Oven Roasted Large Melting Potatoes
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Talk about temptation! These rosemary and garlic oven-roasted whole melting potatoes are crisped to perfection with the creamiest, meltiest center. A filling potato side dish, you will want to skip the regular baked potato for its delicious cousin.
Easy Creamy Oven Baked Potatoes
Typically, when I see “melting” potatoes, they are small, individual-sized bites that remind me of a breakfast casserole.
And I love potatoes and those are certainly delicious. But there is something so much more satisfying and savory, with large russet potatoes baked and crisped up perfectly.
Just like the small potatoes, these large ones get the perfect shell with a soft center and are oh-so-tasty.
Now, because these potatoes are larger, you do have to account for a longer cooking time to make sure the center is perfect, so if time is of the essence, this may not be the best recipe to get started.
Melting Potatoes Recipe
Other potatoes that make great “melting” potato options (although you would have to adjust the timing for boiling and baking) are the red potato, creamer potato (like the little potato company ones you can get at Publix), gold, and Yukon potatoes. Pretty much, don’t be afraid to mix it up!
This recipe is the middle ground between a crunchy fry and a soft baked potato. Now you have the best of both!
Ingredients
- Russet potatoes
- fresh rosemary: rosemary not your thing? Try dill, thyme, or parsley instead.
- minced garlic
- bay leaves
- salt
- vegetable oil
- cayenne pepper
Crispy Roasted Russet Potatoes
Cut the potatoes in half and place them in a large saucepan or stock pot.
Cover with cold water, making sure the water is at least 1″ above the potatoes.
Add rosemary, garlic, bay leaves, and salt.
Mix well and bring to a boil—this takes about 2-5 minutes—and then leave it on a hard boil for an additional 5 minutes. Drain. Let dry.
Preheat the oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with foil.
Return the potatoes to the sheet pan and add oil and cayenne pepper (face up).
Evenly coat potatoes (see video in recipe card to see how I do it) using tongs to move the potatoes.
Place potatoes, cut side down, onto a prepared baking pan (I used foil and sprayed with a little nonstick oil), and season with salt.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the outsides are crispy and the centers are twice baked and ultra tender.
Remove from oven and serve.
Serves 6.
Serving Melting Baked Potatoes
Serving Melting Baked PotatoesPotatoes are like the one dish that can pretty much go with ANYTHING.
It’s like the white shirt in your closet. I like mine with chicken and a side of roasted carrots (that lessens the carb guilt). You can also easily top them with some cheese and sour cream to make a filling side dish.
Try one of these chicken dishes to compliment your side dish:
Potato Side Dish Recipes
Still looking around for the perfect potato side dish? I got you!
Oven Roasted Large Melting Potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 russett potatoes
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- pinch cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Cut potatoes in half and place into a large saucepan or stock pot. Cover with cold water, making sure water is at least 1" above potatoes. Add rosemary, garlic, bay leaves and salt. Mix well and bring to a boil, which takes about 2-5 minutes. Then boil for additional 5 minutes and drain. Let dry.
- Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with foil.
- Return potatoes to sheet pan and add oil and cayenne pepper (face up). Evenly coat potatoes with oil (see video to see how I do it if you need help) using tongs to move the potatoes carefully.
- Place potatoes, cut side down onto prepared baking pan (I used foil and sprayed with a little nonstick oil spray) and season with salt.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes so outsides get crispy and the centers are twiced baked and ultra tender.
- Remove from oven and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: The nutritional data provided here is auto-calculated and intended for your convenience only. As it’s generated via automation, its accuracy may be compromised. For precise nutritional insight, please compute the values utilizing the actual ingredients in your recipe through your chosen nutrition calculator or application.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Why did I never think of flavouring the water of potatoes while cooking them, it gave them so much flavour. They lasted all of 5 minutes, highly recommend.
Yay! Thanks Deb for commenting and letting me know the potatoes were a hit! As a side note on flavoring the water, I do the same w/ my corn on the cob. A little milk in the stock pot goes a long way to some seriously good corn.
Why do you have to boil the potatoes first before you bake them?
Hi! I like the twice baked taste that makes these super creamy. If you did them just in the oven, you would have to alter the entire recipe because potatoes would take much longer to cook in the oven than 25..they usually take 45. There may be a way to figure out how to bake them properly and then roast the tops but until I do it, I would hesitate to tell you the exact timing.
Love this recipe! I have always just cut in half and roasted them oiled, s and p, we call them “half baked”. The boiling with seasoning sounds great
I always feel like seasoning the water is great for potatoes! I love “half baked” – that’s a great name as well! Thank for taking the time to leave me a comment – I dont get too many so I really appreciate that you made the effort. <3
Made this tonight and served with roast chicken. I actually used duck fat instead of vegetable oil to coat them and they were over the top good! Thanks for posting. These will be going on the regular rotation!
wow, duck fat is so interesting! Thanks for coming by to tell me that you enjoyed these melting potatoes – so glad!
I am wondering if i can make this to the point of putting them on the baking sheet, refrigerating, and finish in the oven later.
I dont see why not! They just might brown (the exposed potato part)
Little confused by the directions it states to put in pot in cold water bring to a boil which takes 25 minutes? It shouldnt take 25 minutes for them to come to a boil and if you boil them 25 minutes plus 5 more they will be in pieces. Can you give some clarification please?
Somehow that dash was missing. I recently updated the post so it looks like I made a clerical error there this week and the dash is gone. That is all fixed – it should be 2-5 minutes.
During this time of “social distancing” I’m trying to use up pantry staples without serving the same old boring sides. This recipe gave my potatoes a new and well received taste – the rosemary was delicious! The whole family loved the flavor and I will be making this again soon for sure. 🙂
Thank you for posting this recipe!
I am so glad your family enjoyed these potatoes! Right now its the little things (I know, I’m wrapped up in the house with everyone too!). Food allows us to all come together and have a nice moment – thanks for coming back to share your opinion. Much love and safety to your family during this time.
~Trisha
had a bag of potatoes that need to be cooked so will have lots for the rest of the week. will let them cool completely and then put in refrigerator.
reheat in microwave and then in a skillet to re crisp.
That sounds great!! Enjoy!
Instead of fresh rosemary, what would be an equivalent dry rosemary? Would that work?
IN this case the rosemary is to flavor the water – you 2 sprgs is about 2 tsp fresh, which is not very much in dried – maybe 1/2 tsp. It wont matter if you go over that though. Its fine to eyeball the rosemary if that seems like too little. It shouldn’t change the recipe.
I have a question regarding this instruction in your recipe:
Return potatoes to pan and add oil and cayenne pepper.
Stir well to evenly coat potatoes.
How can one stir the oil, cayenne pepper and potatoes well without smashing up the potatoes?
Actually, you are right – thats a typo. It should not say stir, it should say SHAKE – as in shake the cayenne pepper. Then you use tongs to turn them. If you watch the video I show how its done and I am going to update the instruction.
I don’t see link to video
Hi Brenda, the video is IN the post and should automatically play. The recipe is at the bottom of the post itself where you can print. Is it not playing for you?
What is automatically playing is a recipe for pea salad
Hi! This melting potato recipe actually has the Melting potato video in it, but the pea salad follows it if the whole thing plays (videos keep playing the next recipe video). You may miss the first video if you are reading or go to the bottom. Just refresh the page and find the video and it should be on the melting potatoes again. I hope that helps!
I see no video at all, auto-play for peas or potatoes or anything else for that matter. No link anywhere, either.
Its in the post near the top but its also in the recipe card at the bottom under the word VIDEO.
I’m wondering if after boiling, these could go on the grill somehow to bake. Any thoughts?
Lisa, I think you could def if you have like a Blackstone grill. I wouldnt know the exact timing but I bet you could heat up on high and then basically sear the bottoms.
We make these on our charcoal grill all the time. We call them Potatoes on the Half Shell!! 🙂 We put cut side down til they brown, then flip til they are done. They hold really well if everything else isn’t done. Leftovers get cut up in cubes for home fries. YUM! We never heard of boiling them first. I’ll try that next time for sure. Thanks for this recipe!!
Delicious! But mine didn’t crisp. Will turn on the broiler for a few minutes before I make them again tomorrow!!