potatoes out thin over the grill top, instead of cooking them in the standard patty shape. With a little press from a spatula, the hash browns will crisp up on the outside while still staying soft on the inside. It's hash brown heaven.

If you really want to go next level with your hash brown order, use Waffle House's ordering lingo to create a variety of toppings to add to your crispy potatoes. While it might seem like inside info, it's actually listed on the Waffle House menu, so it's pretty easy to follow. Simply ask for your hash brown topping by using one of these terms: smothered (sauteed onions), covered (slice of American cheese), chunked (diced ham), diced (grilled tomatoes), peppered (jalapeños), capped (grilled mushrooms), topped (chili), country (sausage gravy), or all the way, which includes all of the above.

So if you want your scattered hash browns with onions, cheese, and chili, you would ask for "scattered, smothered, covered, and topped." Off your server goes and, typically, you'll have fresh hash browns within 10 minutes at most.

Though the chain first started in Georgia in 1955, the hash brown ordering lingo wasn't a thing until nearly 30 years later. Jim Hosseini, an Executive Vice President at Waffle House, told Garden and Gun that chefs would chop up special ingredients and add them to the hash browns when cooking for themselves or friends. Scattered on the grill and covered with onions has always been an option. But the hash brown world expanded when Waffle House owners took notice and added the other options to menus, starting with covered (cheese) and chunked (ham). Grilled tomatoes and jalapeños followed with more options quickly behind. Even with all those toppings, though, we believe the best Waffle House orders start with delicious, crispy, scattered hash browns.