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…..
I never review recipes, but I had to tell you just how much my husband and I love these potatoes. They’re the closest I’ve come to the ones you get at a Greek restaurant. Thank you so much!
They are SOOOOO addictive aren’t they Sarah?! N x
These are the best fn potatoes I have ever tasted. They are INCREDIBLE!! I am so amazed. Thankyou for this recipe. Blessed.
You’re so welcome Charlotte!!! N x
These are really good! Left the skins on and used the reduction as a dipping sauce. Will definitely add to my rotation!
I made these with russet potatoes and they turned out delicious! My husband said these were his favorite potatoes EVER! It takes a while to cook but completely worth it!
Love these ……….. my latest obsession!!!!
Hi Nagi,
Just wondering, can I use white washed potatoes with the skin on? Will all the flavours still be fully absorbed and will it still crisp up? Sorry for all the questions, I’m going to make a huge batch and also will be making many other dishes, so I’m just looking to save some time with the peeling.
Cheers.
Sure can Lucy – they are cut so will still absorb through the flesh 🙂 N x
Thanks Nagi!
I made the Peach Salad this past weekend and it was a huge hit with all our friends!
Absolutely amazing!!!
I love this recipe the potatoes came out perfect! Be warned they are so delish you may be tempted to over indulge as I did.
Honestly absolutely delicious!!!
Couldn’t get enough.. will definitely make again
Seriously sooooo good…a flavour bomb!!!
Will be making this heaps😋
Was introduced to these by my sister-in-law & tonight we made them for a family Christmas get together. Awesome!
Yum. I made these for tonight’s Christmas Eve dinner. Had to stop myself from devouring the remaining leftovers. So easy to be gluttonous.
The best! Thanks for this recipe. Well worth the step of separating the spuds and garlic broth/oil and re adding. Just brilliant!
So delicious!! My family loved these! Making them again today for the in-laws. Only tweaks I made were more garlic and lemon, only because my family is crazy about both!
Te sigo desde España, gracias Nagi por tus recetas que son estupendas, saludos a Dozer
My new favourite way to make potatoes = absolutely delicious!
I love all the people on here saying you don’t need garlic and lemon. People. If you don’t want to use garlic and lemon.. don’t make greek potatoes. Jeeeeeeezus. They turned out great 🙂 thanks
100% Tayler!!! N x
Made these last night and they were delicious! I’m quite lazy and have a new baby, so I didn’t intend to take them out of the oven to brown them. So I just left them in the oven, unturned, for an hour. The liquid evaporated and they browned up beautifully without burning the garlic, so it was a major win! There was just a tiny bit of oil and liquid left in the bottom and it was the perfect amount to protect the garlic, and then to toss with the potatoes before serving. Adding these to our weekly rotation FOR SURE!!
Whoops, I also I meant to give it five stars but, you know, baby brain 🙂
Loved these potatoes! So much infused lemon flavour. I made this with your Greek Chicken recipe, and it was a win-win from both hubby and son (and me)! Thanks for your detailed, step-by-step instructions Nagi!
I made this recipe last night. Delicious! I used a microplane grater for the garlic so there were no big slices of burnt garlic to worry about! I used the same pan throughout the cook time. They got nice and crispy but took about twice the time to cook.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe!