Hey everyone, it’s Kevin! Today I am sharing with you a potato dish that has me questioning my relationship with French fries—these roasted garlic fingerling potatoes!
I absolutely love French fries, but they can be quite difficult to make at home without a deep fryer. Thankfully, I recently discovered fingerling potatoes through watching Masterchef and knew that I had to try to make an at-home French fry alternative with them. While potatoes taste great by themselves, my goal was to infuse these roasted fingerling potatoes with garlic flavor (I love garlic). To do so, this recipe adds garlic flavor in multiple stages to get as much garlic flavor as possible into the potatoes.
All The Garlic
Like I said above, my goal was to infuse these fingerling potatoes with as much garlic flavor as possible. One of the main issues I’ve had in the past with homemade garlic fry recipes is that there just isn’t any noticeable garlic flavor. So, for these roasted garlic fingerling potatoes, I add garlic flavor in 3 ways: roasted garlic butter, garlic-infused olive oil, and minced garlic.
While it may sound like the potatoes might end up overly garlicky, the end result is actually just a light garlic flavor that is noticeable but not overpowering. The roasted garlic in the butter and olive oil provide a lighter and sweeter garlic flavor, while the minced garlic (which ends up crispy after roasting with the potatoes) adds a more traditional garlic flavor.
Don’t worry if this sounds too complicated. It’s actually very easy but will take a bit of time (you can split the recipe into two parts though to save time!) To make the roasted garlic butter, all you have to do is cook a head of peeled garlic cloves in olive oil until they become soft enough to mash into a paste. Then just mix the paste with some softened butter and thyme! Strain the olive oil used to roast the garlic and you have your garlic-infused olive oil as well!
The best part is that you can use the leftover roasted garlic butter and olive oil to keep making more of these roasted fingerling potatoes! During my trials, I typically had enough left over to make this dish at least 3 times.
Tips
This recipe is easy. While it’ll be hard to mess up, here are a few tips to help you get these roasted fingerling potatoes just right on your first try.
- Make the roasted garlic butter and olive oil a day or two in advance to save time. If you’re short on time to make the full recipe from start to finish, this will cut the cook time in half. All that’s left to do is to toss the potatoes with everything and bake.
- Dry potatoes = crispy potatoes. Make sure to dry your potatoes well after rinsing, otherwise all that water will cause your potatoes to steam in the oven instead of roast. Let the Maillard reaction do its work.
- Overcrowded potatoes = steamed potatoes. In the same vein, make sure not to overcrowd the baking sheet. If they are packed too tightly, they will steam. If your baking sheet isn’t large enough to hold all of the potatoes, bake in two batches instead of overcrowding.
Let’s get started on these better-than-french-fries roasted garlic fingerling potatoes!
Looking for some entrees to eat with these potatoes?
- Reverse-Seared Steak (the best part is you can use the leftover roasted garlic butter!)
- Juiciest Stovetop Burger with Bacon and Onions
- Stovetop Asian Grilled Chicken Breast
Roasted Garlic Fingerling Potatoes
Course: Side DishCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy2
servings5
minutes1
hour25
minutesThese roasted garlic fingerling potatoes are the perfect substitute for French fries! Classier, tastier, and easier to make, these potatoes will be a sure hit alongside a wide range of food, from steaks to burgers to chicken!
Ingredients
- Roasted Garlic and Thyme Butter
1 head garlic
1/2 cup unsalted butter (fully softened at room temperature)
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (enough to cover the garlic in pan)
Salt (a pinch)
- Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
3/4 pound fingerling potatoes
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper (to taste)
- Equipment
Skillet (any frying pan will do)
Mixing bowls
Baking sheet
Directions
- Roasted Garlic and Thyme Butter (can be made ahead of time)
- Separate a whole head of garlic into cloves and peel each one. Place into a pan and add enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the garlic. Cook over low heat for about 50 minutes, until the garlic is very soft and golden-brown
- In the meantime, soften half a cup of unsalted butter (pro tip: cut it into small cubes for it to soften quicker). Once it’s softened, add thyme and mix with a spoon until butter is fully creamy
- Once the garlic is cooked, remove them from the pan into a bowl and smash with the spoon until you create a garlic paste. Add the garlic into the butter bowl
- Pour the olive oil used for roasting the garlic into a container. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the butter and set aside the rest for later use (we’ll be using it for the potatoes as well)
- Mix the butter thoroughly. Add the salt and taste. Add more salt to taste (if desired)
- If making ahead of time, put the butter in the fridge. When ready to use, take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before you plan on cooking so it can soften
- Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
- Preheat oven to 400°F and position a rack in the middle of the oven
- Rinse the potatoes, then thoroughly dry them with a paper towel. Cut each potato in half lengthwise and place into a large mixing bowl
- Add 3 tablespoons of the garlic butter, 2 tablespoons of the reserved garlic olive oil, 3 cloves of minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix together well so every potato half is coated with butter
- Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the potatoes cut-side-down on the sheet. Make sure to space them out a bit so that they don’t steam!
- Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the potatoes so the cut-side is facing up, and bake for another 15 minutes, until they are starting to shrivel and are nicely browned. After removing from heat, taste one piece and toss with more salt if needed. Serve immediately!
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