Hasselback Potatoes

Humor me for a sec.

So, I’ve been calling these little guys Hasselhoff potatoes since I started making them.

Hasselhoff potatoes. As in, David Hasselhoff. Of Night Rider fame.

And more recently, Kung Fury fame.

(Watch the Kung Fury trailer on Nerdist if you haven’t seen it. It’ll blow your mind with all of its smoke-machine-street rumble-time travel-ninja and dinosaur glory.)

These potatoes are *almost* as awesome as The Hoff.

And they can make a guest appearance in your kitchen any time you like.

Bonus, right?

If you’re a child of the 80s like me, this just adds to the potato magic. If you’re not, thank you for humoring me.

They’re still pretty darned good without the cheesy reference.

What are Hasselback potatoes?

Basically, they’re whole potatoes that you cut into slices (almost, but not quite all the way through) and bake.

They’re ridiculously good, and are a great way to turn an ordinary potato into a pretty fancy side dish with relatively little work.

The outside gets crispy, while the insides stay nice and creamy.

After you bake them, you drench them with gloriously fragrant rosemary- and garlic-infused butter. Finish with a sprinkle of coarse sea salt.

Sound like heaven? I thought it might.

I generally use white potatoes.

This time around, I tried a version with sweet potatoes, and they were great, too.

So, there’s another option for you if you dig on orange potatoes more than white.

Top these however you want

I used the traditional mix of butter, garlic, and rosemary, but you can use any green herb you like.

Or, cheese it up.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan (or other grated cheese that melts well) in the last 5 – 10 minutes of baking.

You see where I’m going with this.

Get creative. They’re potatoes. Dress them up however you like.

Hasselback Potatoes

4 large white potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 sprig rosemary (or other fresh green herb)
Freshly cracked black pepper
4 Tbls. butter
Coarse salt

Serves 4 as a side

Do a little prep

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with foil and set aside.

Make the infused oil

Make the flavored oil first, so it can infuse while you slice the potatoes.

Smash a clove of garlic with the flat side of a big knife. Remove and discard the skin.

Put the garlic in a small pot. Add the olive oil.

Toss in the rosemary (or other green herbs, if you’re changing up the flavors).

Set the pot on the stove over medium heat.

When the oil starts to simmer, cook the herbs for maybe a minute, then turn the heat off and remove the pot from the burner.

Leave the garlic and rosemary in the oil to infuse. (You don’t want them to scorch, etc.)

Slice the potatoes

Here’s a quick, practically foolproof way to slice the potatoes.

Whack a thin slice off the bottom of the potato so you have a stable base.

Grab 2 chopsticks, set them down on your cutting board like this.

Snuggle your potato in between and adjust them so the potato is held in place by the fat ends of the chopsticks.

Cut thin slices into the potato, cutting almost all the way through, but not quite.

This lets the potato fan out nicely.

If you’re doing sweet potatoes, cut them the same way.

Mind your fingers as you slice, sweet potatoes are harder than white potatoes.

Set the cut potatoes on your foil lined pan.

Drizzle each potato with a spoonful or two of the fragrant, infused oil.

As you can, get the oil in between the slices. Don’t make yourself nuts, though.

Keep the pot with the rosemary and garlic in it off to the side.

You’re going to use them to make an infused butter to finish the potatoes.

Sprinkle with a little freshly ground black pepper.

Bake the Hasselback potatoes

Slide the pan into your preheated, 425-degree F oven.

Bake for about an hour, until the tops are crispy and the insides are soft and cooked through.

When they’re done, remove the pan from the oven and set it on a rack.

 

The bottoms of the potatoes will be crisp and browned, like this:

Make the infused butter

Grab the pot that you infused the oil in.

Keep the rosemary and garlic clove in it.

Add the butter to the pot. Set it back on the stove.

Cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and just starts to foam.

Garnish, serve, inhale

Transfer the potatoes to your serving dish.

Drizzle some of the hot butter over each potato and sprinkle with a little coarse salt.

Serve immediately while they’re hot and crisp. Enjoy!

If you come up with any amazing topping ideas, leave a comment, let us know what you did!

Cheers!