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…..
This is another amazing recipe, thank you Nagi 😊!
I was wondering if the braising liquids can be reused?! They taste delicious but I have quite a lot left.
Super yum and super easy. Some of the best potatoes I have ever eaten. Thank you Nagi! And love to Dozer
I am a vegetarian. Could i use veggie broth instead of chicken?
100% Meena, you may need to add a little more salt for seasoning. N x
These were sooo good! I followed the instructions exactly (although I increased the proportions by half), and they turned out perfectly. Everyone at supper loved them!
I had plebty of potatoes and plebty of preserve lemons. Came looking in the WWW for a recipe with both. Bumped into your recipe. Good thing I had plenty of normal lemons too. Folowwed your recipe, except I used water because I had no stock. Since doing it the 1st time, I have done them twice already. They are out of this world 🙈!
These are the best Greek Lemon Potatoes! I have made them twice and only remark when I have tried a few times. They are now a family favourite and I will now follow Nagi! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Good,good,good.
Just like my Aunt used to cook them.
Kaliorexi!
These sounds delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Do you think I can prepare the first part in advance and leave the crisping part to dinner time?
Just curious if anyone has tried this without peeling the potatoes?
Yes I used unpeeled red potatoes
Full disclosure, I didn’t crisp them up at the end because everything else was ready and we were starving. The flavour was outstanding and we all agreed this is our new go to potato recipe when enjoying a Greek feast. Just imagine the accolades if I had crisped them up? Boggles the mind!
They are SOOO good when crispy – I hope you try them again!! N x
I didn’t notice the Stars. I would give this recipe 6 stars if it were possible.
These potatoes were so good, I made them last weekend and making them again 6 days later.
They are SO addictive Susan – I don’t blame you! N x
My 5 year old picky eater said these potatoes (as well as your greek chicken i made to go with it) was the best meal. So good that he said he would buy me flowers as a trophy. Thank you for making such delicious trustworthy recipes!
I have made these a few times, always delicious, I make extra and put them in the air fryer next day and they get gobbled up, very delicious
I made your Greek Lemon Potatoes today and they are positively delicious, crispy, lemony and the perfect accompaniment.
It takes along time to cook, but they were excellent. Golden brown with slightly carmelized egdes and full of flavor. Everyone loved it and asked for the recipe
They are SO worth it though aren’t they Julie?! N x
I want to make these in advance for a function. Do you think I could just reheat them after they’ve crisped up? I am worried they will be soggy.
I made these last night and they were absolutely delicious! The entire family loved it, and there weren’t any left.
I’ve made this about 10 times now and these days, I double the volume because these potatoes are eaten sooner than you can say ‘hot potato’. I lived on a Greek island for 6 month when I was about 20, and this recipe brings it all back to life. I really appreciate how clear and descriptive your recipe is; it’s excellently laid out. Many thanks Nagi! Justine
Wanted to share a quick hack that I did with these. First off, these were the best potatoes I have ever eaten. Hands down.
For the garlic… I used 7 cloves, and added them to a tall tumbler with the 1/2 cup of oil. I then puréed that with the immersion blender until smooth. I added this to the chicken stock in the roasting pan… and it made them taste incredible without burning the garlic.