Hasselback Potatoes

Pity the poor potato. Once thought to be only fit for animals, today potatoes are a staple in many countries and cultures. Whether it’s fries with your burger, a baked potato with prime rib, or mashed potatoes and gravy, the potato has earned a spot as one of our best-loved side dishes. And for good reason, although most of us don’t think about this stuff. Potatoes are high in potassium, vitamin C, niacin and fiber. They’re also naturally gluten free and only have as much fat as you add to them in the form of butter or sour cream.

Many countries have their own unique potato recipes. Adding some regional dishes to your menu is a great way to add variety and interest. Hasselback potatoes – also called accordion potatoes – originated in Sweden. Named for the Restaurant Hasselbacken, there are numerous variations of the basic recipe. Today I’m going to show you a fairly simple way to prepare them, and offer a few options to spice them up a bit.

Think of Hasselback potatoes as a fancy baked potato. The only real difference between a plain baked potato and these is that you slice them thinly before baking. When done, they’ll be crispy on the edges and soft in the middle. And they’ll taste AWESOME! So… enough yakkin’! Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

Potatoes
Butter
Olive Oil
Garlic (crushed)
Salt
Pepper

Before We Begin:

Let’s talk about a few things before we get started. First, your choice of potatoes will affect your cooking time. Smaller potatoes will take less time to roast than extra-large potatoes we love to bake. Just something to keep in mind as you plan your meal. Also, you can use any variety of potato you choose – red, white, blue, purple, whatever. The only type I’d stay away from (for this recipe, anyway) is the sweet potato – although there are Hasselback variations just for them. So… pick the variety you like best, and have at it.

The other thing you’ll notice is that I haven’t offered any measurements for the other ingredients. That’s because those measurements will depend on how many potatoes you’re preparing, and how much butter and spices you want on them. As I’ve suggested before, start slow; you can always add more butter and spices if you think you need more.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Place butter and oil in a microwave safe bowl. Heat until butter melts.

Stir butter and oil to mix, then add spices. Set aside to let everything get to know everything else.

Rinse and scrub potatoes, then pat dry.

Slice the potatoes, top to bottom, but not all the way through. The width of the slices is a matter of personal taste, but most recipes encourage you to make them very thin – approximately 1/5 – 1/4 inch. To help make sure you don’t slice all the way through the potato, place chopsticks, wooden skewers or spoons on each side of the potato. This will stop your knife before you get to the bottom of your spud. Take your time; there’s no need to rush. The time invested in careful slicing will be repaid in full when you pop that first bite in your mouth.

Place sliced potatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle butter/oil/spice mixture over the top of each potato, making sure you get some into all the slices.

Bake at 375° for thirty minutes – less if using very small (baby) potatoes, and up to 45 minutes if using large spuds.

Remove from oven and check to see if they’re done. They probably won’t be, but it’s better to check now than to burn them. If they do need to go back into the oven, drizzle more butter mixture over them before putting them back in.

When done, remove from oven and drizzle a little more butter mixture over the top. Serve immediately. Garnish with sour cream and/or cheese if desired.

Variations:

Add a few lemons (cut in half) to baking sheet for a bright aroma and flavor.

Substitute other spices for (or add to) the garlic. Suggestions include rosemary, or bay leaves. If you go this route, fresh herbs will look better, but dried herbs will work just fine. Garlic and rosemary work very well with lemons, by the way.

Sprinkle some bread crumbs and/or Parmesan cheese over the top of the potatoes for the last 5-10 minutes of baking.

Of course, you can add shredded cheese or bacon bits, too. It’s really up to you, and this is a recipe you can really play with if you want to.

As you can see, this really is a pretty easy recipe to prepare. The only hard part is the slicing, but the chopsticks will help you avoid mistakes. Just remember to take your time and be careful with your knife. Have fun with this one, and please make sure to come back and tell me how it turned out, and what, if any, variations you tried. Don’t forget…

Play with your food!

Lane

Here’s a Buffalo Hasselback Potato recipe that’s awesome!

Check out more potato recipes here.

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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