Melting potatoes recipe with garlic and herbs
This melting potatoes recipe is one of the easiest, most delicious ways to get a lot of bang for your buck with a quick side dish. The oven does the majority of the work for you, all you have to do is flip them a couple of times. That tiny bit of effort is rewarded with the most perfectly crispy outside, tender and creamy inside, roasted potato dish to ever grace your dinner table.
I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.
You may also be interested in my potato spinach casserole and my brown butter fingerling potatoes recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my potato recipes in one place.
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Why you should make this recipe
Calling all potato lovers! This recipe is perfect for those who love crispy potatoes that are packed with flavor, garlicky and super easy.
- Easy – This recipe requires minimal effort. Toss the potatoes and give them a few flips on the baking sheet. It really couldn’t be easier.
- Scalable – Having a big gathering at your house, like a holiday or celebration? You can scale this melting potatoes recipe up to suit your needs, no matter how many guests you are serving.
- Gluten-free – Potatoes are naturally gluten-free.
Best melting potatoes recipe
This recipe is easy, mostly hands off, full of nutrients and naturally gluten-free. And, the herbs and garlic give the potatoes a ton of flavor.
Melting potatoes go with everything. From a fancy holiday dinner to a side for burgers, they are always perfect.
These potatoes melt in your mouth. I prefer Yukon Golds for this recipe because of their creamy texture. When baked, the inside is soft and tender, while the exterior of the potatoes are as crunchy as the caramel on top of a crème brûlée.
Ingredients
- Yukon Gold potatoes – This is my go-to potato for this recipe. You can also use Russets, if you prefer.
- Unsalted butter – Unsalted butter lets you control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Oil – I use grapeseed oil as my neutral oil, but canola and vegetable oil are also good options.
- Chicken or vegetable broth/stock – I like chicken stock, as it has more body, but use whatever you prefer.
- Garlic – Use as much or as little as you like. I like A LOT.
- Salt and pepper – Everything needs to be seasoned.
- Fresh and/or dried herbs – I love fresh herbs, I think they add a freshness to dishes and give them a little “lift”. Use what you like.
Seriously the BEST potatoes I’ve ever had!! They are a weekly staple in our house!
– Reader Liz
How to make
Here’s a quick summary of how to make melting potatoes. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
As with every recipe, read all the way through it before you begin. Make sure you have your ingredients and equipment ready to go. This recipe isn’t difficult at all, but you don’t want to discover after having the potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes that you forgot the chicken broth.
- First, whisk together the melted butter, oil, herbs, salt and pepper.
- Next, add the sliced and peeled potatoes, and toss to combine.
- Place the potatoes on an unlined metal baking sheet.
- Roast at high temp, flipping over to crisp both sides before adding stock.
Melting potatoes recipe FAQ’s
Melting potatoes are an easier version of a French dish called fondant potatoes. It’s the same basic concept, except all of the cooking is done in the oven – versus stovetop, then oven.
You can, however, you’ll likely lose the crispy outside. Think about re-heating French fries – they are never quite as crispy as when they were freshly cooked.
If properly stored in an airtight container in the fridge, the leftover potatoes will last about a week.
Chef’s Notes
I usually put these at the end, but I really wanted to make sure you saw this. Before we get to the recipe, let me suggest two pieces of equipment for this: A heavy sheet pan and a fish spatula.
Why? I know I’m not the only person who has that one sheet pan that always warps in a hot oven making a loud pop and scaring all the neighborhood dogs. I highly recommend a heavier, sturdier (commercial) sheet pan for this because the oven is going to be VERY hot.
Next, the fish spatula. But, it’s for fish, right? Well, it is for everything actually. It is one of the best kitchen tools you’ll ever own and you’ll wonder why you never bought one before. What makes this thing so magical? It’s thin and flexible, which means you can get under those potatoes to turn them without leaving the crispy bottom stuck to the sheet pan.
Variations and substitutions
- Make it vegan – Swap out butter for oil or use a non-dairy butter alternative.
- Use these potatoes as a base for my vegetarian poutine recipe instead of fries.
Serving suggestions
This melting potatoes recipe is perfect for Sunday dinners, holiday dinners or even weeknights. It is honestly one of my favorite ways to have potatoes and I hope it’ll be one of your favorites, too.
You can pair this with everything from a beef tenderloin or a pork loin roast, to roast chicken or burgers.
Helpful tools and equipment
- Sheet pan – Heavy duty sheet pans that don’t warp in the oven.
- Flexible spatula – This is the one I own. It is a bit pricier than the one I linked to above, but it has lasted me over 20 years in professional kitchens.
- Medium sized mixing bowl
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Melting potatoes recipe
This melting potatoes recipe is one of the easiest, most delicious ways to prepare potatoes. Perfect for your holiday table, but easy enough for weeknight supper.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds Yukon Gold Idaho Potatoes, peeled
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil (canola, vegetable, grapeseed)
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped (or 1 1/2 tsp. dried)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon salt (I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, if you use Morton's salt or table salt, reduce amount to 1 1/2 tsp.)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup vegetable broth, or chicken broth
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed (or more if you really like garlic!)
- ¼ cup parsley, chopped (optional)
- ¼ cup scallions, thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500°F (475°F for convection).
- In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, oil, rosemary, dried thyme, salt and pepper.
- Slice potatoes into 3/4" - 1" (about 2cm) rounds and toss in butter mixture. Lay potatoes on a metal baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 15 - 20 minutes.
- Flip over, using a flexible (fish) spatula and return to oven for another 15 minutes.
- Flip over again, then carefully pour broth onto sheet pan and add smashed garlic, making sure to coat the garlic in the butter/stock mixture.
- Roast for an additional 10 – 15 minutes to get the tops super crispy. Most of the stock should be absorbed. Sprinkle with fresh herbs, if desired, and drizzle with remaining stock from the pan.
Notes
To make the recipe vegan, use non-dairy butter.
*When adding the stock to the pan, carefully pour away from your body, the pan will be very hot and it will sizzle a bit.
Rosemary is a hearty herb and can withstand high heat, so you can use fresh rosemary or dried. Thyme is a delicate herb and will burn under high high, so dried is best.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 305Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 1349mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 5gSugar: 3gProtein: 6g
Nutrition information calculated by a third-party company as a courtesy. It is intended as a guideline only.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a delicious day 🙂
Questions? Send me an email, I’m happy to help. I’d love to send you weekly tips and recipes, so you can get updates about what’s happening in the kitchen!
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Originally published 9/24/19.
Another fantastic recipe! Very easy to make, but elegant enough to serve with any meal. My sister saw my picture and wanted me to send them through the phone lines! I left the skin on some of the potatoes to see how that worked. They had a slightly different texture, and overall I liked them better without the skin. (But, if you want to save a little time by not peeling the potatoes they still taste incredible!)
I’m so glad you tried this recipe! I’ve never tried it with the skin on, but good to know that if I’m feeling lazy, it’s still pretty good! Thank you so much for the kind words and the comment! I hope your sister makes them and loves them too! <3
I made these with dinner tonight and they were delicious!! My husband couldn’t get enough of them!! He’s very picky so that’s saying a lot!! The only thing I did different was used minced (jarred) garlic, and only used 1tsp. I can’t wait to make these again! They will be a staple in my dinners from now on!!!
Liz, this totally made my morning!!! Thank you so much! I’m so happy that you liked them and that your husband like them! THANK YOU for leaving a comment, I really appreciate it! If you would rate the recipe (in the recipe card), that would be fantastic!!! 🙂
Thanksgiving is around the corners and I’m considering making these rather than mashed potatoes. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m going to have to make these either before or after Thanksgiving. Or maybe both – we’ll see. LOL! They sound amazingly delicious!
Your recipe gives the oven temperature for conventional and convection ovens. Thank you!
I might just have to do a blog post on this recipe.
LOL! Thanks, Anne! I must say, they are pretty tasty! I love them with a roast chicken, so they would be perfectly at home on your Thanksgiving table, if you can wait that long to make them 😉
Let me know what you think!
Why don’t these stick to the pan with all that butter?
They don’t stick to the pan at all. High heat, butter and then stock added in at the end makes steam and they release right off of the sheet pan! Having a thin, flexible spatula like the one I mentioned in the post helps to make sure you can flip your spuds without losing the crispy outside, just in case you have a bit that does stick.
We are a huge meat and potatoes kind of family. These were AMAZING! Made them for a party of 9 tonight and every single person asked me to make these again! Thank you for this recipe!
Wow! That’s fantastic! Thank you so much!!!
Could I do these in a casserole dish instead of a sheet pan? I worry about the mess from the broth etc when I, like I usually do, drop the sheet pan?
Hi CT, so I wouldn’t recommend a casserole dish. You won’t get the same crispy outside that is the best part of the potato. The metal from the sheet pan gets REALLY hot and helps the potato form the crust on the outside. A glass casserole dish won’t give you the same result and you might be a bit disappointed. If you are afraid you’ll drop the sheet pan (I’ve been there, I understand!), carefully slide the rack out and add the stock, then slowly slide it back. That way, you aren’t picking up the sheet pan at all 🙂
Great tasting potatoes, this is my new go to recipe!
Hooray! Thank you so much, Renee! I’m so happy that you like them!
These are in the oven at this moment, and I’m super excited to try them. I have a question about the calories and serving size. Is that 301 calories for one slice or one potato?
Hi Lauren! I’m excited for you! They are so good! 🙂
The nutrition info is for 1 serving. It’s a little weird, but that’s how it’s calculated. The recipe serves 6, so try to evenly divide it and you’ll have the proper serving size. Hope that helps!
Hi there. I’m posting in the UK, having Googled for some fresh recipe ideas to get away from my usual ‘go to’ roast potatoes or wedges. Cooked these for my husband’s birthday meal last night – halved the quantity as it was just the 2 of us. A great hit and there were no leftovers, despite making enough in theory for 3 servings! So easy. I used dried herbs only but had some lovely homemade stock and can truly say these were restaurant standard with next to zero effort on my part. Thank you so much! Anne
Hi Anne, you have made my day. Thank you so very much for your kind comment. I’m absolutely thrilled that there were no leftovers 🙂
I love this recipe too, it’s so easy and it turns out perfect every single time. Have a fantastic evening and thank you again!
Made these for a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with my hubby, which included barbecue salmon and marinated asparagus, which ended up being crashed by our daughter and her boyfriend. They said these were absolutely worth all the fuss (which wasn’t much of a fuss honestly) and to make them repeatedly henceforth. Hubby and I liked them too!
Hi Teri! Thank you so much for that lovely comment 🙂 I’m so happy everyone enjoyed them! They are totally worth the fuss, and you’re right, it’s not much of a fuss anyway. Also, it’s very sweet that your daughter & her BF wanted to crash Valentine’s Day with you & your husband <3
These are delicious. I just made these and modified with some Smokey paprika. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I believe it will become a family favorite!
Fantastic! Thanks for the feedback, Jody! Smoky paprika sounds delicious!