The Best Hasselback Potatoes

There are few side dishes both easier or more impressive-looking than hasselback potatoes. There are also few ways to make a potato that are more delicious. Combining the best features of both roasted and fried potatoes, hasselback potatoes' fanlike shape creates a perfect housing for oodles of butter, which help each slice turn crispy in the heat. And yet the inside of the potato still roasts, becoming fluffy and delicious. Though the technique, named after the restaurant Hasselbacken, which popularized it, originated in Sweden it has been popular in the U.S. for decades.

The trick to hasselback potatoes is cutting the slices evenly, without slicing through the whole potato. Ideally, you want to leave between 1/8 and 1/4 inch of the potato on the bottom, so the whole thing holds together. 

This may seem difficult, but here's a smart trick: Place two wooden spoons or chopsticks alongside the potato, lengthwise, on a cutting board. This will allow your knife to cut down to the exact same place each time, without going too far. 

The other trick to getting the potatoes as delicious as possible is to reserve about half the butter, and to drizzle it on halfway through the baking process. This allows the potato to absorb a little bit more of that fat when it's hot, essentially frying as it bakes.

Though you can certainly make this dish on a baking sheet, we've found that it's a perfect recipe for your cast-iron skillet. Skillets hold and radiate heat well, and the high sides keep all that butter where it belongs — next to the potatoes.

This recipe comes from the Ranch Raised Cookbook by Mary Heffernan of Five Marys Farms in Fort Jones, California. Though you can use any spices you like — garlic, thyme, and rosemary are classics — these potatoes taste great with the spice rub that she uses on the grilled turkey she makes every Thanksgiving, and where these potatoes are a staple side dish.

Feel free to substitute in your favorite baked potato toppings as well! While we recommend sour cream as a base, you can also top this with bacon crumbles, chives, shredded cheese, chili, salsa, or whatever your heart desires!