What are Hasselback potatoes? The name sounds complicated but it is just the name of the hotel where those baked potatoes were invented. It is a simple recipe for an elegant and original side dish that allows infinite modification. Those stuffed potatoes could easily become a classic of your kitchen!

To prepare the potatoes, cut them into thin vertical slices without completely detaching those slices from the potato so that they stay tied together, and spread a mixture of olive oil and butter over them. As a result, they open themselves like a fan while they are baking, and you can fill the spaces between each slice with cheese and various ingredients: vegetables, ham, chorizo, bacon, eggs, … that you brown in the oven at the end.

Baked Hasselback potatoes with raclette cheese

I found several recipes at this link, but it is better to lose yourself with your imagination and create your own proper recipe! You can also use sweet potatoes for a softer version, and apples for a sweet version.

I chose to melt raclette cheese on the Hasselback potatoes in order to make a variation of the traditional French dish called Raclette, and it works very well.

I like it because:

It is an original way to eat a raclette if you don’t have a machine at home.
You can serve these potatoes as a main course with a salad, as a side dish or eat them for brunch.

Tricks:

- Potatoes can either be lathered with a mixture of butter and oil, just olive oil or butter according to your taste.

- It is important to spread the fat between each slice so that the potatoes open well while they roast.

You can season with paprika over the cheese and decorate with aromatic herbs before serving the potatoes.

Raclette Hasselback potatoes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Serving Size: 4 people

Baked Hasselback potatoes with raclette cheese

Ingredients

9 medium sized potatoes
4 tbsp (50 ml) olive oil
4 tbsp (50g) butter
Pepper, ground coriander seeds salt, aromatic herbs…
7 oz. (200g) raclette cheese
Paprika

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF (220°C).
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and pour it in a large bowl. Mix with the olive oil and season with salt, pepper, ground coriander seeds, aromatic herbs …
3. Cut the potatoes into thin slices without completely detaching those slices from the potato so that they stay tied together.

1. Baste the potatoes one by one with the butter and olive oil mixture, opening gently each slice so that the fat gets between each, and place them in a large oven dish.

1. First bake the potatoes for 30 minutes. Then take the dish out of the oven and coat the potatoes with the cooking sauce, or the rest of the butter and olive oil mixture. Bake the potatoes for 45 more minutes, until they are golden, tender and opened.
2. In the meantime, cut the raclette cheese into pieces small enough to be placed between each slice of the potatoes.
3. Take out the dish from the oven when the potatoes are cooked, and place the pieces of cheese between each slice of the potatoes until there is no more. If you want, you can alternate the pieces of cheese with other ingredients such as ham, pepper, broccoli or any other ingredient you fancy.

Place the dish with the stuffed potatoes in oven on “grill” mode, and bake for 5 more minutes.
Add more seasoning and paprika, and serve very hot.