I know that the name of this side dish is on the brink of ridiculousness, but I could not, for the life of me, think of a way to describe them that gave them justice. They’re so flavorful from the chicken stock, herbs, and garlic, and they have that texture combination that makes you swoon– they’re perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside and… well, they’re Crispy-Outside Creamy-Inside Garlic Herb Potatoes. Sometimes I even impress myself with my creativity.
(Don’t worry, that was sarcastic.)
These potatoes were adapted from Jacques Pepin’s “Pommes Fondantes”, which to me sounds very fancy, but it’s actually just French, and Jacques Pepin is French, so it makes sense. I don’t know what it is about French-named recipes that automatically make the “I PROBABLY CAN’T AFFORD THIS” sirens go off in my head, but these potatoes don’t fall into that category at all. Maybe it’s just because the French are great cooks, and great food is often expensive? I don’t know. I don’t think there’s any logic in it, honestly.
I’d eat these Crispy-Outside Creamy-Inside Garlic Herb Potatoes as a side to steak, a bite with barbecue, heck, I’d eat them as a full meal but that has more to do with my lack of self control when you put delicious potatoes in front of me than it does anything else. I’d eat these every day. Every day, I say!
I feel like I’m reciting lines from Green Eggs and Ham.
And I would eat them here and there.
Say! I would eat them ANYWHERE!
But really… I would.
And so would James, I bet, because he would not keep his hands off of these long enough for me to finish taking pictures.
Apparently using a fork would have just been one more step between him and his glorious potatoes, so that wasn’t happening. They’re almost like classier french fries, so I feel it’s totally forgivable, right? Anything can be finger food if you’re determined enough.
Give these a try and let me know if you love them as much as we did.
If you do, then that’s great! If not, oh well… I guess you’ll just have to give me EVERY LAST BIT OF YOUR DELICIOUS LEFTOVERS.
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Crispy-Outside Creamy-Inside Garlic Herb Potatoes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes (baby red potatoes also work well)
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth, plus 1/2 cup more if necessary
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for topping
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- In a 10″ nonstick skillet, arrange the baby potatoes so that they fit together neatly but with a bit extra room. You’ll have to flatten them out later, so they need a little space.
- Add in the rosemary, thyme, chicken broth, olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, and kosher salt. Heat the pan to high and bring to a boil. Once the broth boils, reduce the heat to medium, add in the garlic, and (almost) cover the skillet, leaving a very small opening for excess steam to escape. Make sure the broth continues to boil for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are easily punctured with a fork.
- If the liquid has all absorbed, add the additional 1/2 cup of chicken broth. You could also use water here if you don’t have enough broth, or a combination of the two. You want the liquid to cover about 1/3 way up the potatoes at this point.
- Remove the pan from the heat and use a meat mallet, wooden spoon, or back of a measuring cup to press down on the tops of the potatoes lightly until the skin cracks and they flatten out a bit.
- Return the potatoes to high heat, uncovered, and cook until the liquid evaporates and the potatoes are browned on the bottom, about 12 minutes.
- Remove the potatoes from heat again, turn the potatoes, scrape up any burnt bits, and add the last tablespoon of butter to the pan. Press the other sides of the potatoes to crack and flatten them more if necessary. Sprinkle the potatoes with parsley and cook until the other side is browned, about 5 minutes.
- Serve warm and sprinkled with salt.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
Wowza… so good, so yummy! Everyone loved them and was looking for more, but alas we were all sure there would be a battle over the leftovers and piled our plates on our first serving. And they were fun to make too! Thanks Morgan 🙂
Haha you can never bank on there being second helpings available so you have to stock up while you can! Great to hear that everyone enjoyed them and thank you for letting me know, Denise!
WOW – so good. You’re not kidding about the low sodium chicken broth though. My first round, I had plain old chicken broth on hand and wow, were they salty. The second round was MUCH better. We can’t get enough.
★★★★★
It would be nice if these recipes had serving sizes on them.
Hi Raenel,
Sorry, I try to include the serving size info when I can, but sometimes the food doesn’t last long enough for me to measure everything out into portions (my family and friends have a tendency to “taste test” as I go along). This recipe should make about 4 servings though!
Absolutely a hit with all the family, even my very fussy 9 year old, absolutely delicious!
Great to hear, Margaret!! Thanks for letting me know!
It looks like they are being boiled in cream or milk as opposed to chicken broth. Did I miss something?
Nope, Misty, they are boiled in broth! No cream necessary =)
I just made these tonight and they were delicious! I used baby red potatoes and I left out the garlic because my husband doesn’t really like it. The taste was incredible; the outsides were crispy and had a delightful crunch when you bit into it and the insides tasted like creamy, buttery mashed potatoes. It was easy to prepare and pretty quick, too. I will definitely make this again! Thanks for posting it!
Mine didn’t smash nicely. They broke in half and kind of crumbled apart. What did I miss? I had baby Yukon potatoes and boiled them for about 25 minutes.
I used potatoes from the garden, baby reds & purple, they crumbled apart, too:-(
I’ve never tried the recipe with baby reds & purples– perhaps they require a bit more time in the liquid to soften them up before being pressed. However, a few people have said they’ve had issues with them falling apart. There is always the possibility that my potatoes were slightly smaller or that my burner is slightly hotter; if your potatoes seem too resistant when you try to press them the first time around, give them a bit more time until they soften up inside– they might still be slightly too firm inside to give well to the pressure. Also, make sure that you’re pressing just lightly and slightly, they will not be very flat or puck-shaped until after the second press. The first time, you just want to press slightly to flatten them the tiniest bit and break the skin just slightly in places to allow the chicken broth in to make the insides nice and creamy. I hope that helps for next time, and I hope you enjoyed the potatoes even though they didn’t hold together as well!
I just made these potatoes tonight with Baby Reds and they were amazing! Your recipe is the best we have found for potatoes. I don’t think we will ever eat them another way again! I had no problems pressing them. They cooked perfectly. Thanks for the great recipe!
Mine also crumbled and fell apart. Not sure if they were cooked too long or too short. They were very soft, so maybe 20 min was too long. They smell great but are now smashed 🙂
How do you make those perfect little “pucks” ? I made these last night but when I flattened them they were a big mess. Through trial and error I now know not to try to flip them until they get a nice brown crust on the bottom. I then tried putting the potatoes into a tiny bowl and flattening them with another tiny bowl on top which turned out a little more consistent looking, but still they were no where near round like the picture shows. But they were delicious !!!
I’m sorry to hear that they wound up a mess for you, but I’m glad you still enjoyed them, Linda! I think the key is to not try to flatten them too much the first time around. You really should only press them just slightly and lightly both times for them to somewhat keep their round shape. If you press too hard, they will break apart, especially if you do it the first time before they’re soft enough inside. I hope that helps for next time!
I love those. But I make it differently at the end. Once I boil and slight mash them with a glass, I put them in the over and roast them until browned. So good!
The flavor on these is amazingly!! I think my potatoes were too big bc they fell apart and took a really long time to get soft. By the time all the liquid was out and they started to brown, they completely crumbled when I tried to flip them. Super yummy tho! Next time I’ll use smaller ones. Thank you for sharing!!
Glad to hear you liked them Alison! The issue was probably because of the size (other people have said the same) but I’m glad they still tasted yummy despite falling apart!
I hardly ever comment on things but these were quite delicious!!!! Towards the end, after I had “smashed” the potatoes, I actually caramelized them by reducing them with a light white wine (Cavit Pinot Grigio)…they were excellent!!!
Any suggestions as to what to use as an alternative to chicken broth? The recipe sounds amazing, but I live with vegetarians…
Vegetable broth would be fine!
These were so delicious! Well worth the effort 🙂
Any idea if I can make these and then reheat them about an hour later? We are going to a friends house for Easter dinner and I’d love to bring these but know they won’t stay warm during the trip and appetizer time. Think I could pop them in the oven at their house?
I’m tempted to say yes based off of my best guess, but I’ve never tried making them ahead of time and reheating them, so I’m hesitant to give an answer. The only potato-based recipe that I can think of that I have reheated at a separate location was Goat Cheese & Chive Mashed Potatoes. Wish I could be of more help– please let me know how it turns out if you wind up deciding to go for it! And have a great Easter!
I have reheated these in the oven, in a covered casserole dish. I added a bit more butter, covered them and warmed them at 350 for about 15 -20 min. Delicious!
These were hands down the best potatoes I’ve EVER had! So easy to make and delish! My family and I thank you for sharing the yum!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It is like you reinvented the potato. The whole family loved it, especially the dog, and he is picky. Phenomenal!!!
These look amazing! I am thinking about making these without the herbs or garlic to pair with a dish that already has rosemary, thyme and garlic a plenty. Thank you for the recipe. 🙂
Hi, these sound amazing, and I was wondering if you’d tried beef broth at all?
I usually prefer chicken broth but beef broth would be fine.
These were so delious…. I used vegetable stock instead and everyone loved them. Thanks for the recipe wll make again
I’m wondering about the amount of liquid in the first step. I’m going to make a slightly larger batch in a 12 inch pan. Should the liquid cover the potatoes completely?
AWESOME recipe!! Made these for dinner last night and they were fabulous! My picky daughters loved them and so did the hubby. Thanks for the outstanding recipe!
Question about the rosemary and thyme. Ingredients call for the “sprigs”, but in the pictures it appears they leaves were removed from the sprig. Do you just throw in the sprigs while cooking or chop up the herbs??? Making for tomorrow night, so if there is any way you can answer quickly, it is much appreciated! Thanks!
Sorry for the confusion!! Yes, they are roughly chopped, not added whole for this recipe.
I can’t thank you enough for getting back to me so quickly! Thank you! Getting ready to make soon for a big party tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂
I just ordered and ate a standard eggs over medium breakfast at the golf course cafe at the
Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale, AZ. It came with potatoes like you have just described! Thank you for telling me how to make them. I’m sure they will be very similar.
Our daughter, a budding culinary queen, made these potatoes for her dad and me; OMG, these were the best potatoes EVER! They are my favorite food now. She shared the recipe, I made them, however, mine were not as “pretty” but no less delicious. Thank you for this fabulous gold star creation.
This is a fantastic recipe and more! I cooked exactly as directed the first time and the potatoes were delicicious, though a bit crumbly. The next time I watched them a tad closer and kept them more intact. But the amazing part was the sauce that came out of it, before the final flip, I pulled out the potatoes, added stock picking up all the flavor from the pan and poured it over seared port chops before i finished them in the oven. Butter and potatoes back in the pan, all came out great! Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Have made these potatoes for our Christmas Eve dinner two years in a row! A new tradition! They are excellent and really easy to prepare! Family lives them!
★★★★★
Have made these for Christmas Eve dinner two years in a row! They are wonderful addition to any family meal!
★★★★★
Hi There, We made this with farmstand potatoes. they were mostly small round white but the bigger ones i did cut in quarters. i slightly smooshed at first and flipped and slightly smooshed again. the flavor was excellent and they came out pretty looking. totally satisfying, thanks very much.
★★★★★