Hash browns are a popular American dish loved by people all over the world. It’s deep fried potato bits that are hard to resist, and many consume it as breakfast.

However, when it comes to pregnant women, this popular dish can raise a few eyebrows. Many question the health contents of the dish.

Can You Eat Hash Browns When Pregnant?

Pregnant women should avoid having hash browns as they contain high calories. During pregnancies, you should focus more on consuming nutritious foods rather than food containing high oil contents. Not only can it negatively impact your unborn child, it also puts the mother at serious health risk.

Hash browns can result many other health difficulties in pregnant women. We went through them all to help you understand the significance of avoiding hash browns during pregnancies.

Let’s take a look:

Should Pregnant Women Have Hash Browns?

Hash browns are not a healthy food to consume for a pregnant woman. Generally, people don’t even want to eat french fries that frequently, where it’s not fried as long as hash browns. 

On the other hand, hash browns have to be fried until they turn brown. That means it’s more unhealthy than french fries. So, it can be said that pregnant women shouldn’t have hash browns. But it’s okay to have some hash browns once every two weeks if you’re pregnant. 

Sometimes, pregnancy can cause cravings. Most of the women have cravings during pregnancy. There would be irregularities in proper calories intake as well. 

At this time, if a pregnant woman craves hash browns, she will want to eat it as much as possible.

In this situation, a pregnant woman can have other alternative potato dishes that are healthier and tastier than hash browns. Though it won’t fulfill the craving properly, still it will be great for the health of both the mother and the baby. 

Why Hash Browns Aren’t Healthy?

In general, eating too much potato is not healthy for your body. The reasons are given below. 

Reason 1: High Carbohydrates and Calories 

Potatoes have a higher amount of carbohydrate and calories. If you eat too many potatoes, then you’re consuming too much carbohydrate and calories. 

But the amounts of calories and fat in potatoes depend on how the potatoes are cooked. Such as potatoes that are fried just like hash browns and potatoes that are processed like potato chips are way more rich in calories and fat than boiled, steamed or roasted potatoes. 

Reason 2: Increase of Blood Sugar 

If you consume too much carbohydrate, your blood sugar levels can get too high. For this reason, your body would start to make more insulin. It tells your body cells to save the extra glucose as fat. 

So, eating too much carbohydrate can end up causing diabetes, obesity and other related health issues. Alternatively, taking creating with scrambles eggs can be a good option. 

Reason 3: High Toxin

A researcher has said that when potatoes are fried, a toxin called acrylamide is produced. It could cause cancer. Which means eating lots of hash browns can be pretty harmful for everyone let alone a pregnant woman.  

Hash Brown Alternatives

As potatoes are so tasty and contain nutrition, you have to eat potatoes. But you need to cook them in healthier ways so that you can eat healthy. It’s more important for pregnant women to eat healthy. 

Now, hash browns are not so healthy but they taste really good. So what a pregnant woman can do to avoid hash brown is to eat the alternative potato dishes. Here are some alternative dishes of potato that are healthier than hash browns. 

Boiled Potatoes

You can eat boiled potatoes as an alternative to hash browns. To boil potatoes you’ll only need some water. You have to put the potatoes in a pot and then put water into the pot. Make sure that every potato is under water.

Then wait until the water boils. It’ll take 20-25 mins. Then cool them and peel off the skin from the potatoes.

You can eat boiled potatoes with some salad or you can eat them without anything. It’s healthy if you eat boiled potatoes because you don’t need to fry the potatoes to cook them. 

Mashed Potatoes 

To cook mashed potatoes you need some boiled/ steamed potatoes, some salt, butter, black pepper. Also, you could add some cream in it if you want. It’s also a healthy recipe to eat potatoes. 

You have to take some pieces of boiled potatoes in a bowl. Then mix some salt, butter, black pepper in it. You can also add the cream in it if you want creamy mashed potatoes. Then mix everything well. You can eat mashed potatoes as a side dish or you can eat it as it is. 

Steamed Potatoes

Steamed potatoes are more like boiled potatoes. They are just made in different ways. You need less water and less time to steam the same amount of potatoes than boiling them. 

But steamed potatoes are as healthy as boiled potatoes. And you can eat them just like you eat boiled potatoes. Such as, you can make mashed potatoes with them. Also, you can eat it with salad, or you can eat it with boiled chicken etc.

Roasted Potatoes

To cook roasted potatoes you need olive oil, some salt, pepper and garlic. You have to mix the pieces of potatoes with these ingredients well. And then you have to put them in the oven and roast them for an hour. 

After taking the potatoes out from the oven, you can season them and serve them. You can eat it as a side dish or you can eat it as a snack. You could eat it with roasted chicken as well.

It’s a healthy and tasty dish of potatoes. You can eat it as an alternative to hash browns. 

FAQs

Is it okay to eat potatoes while pregnant?

Absolutely yes! But eating too many potatoes is not good for your health so eat a healthy amount of potatoes. Also, it’s better to avoid fried potatoes as much as you can and eat boiled or steamed or roasted potatoes. 

Is it okay to eat hot chips while pregnant? 

Yes, it’s okay to eat hot chips while pregnant but in a proper amount. Proper amounts of spicy foods aren’t harmful for you and your baby if you’re pregnant.  

Can you eat cold hash browns? 

Yes, you can eat cold hash browns. But it won’t taste as good as hot hash browns. So, if taste does matter to you, it’s better if you eat it hot. And if you don’t care about the taste, you can eat cold hash browns. However, the quality of hash browns doesn’t change depending on whether it’s cold or hot. 

Conclusion

That should clear your confusions on whether or not can you eat hash browns when pregnant.

If you’re pregnant, it’s better to avoid eating hash browns. As it’s important to eat potatoes, find alternative ways to cook them which are more healthy. 

Keep you and your baby the healthiest!