Greek Lemon Potatoes

Definitely a cut above the usual roasted potatoes! The unique thing about Greek Lemon Potatoes is that they are cooked in a heavily flavoured lemon garlic broth so they suck up all that flavour before roasting to golden perfection. They’re utterly addictive!

Greek Lemon Potatoes: A fresh spin on roast spuds

Welcome back to the final instalment of GREEK WEEK!!! We started the week with Greek Chicken marinated in the most incredible yogurt marinade, served up a big pan of homemade Greek Baklava on Wednesday and we’re finishing up the week with the much anticipated Greek Lemon Potatoes!

We’re serving all these with a side of fresh Greek Salad and Tzatziki for dolloping (in the Greek Chicken recipe) – and see here for more Greek recipes.

Plate smashing is optional – but loads of garlic in everything is not!

Let’s be clear about one thing up front:

These are not your usual roasted potatoes

Don’t get me wrong. Throw spuds in the oven drizzled with oil, salt and pepper, and I’ll happily munch my way through them.

Make the effort to follow a few extra steps to make the crunchiest roast potatoes you’ve ever had, and it’s like all my Christmases have come at once. Thick, craggy crusts, perfectly seasoned, fluffy insides.

But these roasted Greek Lemon Potatoes….

These are unlike any other roasted potato I’ve ever had because they’re flavoured all the way through. Flavoured with all THIS ↓↓↓

How I cut potatoes for this recipe

We want chunky pieces for this recipe so they hold up to the relatively long cooking time. I cut medium potatoes into 3 pieces, as pictured below, and large potatoes into quarters or thick wedges.

HALF BRAISED, HALF ROASTED

The idea behind Greek Lemon Potatoes is that they are braised in a lemon-garlic flavoured broth so they suck up all that flavour, then you continue roasting them until the liquid evaporates, leaving behind just the oil to roast the potatoes until golden.

The concept sounds easy enough, but actually, it’s quite tricky to do in one pan. I swear, it’s scientifically impossible to roast potatoes until golden without the garlic burning. It’s one or the other – golden garlic or golden potatoes (unless, like I do with my Herb Roasted Potatoes, you add the garlic midway through cooking).

Also, I kept ending up with burnt ridges on the potato from the lemon juice and broth that caramelises on the base of the pan, and a disappointing lack of golden crusts promised by recipes I used.

After two, three, five, seven attempts, I threw every recipe I read out the window (virtually) and settled on an easier, less risky way of making Greek Lemon Potatoes so they come out as golden as possible: Braise in one pan to suck up flavour, transfer to a tray to bake until golden, drizzled with the flavoured oil from Pan 1.

How to make Greek Lemon Potatoes (my safer way)

You can skip the transference step if you want. But just be mindful that you’ll need to keep a super close eye on the potatoes and they won’t be as golden as you see in these photos, you’ll likely end up with thin dark burnt ridges and the garlic with burn (gee, I’m really making this sound appetising! 😂)

In the interest of total transparency …

Because I hate recipes that lie, I want to be 100% clear about expectations: these are not the crispiest roast potatoes in the world. I truly think it’s scientifically impossible to get seriously crispy roast potatoes once they’ve been submerged in all that lemon and broth (believe me, I tried my heart out!).

So if seriously crunchy potatoes is what you are after – and I’m talking seriously thick crunchy crust and they stay crisp for ages – use this recipe: Truly Crunchy Roast Potatoes.

But these Greek Lemon Potatoes do have nice crispy edges and some crispy surfaces (see video and photos) and in any case, you won’t miss major crunch factor because these have so much more flavour than any other roasted potato.

It was actually scary how much of these I was able to consume in one sitting. I just couldn’t stop – they are so darn good!! – Nagi x

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

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Greek Lemon Potatoes

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Recipe video above. The idea behind this recipe is that the potatoes suck up the amazing lemon-garlic-oregano flavoured broth, then roasted until golden. These won't go super crunchy because of the way they're cooked - but you won't miss the crunch because they have flavour unlike any other ordinary roasted potato! If crunch is what you're after, try this recipe: Truly Crunchy Roast Potatoes.

Prep Time:10 minutes

Cook Time:1 hour 10 minutes

Total Time:1 hour 20 minutes

Servings:5

Hover over "Servings" value to reveal recipe scaler

Author:Nagi

Course:Sides

Cuisine:Greek

Keyword:Greek Lemon Potatoes, Greek Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg / 2.5lb potatoes , starchy (Note 1)
• 1 1/2 cups / 375 ml chicken stock/broth , low sodium (Note 2)
• 1/2 cup / 125 ml olive oil
• 1/3 cup / 85 ml lemon juice
• 5 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp salt (Note 3)

Garnish (optional)

• Lemon wedges, fresh oregano leaves

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan).
• Peel potatoes and cut large ones into thick wedges - about 3cm / 1.2" thick - and medium ones into 3 (see photo in post).
• Place in a roasting pan with all the other ingredients. Toss well.
• Roast for 20 minutes. Turn potatoes, roast for a further 25 to 30 minutes until the liquid is mostly absorbed by potatoes/evaporated and you're left with mainly oil in the pan.
• To crisp the potatoes (optional): Transfer potatoes to a separate tray. (Note 3) Tilt the original roasting pan and scoop off as much of the oil as you can (some juices is ok), then drizzle over the potatoes.
• Transfer potatoes to oven and roast for 20 - 25 minutes, turning once or twice, until potatoes are golden and a bit crispy.
• Return the pan with the garlic juices to the oven for the last 5 - 10 minutes or so to reduce down and make the garlic golden. (Optional, Note 4)
• Transfer potatoes to serving platter. Drizzle over the reduced garlic pan juices (or toss potatoes in the pan). Serve, garnished with lemon wedges and oregano if desired. 

Recipe Notes:

1. Potatoes - use starchy, not waxy potatoes, as they absorb flavour better. Suggestions - Australia: Dirt brushed/Sebago, US: Russet, UK: Maris Piper.

2. Can use water + 2 stock cubes or 2 tsp powder instead. Can use veg stock instead of chicken.

3. I know it sounds like a lot of salt but potatoes can take it!

4. You can skip this step to transfer the potatoes to a separate tray but you’ll either have to make do with non-crispy-not-really-even-golden potatoes OR golden potatoes with burnt edges and tons of burnt garlic everywhere. You choose… 

If you're ok with less colour, you can leave them in the same pan and keep roasting for another 20 minutes, but don't let them go too far such that the garlic burns.

I like to drizzle the residual garlic pan juices over the potatoes, rather than tossing them, just to preserve the crispy edges. You could in fact just use pan juices without reducing, up to you. This step is also optional. 

5. Nutrition per serving, slightly over because you actually lose a lot of oil in the pan with the cooking method I use to make them extra crispy.

Nutrition Facts

Greek Lemon Potatoes

Amount Per Serving

Calories 349 Calories from Fat 198

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 22g 34%

Saturated Fat 3g 15%

Sodium 976mg 41%

Potassium 1079mg 31%

Total Carbohydrates 32g 11%

Dietary Fiber 6g 24%

Protein 7g 14%

Vitamin C 41.2%

Calcium 8%

Iron 45%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition

Calories: 349kcalCarbohydrates: 32g (11%)Protein: 7g (14%)Fat: 22g (34%)Saturated Fat: 3g (15%)Sodium: 976mg (41%)Potassium: 1079mg (31%)Fiber: 6g (24%)Vitamin C: 41.2%Calcium: 8%Iron: 45%

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