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
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: Duck Fat Potatoes or 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
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Greek Lemon Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg / 2.5lb potatoes (Aus: Desiree, US: Yukon Gold, UK: Maris Piper) (Note 1)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 5 garlic cloves , finely grated using microplane (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp salt (Note 4)
Garnish (optional)
- Lemon wedges, fresh oregano leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°Cfan).
- Cut potatoes: Peel potatoes and cut large ones into thick wedges – about 3cm / 1.2" thick – and medium ones into 3 (see photo in post).
- Coat potatoes: Place potatoes in a roasting pan with all the other ingredients. Toss well.
- Roast 45 minutes: 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.
- Roast 35 minutes: Transfer potatoes to oven and roast for 35 – 40 minutes, turning once or twice, until potatoes are golden and a bit crispy on the edges.
- Heat pan juices: Return pan #1 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)
- Plate up: 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:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
When Dozer stole a dog treat at the pet shop while I was trying to take cute photos of him eyeing off the treats…..
Lisa Kelly says
I made these potatoes last night – to go with your chicken souvlakis, lamb koftas and your greek lemon orzo salad (these 3 are on regular rotation in this house).
The potatoes were delish – I was surprised at how flavourful the inside was. I did the end step of roasting for an additional 20 mins trying to get that extra bit of crispiness because my husband loves crunch. As you mentioned in your notes, this is not a crunchy roast potato but honestly the flavours are just so good it doesn’t matter.
Another winner from the queen Nagi!!!
Nagi says
Wahoo! They are so addictively good aren’t they?!
Catherine Archibald says
I made these in one step, in one pan. I followed your recipe but used unpeeled, halved salad potatoes, but cranked the heat up to full. They took about an hour or so and were amazing! Thanks so much!
Nagi says
Sounds great Catherine, I’m so happy they worked out for you!
Jennifer Morris says
The best lemon potatoes ever! Wondering if you have a suggestion on how to pre-prep for a large group? Could I do the first step (cook in the broth) and then refrigerate and complete the second step just before supper?
Anne Janssen says
Absolutely delicious! Definitely worth the time and trouble. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Nagi says
I’m so glad you loved them Anne!!
Michelle says
Best lemon roast potato recipe I’ve tried…and I’ve tried a lot. Worth every step!!
Nagi says
That’s terrific to hear!
Allie says
These were fantastic! I’ve never thought to cook them in a broth like this and it made a huge difference in the flavor. Anything with lemon is great with me! Highly recommend. My husband who doesn’t love potatoes insisted I put these in our regular rotation.
CWood says
My bf cooked in Greek restaurants for 12 years and he thinks this recipe is better than any of theirs! Definitely making again.
Nagi says
Woah, that’s amazing CWood!!!!
Linda Yake says
Can these be made ahead & re-heated? I need to take a meal to someone recovering from surgery.
Nagi says
Yes definitely Linda!
NANCY-GAY ROWLAND says
Nagi, can I use unpeeled potatoes for this recipe? Thank you.
Hollis Ramsey says
Thank you for asking! I NEVER peel potatoes because I love the skins. I had to scroll this far down to find this question!
Nagi says
I prefer peeled so all that flavour soaks into the potatoes – but if you don’t peel them, I’m sure it will be fine
Laurie says
Thank you Nagi!!! These potatoes were sooo delicious!! I only got 3 wedges because my husband and son ate them all. But I am going to make them again tomorrow.
Nagi says
I’m so glad they were a hit Laurie, you’ll have to hide some before you serve them 😉
Debra Smith says
Great recipe, but try cooking them at 400, absorbs the liquid and roasts better!
Nagi says
I’ll have to give it a go Debra!
Vanessa says
Oh. My. Goodness. I have never felt the need to comment on a recipe. But I just made these potatoes and my family and I actually got goosebumps. There used to be a restaurant here that was famous for its Greek potatoes. They were amazing. These are even better.
Nagi says
Woah that’s terrific Vanessa, thanks so much for the feedback!
)eannie says
These are what true Greek potatoes taste like, really delicious! Just a note that the texture is spot on, soft not crispy the way they’re suppose to be. Great recipe, thanks!
Nagi says
I’m so glad you love them! I could eat these every day!
Emma O'Flynn says
Delicious, thanks! Adding to the weekly rotation.
Nagi says
Wahoo!!
Donna says
These look amazing! Bringing these to my in- laws Mother’s Day get together this weekend Can I make these a couple hours ahead of time and reheat when I get there ?
Nagi says
Hi Donna, you sure can! Enjoy!
Megs says
Hi Nagi, thanks for some great recipes! I want to make 20 servings of this next weekend for a family do. I can’t believe I’m actually asking this, but could you leave out the garlic? Or perhaps just chop a few full bulbs in half to impart the flavour to the broth rather than mincing? I am also doing your Greek chicken, and I don’t really fancy peeling and mincing 50 cloves of garlic!!!
Brenda says
I second what Nagi said – the garlic is key, but if you go the refrigerated produce section you can buy jars of garlic cloves all peeled and ready. And I don’t ever bother with mincing! I just run them over my microplane zester and pulverize the little suckers. No press to clean afterwards!
As for this recipe… I made it. Just once. Never made it again. Why? Because I ate a WHOLE SHEET PAN OF POTATOES IN ONE NIGHT. I’m not even a big potato fan, I prefer rice. But these things are just evil-good.
Megs says
Brenda, you really made me laugh with your comment!
I made these yesterday, and they were delicious. I ended up buying the gourmet garden chunky garlic tube as I couldn’t find pre-peeled garlic.
I don’t know why, but after 50 minutes in the oven, hardly any liquid had been sucked up. We ended up having to move them to the bbq with the lid down and the temp around 180. They probably took another hour or perhaps even a little longer to get to the point where most of the liquid had disappeared.
Having said that, the flavor was fabulous.
Nagi says
Hi Megs, I think you really need the garlic in this recipe, you could always cut the amount down if you prefer though! (I buy pre-peeled garlic – it’s a life saver!)
Sarah Kimball says
Think I could double the recipe to accommodate 6lbs of potatoes? Or should I make to batches?
Nagi says
You could definitely do that, I hope you love them! – N x
MJ says
Good but next time cut the salt by 1/4 or use low-sodium broth, especially if serving with tzatiki. Topped off the lemon juice with an extra half lemon.
Nagi says
Hi MJ – The recipe does specify to use low sodium broth – N x
Christina says
Made these with Greek chicken and a Greek salad. SO DELICIOUS! I served breadsticks with this to sop up the garlic sauce. I’ll definitely be making this again.
Danina says
Best potatoes ever. Served them with Chicken Shawarma pitas. Thank you
Nagi says
I’m so glad you love them Danina, they are dangerously addictive!