The Best Hasselback Potatoes
If you’re a fan of a classic or salted baked potato, you’re going to love this dish. Hasselback Potatoes are believed to have derived from the Hasselbacken hotel and restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1700’s and have long been a traditional Swedish dish, since. Much like Twice Baked Potatoes, all a Hasselback Potato really is is an over the top fancy baked potato. Only, Hasselbacks have thinly sliced ridges, seasoned with butter, herbs, bread crumbs and various cheeses. Of course, you can do whatever you want but I’m going to show you a few ways that I like to prepare them and the easiest way to cut those ridges.
Idaho Russet Potatoes
It’s a no-brainer when it comes to making Hasselback potatoes that you should use a classic Idaho Russet Potato. These potatoes can grow longer than the length of your hand and smaller than your fist so, it’s up to you which size you want to work with. I usually just work with what I have and choose potatoes that are all similar in size. Variety, however can be good if you’re serving adults and children with different appetites. The point is, Russet Potatoes should be your “go-to” of choice but, use what you have.
The Cutting Secret
A quick search on the web will show you all kinds of deluded ways of cutting a Hasselback Potato. The trick is to cut thinly sliced vertical ridges, an 8th inch apart, all the way down the length of the potato, without cutting all the way through the bottom of the spud. This means the potato needs to remain still and in the same position.
The best way that I have found to accomplish this task, with efficiency and speed, is to to cut a flat spot, on the bottom of the potato and use a skewer. The flat spot keeps the potato from rolling and the skewer stops the blade from reaching the bottom. Wooden Skewers don’t work as well as metal skewers because they’re harder to penetrate the spud and they often break with applied force. The metal skewers, however, slide right through with ease so, I recommend using them instead. I found mine at the dollar store for dirt cheap, fyi.
Making your slices isn’t very complicated. Just be careful, use a sharp knife and cut each ridge an eight inch apart, like I show you how to do in the video tutorial.
Baking and Preperation
Once you’ve got all of your russet potatoes cut, you need to rub them with vegetable oil. You season the outside with Kosher Salt and Pepper if you’d like but I like to do it after the first bake. These potatoes will bake at a higher temp first, for 20 minutes, then bake longer at a lower temp. There’s also some butter and herbs that can be used to baste the potatoes while the cook and I show you how to do that in the video tutorial as well.
You can bake the classic version, which I show you how to prepare first, or you can add other toppings, much like a baked potato or you can even poor a gravy over the top. It’s up to you. Let you’re imagination run wild and have fun with this recipe.
Hasselback Potatoes Ingredients:
6 Potatoes
1 cube Butter, melted
1 clove Garlic
1 sprig Thyme
1 sprig Rosemary
1 pinch Mexican Oregano
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs, optional
1/4 cup Romano Cheese
1 Green Onion, chopped
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
Cut and cover potatoes with vegetable oil. Bake 20 minutes 425° Fahrenheit. Brush with Butter mix and bake again for 45 minutes at 350° F.
Add more butter mix, bread crumbs and bake for 10 more minutes. Then add butter again and Parmesan cheese before serving and any other toppings you might like.
