These hasselback potatoes are crisp and flavourful, with a lovely fluffy tender interior. They soak up any sauce beautifully, and they re-heat well too, so they're great for making ahead!
Place one of the potatoes on a chopping board. Place a wooden spoon or chopstick on each side of the potato and make slits in the potato, about 2mm apart. The wooden spoons/chopsticks will help to prevent you from cutting all the way through the potatoes (it’s a good idea to use old spoons/chopsticks as you may scratch them with the knife).
8 small floury potatoes
Repeat with the remaining potatoes and place into a shallow, cast iron pan, or a shallow roasting tray.
Mix together the oil, butter, garlic, thyme, salt, black pepper, and paprika.
Place the potatoes in the oven and bake for 60-70 minutes, until tender. Baste the potatoes 2-3 times during cooking.
Serve topped with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves and a little Maldon salt, if you like.
fresh thyme leaves, Maldon salt
Video
Notes
Making aheadMake the potatoes, then cool, cover with foil (still in the pan/tray) and refrigerate for up to a day.Reheat in the oven at 180C/350F (fan), with the pan covered in foil for 20-25 minutes, until piping hot.Scaling the recipe up or downYou can scale halve or double this recipe, sticking to the same ingredient ratios.If you're doubling the recipe, ensure the roasting tin or pan is big enough so that there's at least an inch of space around each potato.If you need to use two pans/trays to fit them all in, add 5-10 minutes to the overall cooking time. Place one of the trays in the top half of the oven and one of the trays in the bottom half of the oven and swap the trays around when you baste the potatoes, so they're all evenly cooked.Won't the garlic burn?If you baste the potatoes 2-3 times during cooking, ideally trying to get the bits of garlic on top and inside the slices of potato, it shouldn't burn. I've found even the garlic that's left at the bottom of the pan will brown, but shouldn't go black or bitter tasting, so long as you're using the correct amount of oil and butter.If you are worried about this, you can replace the minced garlic with 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder (or 1/2 tsp garlic salt, if you're using garlic salt, you can reduce the regular salt to just a pinch).Oh no! I sliced through the potato!Don't worry if you accidentally slice completely through a potato, or if a slice of the potato comes out when you're cutting. Just push the potato back together or place the piece of potato back in.These 'mistakes' actually help to give the potatoes a few more gaps, so the slits separate nicely in the oven when baking.Want to cook them in the Airfryer?Replace the minced garlic with 1/2 tsp garlic powder (as fresh garlic will burn easier in the hotter, drier air of the airfryer). Drizzle the potatoes with half the oil/butter/seasoning mixture, then place in the air fryer at 200C for 15 minutes. Drizzle with the remaining oil/butter/seasoning mixture and air fry for a further 10 minutes, until the potatoes are crips on the outside and tender in the middle.Nutrition information is approximate, per potato.