Raclette Potatoes

Our Raclette Potatoes combine a classic hasselback potato with the nutty, melty perfection of raclette cheese. These guys are perfect to serve on your holiday table this winter!

Raclette Potatoes

When raclette meets a hasselback potato, the world just makes sense. These two very perfect things together make for a very crispy, gooey and cheesy yet impressive side dish to accompany your holiday table this season and spoiler alert: they are easy as can be.

The beautiful nature of the hasselback potato makes them look difficult to make but the age-old saying, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ applies here because making the perfect hasselback potato is only marginally more difficult than a classic baked or roast potato. By simply using two chop sticks or thin pencils you can transform an ordinary potato into a work of art – a very crispy delicious work of art.

Stuffing the crevices with nutty, gooey raclette cheese and drizzling the whole potato in a garlicky brown butter only solidifies its position as one of my greatest potato creations on the planet. (There’s more of those here, here and here.)

Let’s get started!

Ingredients in Raclette Potatoes

Potatoes. Because these are mini, you obviously need to use petite potatoes. I prefer yukon gold but any variety of baby potato will work.

Olive oil. To crip the potatoes up, we use plenty of olive oil.

Butter. We don’t actually use butter to cook the potatoes but we use it as a sort of sauce at the end.

Garlic. We douse these potatoes in loads of garlic, because why not?

Thyme. With all the richness happening in this dish, we are in deperate need of some fresh herbs. Thyme is our herb of choice but rosemary, fresh oregano or parlsey would be great additions as well.

Cheese. In its simplest form these are just hasselback potatoes so any cheese will work, however here we use raclette. It’s rich, creamy, nutty and very holiday-worthy. These days you can find it at pretty much any grocery store. This time around I got mine at Trader Joe’s.

Honey. For me, these aren’t finished without a little drizzle of honey.

Let’s make Raclette Potatoes

Cut the potatoes. Place each potato between two chopsticks vertically (you want the longer sides of the potato up against each chopstick. You want to leave about 1/4-inch on the bottom so the potatoes fan out. Use a sharp knife to cut 1/8-inch slits across the potato. Make sure you do not cut through to the bottom of the potato, the chops sticks should stop you.

Rub with olive oil. Brush the insides and the outsides of the potato with the olive oil. Sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper.

Roast. Place the potatoes on a large rimmed baking sheet. Place in the oven and roast for 45-50 minutes until the potatoes are soft and very crispy.

Make the brown butter. While the potatoes roast make the garlic brown butter. Heat a small skillet to a medium-high heat. Add the butter. When the butter melts completely, swirl the pan until the butter turns a deep brown color and smells very nutty. Remove the butter from the heat and let the butter cool for 30 seconds. Add the thyme and garlic. The butter will spit and spatter so watch out! Cook the garlic until slightly softened and fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour the butter into a small bowl to stop the cooking of the garlic. Set aside.

Prep the cheese. Tear the raclette into small pieces small enough to nestle into the slits of the potatoes.

Finish cooking. When the potatoes are crispy and brown, pull them out. Stuff the inside of the slits with the cheese (you do not need to fill every slit). Brush or spoon the brown butter, garlic and thyme on and in the potatoes. Place back in the oven for 3-4 minutes until the cheese is gooey and melted.

Do I have to use Raclette?

No but it makes these potatoes positively decadent.

What is Raclette?

Raclette is a Swiss melting cheese. It means ‘to scrape’ in French so typically this nutty, creamy cheese is served warm and scraped on to plates straight from the wheel or wedge. It’s a pretty show stopping dish but these days you can find it in most supermarkets.

Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success

• Spread the potatoes out. Don’t let them touch on the baking pan or you risk them steaming instead of roasting to a crisp.
• Season with salt and pepper. Because we can only season the outside and slits of the potato, you want to make sure to season it agressively.
• If using raclette, don’t put the cheese on until the very last minute. The cheese melts VERY fast so if you put it on too soon you risk it oozing on to the entire pan (it will still do this some but some is enouraged.)
• Use parchment paper! As aformenitoned the cheese WILL spill a little bit on to the pan. However, if you use parchment you can simply spoon it back on to the potato or eat it with knife and fork.
• Don’t be tempted to skip the chopsticks. You can also use two pencils if you do not have chopsticks.