Shakey's MoJo Potatoes ® Recipe

Shakey's MoJo Potatoes ® Recipe

by Liv | Published on January 9th, 2009, 1:07 pm | Food

Shakey's MoJo Potatoes Recipe

So this is a recipe I decided to go back and "re-vamp" so to say. It's actually one of the most popular recipes on the website and due to my recent good luck of finding a potato press in my possession, I felt it was time to dust off this old Mojo potato recipe and update it with my latest techniques.

As I mentioned in the original post, Shakey's Pizza is a California pizza restaurant to which originally came up with these potatoes. I decided to reincarnate them after I moved to the east coast, and they're pretty good.

What I've changed from the original Shakey Mojo recipe clone I created several years back and this one is the lack of deep-frying. I'm much more about health, but don't be turned off, because they're every bit of good if not better. Shakey's slice their potatoes into coins, and you can do this... (may need to alter slightly the cooking times) but it's just as easy for me to use my "new" potato press and prepare them as traditional fries. Same great taste, but more easily made.

You're 20 minutes away from fresh, yummy MoJo Potatoes!

So here's what you need...

Ingredients:
3 Potatoes
1/2 crushed chicken bouillon cube
3/4 teaspoon of salt
pinch of pepper
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne
1/4 teaspoon of thyme
1/4 teaspoon of paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Breadcrumbs ** Optional (This adds the bread like texture, but not necessary)

Directions:
1. Press potatoes using potato press.
2. Place potatoes on plate and microwave on high for 3 minutes.
3. Salt and allow to sit for 5 minutes
4..In a bowl mix cayenne, paprika, pepper, thyme, garlic, bouillon & oil.
7.Add fries, and mix with tongs.
8.Place on baking sheet.
9.Very Lightly sprinkle with bread crumbs* (optional)
10.Bake in preheated oven at 425F for 8 minutes.
11.Turn over and sprinkle with bread crumbs* & bake for an additional 8 minutes.

This is hands down the best baked french fry recipe out there, and it's not too unhealthy to boot!!

Thanks for taking me back to my wretched high school years when it was considered "cool" to hang out at Shakey's. The "right" people always went there after a football game to chow down some Mojos.

When I was little, Shakey's had a whole different atmosphere. It had a player piano, which was very cool, and you could step up on a platform to watch the cooks make the pizzas. It was all very exciting. Now it's a "herd 'em in and out like cattle" buffet and noisier than a Chucky Cheese.

I may have to try this except using peanut oil.

Penn Station subs has AWESOME fresh cut french fries.

Shakey's Pizza- yum. There were several locations in both NC and SC up until about 25 years ago.
My cousins told me the ones in Charlotte either folded or were bought out by a chain called Godfather's- and the pizza was nowhere near as good. From th epicture you showed, it's the same company- same logo and same fake stained glass.

Thanks, Liv. That could very well be what my problem was--I didn't cut the potatoes thin enough. I never really did learn to cook, and now, at the ripe old age of 43, I'm trying to go from opening a can of Spaghetti-Os to being chef Gordon Ramsay. It's OK, though, because my husband can eat his own weight in food every day, so my experiments rarely go to waste!

Wow, I was just thinking the other day about "mojo's". I grew up with Shakey's and the ultimate craving for "da mojo", LOL. Mojo's were a National past time. I would get a whole plate and pour a whole bunch of Heinz Ketchup next to them and go to town. Yum Yum. Thanks for this recipe, I will whip them up soon.

I distinctly remember the fried chicken and the mojo potatos sharing the same spicy flavor. I only found this thread because I still want to duplicate the mojos faithfully myself. ALSO, everytime new mojos were 'released' at the restaurant, there was a 'pressure' sound as if they were using a pressurized fryer. Plus there was always fried chicken when there were mojos on the 'bunch of lunch' buffet.

I was in California two weeks ago, and went back to Shakey's twice on my visit (I'm in Ohio now, and grew up in the L.A. area). Had pizza, mojos and chicken the first time, and the bunch of lunch the second. I remember why I really liked the mojos. I will have to give the recipes a try and see how they compare to the real thing.

Do you still have "Shakey's " restaurants out west? We used to have them here in northern Indiana when I was a kid. Their "mojo potatoes" were the BEST!

3Just for the record-I worked at shakey's in Overland Park, Kansas (K.C.) in the 70's-the mojo's and chicken were both deep fried in a pressure cooker type fat fryer-must have been built for them-never saw another one like it, but because it was sealed during cooking, they stayed moist instead of the dry you get just frying in deep fat.

Sorry to disappoint some of you. this restaurant originated in the philippines

Nikko wrote:Sorry to disappoint some of you. this restaurant originated in the philippines

Um, no:

Shakey's Pizza was founded in Sacramento, California, on April 30, 1954, by Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson and Ed Plummer. Wiki

Im from a small town in texas called san angelo. we used to have Shakey's many years ago. I find it intresting to find out we were the only ones to these potatoes Rojos. No wonder i couldn't ever find the receipe.

Hey, that little girl who plays "Goldilocks" in the commercial is Holly from the original Land of the Lost show on TV! I recognized her by her teeth.

I have been trying to find out where on Metcalf the Shakey's in Overland Park was. Can you tell me interesection where it was located?

bravehrt87 wrote:3Just for the record-I worked at shakey's in Overland Park, Kansas (K.C.) in the 70's-the mojo's and chicken were both deep fried in a pressure cooker type fat fryer-must have been built for them-never saw another one like it, but because it was sealed during cooking, they stayed moist instead of the dry you get just frying in deep fat.

Just got out of Shakeys/Santa Ana/Fairview-CA and had their $19.99 special (M-Pizza/1 ingridient-4pcs chicken-mojo potatoes) and was surprized when I got home and discovered that they had charged me $22.24 for the order which included 2 sodas @ $1.85 each and then they added added $2.27 taxes. Am I seeing double taxes of what? and are they doing the same to all....
LightSpender

Im from a small town in texas called san angelo. we used to have Shakey's many years ago. I find it intresting to find out we were the only ones to these potatoes Rojos. No wonder i couldn't ever find the receipe.

I am also from san angelo and ran into the same problem. I think they changed the name due to San Angelo Central and Odessa Permean being such loathed rivals back in the 70s, 80s and 90s (Permean refered to themselves as MoJo and wrote it all over everything whenever they came to town)

Nikko wrote:Sorry to disappoint some of you. this restaurant originated in the philippines

You, are an absolute dolt.

Shakey's originating in the phillipines is like saying Ferrari originated in Haiti.

While Shakey's has franchises in the Phillipines, the previous poster is absolutely correct. Shakey's WAS founded in Sacramento, CA.

I am also from San Angelo born and raised. In addition to the Odessa Permian issue, I believe they changed the name to rojo's also in part to the reddish color of the finished product. Rojo meaning red in spanish. Our Shakey's was run by John Dean. It was the highest grossing Shakey's for many years in the 70's and 80's. By the way, I wouldn't call San Angelo a small town. We are currently about 90,000 in population.

C. Alice wrote:Shakey's Pizza- yum. There were several locations in both NC and SC up until about 25 years ago.
My cousins told me the ones in Charlotte either folded or were bought out by a chain called Godfather's- and the pizza was nowhere near as good. From th epicture you showed, it's the same company- same logo and same fake stained glass.

Who r u talking about? 'all the good christians are gone' hahahaha, God does not believe in religion and you for sure DO NOT HAVE TO PRAY IN FRONT OF ANYONE, hahahaha man if you knew anything GOD is in your heart and there is no need to be with anyone he is always listening. He would probably laugh at you. You should watch the movie 'OH GOD, BOOKII', just maybe youll learn something:)

I have not tried this recipe yet, however it seems everyone is remembering their Shakeys experience. I recall as a young lad in Alberta, Canada when the family would go on vacation ( 75ish i think) we would always stop in Edmonton, Alberta and there was a Shakys pizza there. They had all the trappings, the piano, watch the fellas make the pizza etc. I still long for the chicken and mojo's and will give this recipe a try.

Believe it or not we used to hang out at Shakey's pizza when I lived in Japan back in the late 70's. We always loved these potatos but I don't remember them being called Mojo? At any rate, thanks for recreating the recipe ~ I just might give these a try tonight for dinner.

Nikko wrote:Sorry to disappoint some of you. this restaurant originated in the philippines

what an idiot

Has anybody tried the recipe yet..... any feedback on how close it is to the original

cdn chick wrote:Has anybody tried the recipe yet..... any feedback on how close it is to the original

Flavoring wise, it's how I remember it. If you want the texture and the look too, you'll need to batter them in flour, or bread-crumbs and slice in chips.