Patatas bravas is the ultimate Spanish tapas dish. It is simple and yet so unique. This is a Mediterranean twist to a classic chips plate.

As I’ve mentioned a million times in this blog I’M A BIG FAN OF SPANISH FOOD — thank god I live closer to Spain than when I lived in Venezuela. I can’t get enough of their bread, olive oil and wine. But you know what is the thing I like the most about their gastronomy… Tapas.
Tapas is basically a small plate of food that comes with drinks. So, with this brilliant concept, you can go for a couple drinks to any Spanish bar and end up eating a full dinner with small plates of Spanish delicacies.
One of the most famous tapas is patatas bravas, but ….
Table of Contents
What is patatas bravas?
Patatas: potatoes
Bravas: angry
I know that can sound intimidating… a plate that is self-called “angry potatoes”. You can assume that is a super spicy type of plate but in fact, the spicy factor is quite low. The stronger flavor is pepper and garlic.
The plate consists in confited, rough-cut potatoes covered with a red thick sauce that is mainly made with bell pepper paste and garlic.
How to confit potatoes?
Confit is a French cooking technique that basically consists in cooking an ingredient — usually used with poultry like duck or chicken meat —- inside a big amount of oil over low and constant heat.
It’s not the same as frying. The food is submerged when the oil is cold and slowly cooked while the oil is getting hotter. The temperature must stay below 200ºF while frying requires at least 350ºF.

How to make the classic patatas bravas sauce?
This particular sauce is made basically out of “pasta de pimentón” that you may know as the paprika paste.
This recipe uses spicy paprika paste and regular sweet paprika paste. As I’ve mentioned before the spicy factor is not as strong because the ratio of spicy paprika paste is quite a lot. If you want a spicier result you can alter this ratio.
To get a thick and rick patatas bravas’ sauce you will need to make a type of roux but instead of milk like in a bechamel, we will use chicken broth.
This sauce must be smooth and shiny, for that reason after cooking it I like to blend it to make sure that there are no garlic or onion chunks.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and I see you in the next one!

Other Spanish Recipes

Spanish patatas bravas
Ingredients
- 3 potatoes
- 1 cup olive oil
Patatas bravas sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp paprika paste
- ½ tbsp spicy paprika paste
- 1 onion thinly diced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 tbsp flour
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- Pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Peel and cut the potatoes into rough cubes.
- In a medium-size deep pan pour the olive oil and add the potatoes (notes 1). Heat the olive oil over low heat and confit for 15 -20 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
- Then raise the temperature to medium-high to get a crispy outside. Cook for 10 minutes until the surface is golden. Remove from the oil and transfer to an absorbent paper.
Sauce
- In a small deep pan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Toss the onion and the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Add the spicy paprika paste and the regular paprika paste and mix well.
- Add the flour and mix until you get a homogenous dough-like paste.
- Pour the chicken broth and mix well to ensure there are no lumps in the sauce. Season with pepper to taste.
- Take the sauce out of the stove and blend to get a smooth and silky sauce.
- Serve the sauce over the confited potatoes.
Notes
- Add enough potatoes to cover the pan surface but not to overcrowd the pan, otherwise, the potatoes will stick to each other. You can cook the potatoes for batches to avoid this.
I’m Maria and I love cooking—and mostly EATING—food from all around the world. I’ve been sharing my abuela’s secret Latin-American recipes for the last 7 years with the world on this blog. I’ve been a full-time food blogger for many years and I’m always trying new delicious meals that don’t require a culinary degree or a Michelin-star chef. I also love traveling, cats, and knitting.