Duck-Fat Potatoes for Two Recipe (2024)

This has to be one of our most favorite potato recipes. I've learned over the years that the microwave is your best friend for cooking small potatoes. Wash them, put in glass bowl with a cover. I use a small corning ware casserole - 5-6 baby Yukon golds - nuke them 3 minutes and let them sit till cool enough, dry them; then you can smash them with the bottom of a pot. They get baked in an oval gratin dish in the toaster oven. I've used all kinds of lipids for this. Duck fat rules!

Nice concept, but the garlic should be added at maybe the halfway point. It ended up about burnt and very bitter. Also think a bit of thyme could be added. I'll also try some shallots next time.

Yes, I used duck fat. I couldn't wait until the potatoes were cool enough to smash in my hands, so I carefully used the meat pounder. Unfortunately, I used a glass baking dish, so potatoes took twice as long to brown. Next time, I'm using the baking sheet.

Ah, the aromas taking this dish out of the oven. This is a great potato dish. It can be made earlier in the day and then roasted (step 3) right before dinner. I cut the fat off of the duck, melted it down, and did add a little olive oil just before roasting. I doubled the recipe and used a lot of garlic and served it with a roast duck. No reason not to use chicken fat and put the cracklings on top.

Americans have been told that duck fat potatoes are good. So they will try their way of doing potatoes with duck fat. But they have no idea in the beginning of how to cook potatoes. See Francis Mallmann who won the top culinary price with only potatoes. delivered on a table with no plates. Please respect the potatoes. Don't boil the potatoes !!!

Used the duck fat from the NYT Easy Duck Confit recipe http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013002-easy-duck-confit which was also fantastic. The potatoes were so richly flavored, it was not to be believed. After many previous failed attempts at smashing potatoes, use a knife to cut a little cross in the top of the parboiled potatoes and then gently smash them with your palms. Made a big difference with yellow potatoes because they didn't explode out of their skins.

Don't forget to heavily salt the water. I wasn't sure as I had never made potatoes with duck fat so did not salt the water as much as for mashed potatoes but it needs it. Otherwise turned out crispy and delicious!

Great recipe. I used duck fat, and tossed the boiled potatoes in it, along with salt, pepper, rosemary, and a little cornmeal for an extra crunch. Then spread in the roasting pan and crushed with a metal spatula. So good!!!

I don’t think I’d make these again. The reviews were so good, but we were underwhelmed for the amount of work that went into these. The potatoes never crisped up around the edges, the texture was weirdly soggy but dried out in spots, and the garlic burned. I should’ve just pan roasted some halved fingerlings with duck fat like a normal person.

"Fluff" the potatoes immediately after draining (shake the colander up and down to create a roughed surface on the pieces). This increases the surface area and facilitates a better crust.

Certainly avoid the garlic, burnt halfway through and left a bitter lingering taste in the potatoes.

Crispy skin, soft and buttery center, excellent taste.

Adding a spoon of baking soda to the water during the boiling step helps get more crispiness

My changes : Baked at 450 for 40 min to get crispy Sautéed garlic and fresh thyme In the duck fat and then tossed smashed potatoes with this mixture. Lined a sheet pan with foil and placed a cooling rack on top of the sheet pan to allow air to circulate. Sprayed with cooking oil and placed smashed potatoes on that. Tip - make sure to smash potatoes very thin if you want them crispy

Does anyone have any advice on the kind or brand of duck fat to use? I want to explore cooking with it instead of better, although it can be a bit expensive.

This was an amazing way to make potatoes! Thanks to helpful commenters, I made the following changes: 1) Microwaved potatoes covered for 5 min. 2) Scored potatoes w/a cross using a knife before smashing. 3) Set duck fat in a small saucepan w/rosemary and garlic and set on low heat to incorporate the flavors, then strained it before drizzling on potatoes. 4) After flipping the potatoes, I turned the oven up to 475° for 8-10 min. for a crispy exterior. Thanks Melissa & helpful commenters!

An easy way to make this recipe better is to Add1/2 tsp of baking soda to the water. Add potatoes and bring it to a boil. It keeps the inside of the potatoes soft, but the outside perfectly crisp.

When doubling the potatoes don’t double the duck fat. Proved way more than needed and held back the potatoes from crisping. Try the original amount and add more if needed.

This was delicious but the garlic and rosemary were over cooked and unusable. I used small not baby Yukon Golds and cooked them much longer to get them crispy. I will definitely cook this again but next time I plan to chop the garlic and rosemary, add them to the duck fat and drizzle all of it over the potatoes to get every bit of goodness on the crispy potatoes.

This has become our go to for potatoes!!!!! The best.

Roasting potatoes with garlic and rosemary at 425 is fine in theory but you're likely to end up with burnt, bitter garlic and dried out rosemary. Better to infuse the duck fat with smashed garlic and chopped rosemary over low heat, then toss potatoes in strained fat, saving garlic and rosemary. Once potatoes are brown and crisp, toss them in the rosemary/garlic pan and serve. Or pan roast potatoes in duck fat on top of the stove, adding garlic and rosemary for last few minutes.

I don’t think I’d make these again. The reviews were so good, but we were underwhelmed for the amount of work that went into these. The potatoes never crisped up around the edges, the texture was weirdly soggy but dried out in spots, and the garlic burned. I should’ve just pan roasted some halved fingerlings with duck fat like a normal person.

Where do you get duck fat without roasting your own duck?

"Fluff" the potatoes immediately after draining (shake the colander up and down to create a roughed surface on the pieces). This increases the surface area and facilitates a better crust.

Just perfect