Although it is laborious to discover a Thanksgiving desk that does not have potatoes on it, all too typically meaning a bowl of dry mashed potatoes or bland roasted ones. However as simple as it’s to mess up potatoes, with a bit of know-how, it is virtually simply as simple to make them some of the scrumptious elements of the meal. As a substitute of settling for mediocre spuds on Thanksgiving, wow your visitors this 12 months with potato recipes like pommes aligot (a.okay.a. super-gooey mashed potatoes full of cheese), the crispiest roast potatoes you’ve got ever had, or a wonderful hasselback potato gratin.
Mashed Potatoes
Extremely-Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
If you would like fluffy mashed potatoes, simply know that starch is your largest enemy. The key is dicing the potatoes and rinsing them nicely earlier than and after cooking, which is able to do away with that extra starch and go away the mashed potatoes tremendous gentle. Even in case you normally choose creamier mashed potatoes, as I do, this recipe is the most effective for making gravy volcanoes.
Pommes Aligot (Tacky Mashed Potatoes)
If our ultra-fluffy mashed potatoes nonetheless aren’t fairly luxurious sufficient for you, you have to try pommes aligot. This conventional French dish packs potatoes with a lot melted cheese, it virtually appears like fondue. For probably the most attention-grabbing taste profile, use a mixture of Alpine cheeses, comparable to Swiss, Gruyère, and Comté.
Roasted and Pan-Fried Potatoes
The Greatest Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever
We’ve plenty of roast potato recipes, but when you are going to attempt only one, make it this one. Right here, we parboil the potatoes in water spiked with baking soda to make it alkaline, then toss them roughly in fats earlier than roasting; the aggressive dealing with batters the potatoes’ exteriors barely, which builds up a starchy slurry. You will find yourself with potatoes which might be comfortable and creamy on the within and beautifully crispy on the skin.
Extremely-Crispy New Potatoes With Garlic, Herbs, and Lemon
One of many hardest elements of roasting potatoes is coping with the skins (assuming you are leaving them on). We would like our potato skins good and crispy, but they typically come out papery or robust. To keep away from these outcomes, we parboil the potatoes in vinegar-spiked water—the acidity helps construct up a layer of starch that will get crusty within the oven—and toss the potatoes with loads of fats earlier than roasting.
Crispy Smashed Potatoes
This is not probably the most simple potato recipe in our assortment—parboiling the potatoes, smashing them with a skillet, and frying them slowly in small batches is a minor ache. However the extremely crispy potatoes that end result are nicely value it. Plus, you are able to do a lot of the work Wednesday night and reheat the potatoes within the oven, with out sacrificing crispness.
Skillet Potatoes With Cajun Blackening Spices and Buttermilk-Herb Sauce
In search of a potato recipe that can actually stand out in your Thanksgiving desk? These potatoes make a critical assertion, because of an intense Cajun-style blackening rub made with smoked paprika, cumin, garlic and onion powders, brown sugar, oregano, and cayenne. To stability out the spice and warmth, we serve them with a creamy buttermilk-based sauce flavored with garlic, dill, chives, and parsley.
Casseroles and Gratins
Basic Wealthy and Silky Potato Gratin (Scalloped Potatoes)
That is potato gratin the way in which it ought to be: wealthy, melt-in-your-mouth creamy, and loaded with taste. We layer russet potatoes with Gruyère cheese so as to add earthy nuttiness, whereas a mix of cream and milk slowly bubbles and cooks down because the potatoes bake. A crispy golden crust of further Gruyère and Parmigiano-Reggiano is the final touch.
Hasselback Potato Gratin
Keep in mind the Hasselback potato development? The images all the time regarded terrific on Pinterest, however the gimmicky recipe by no means appeared to work nicely sufficient in actual life to be helpful. This recipe retains the most effective a part of the concept (the abundance of crispy potato edges) by making what’s primarily a sideways gratin. We prepare the potatoes, sliced on a mandoline, in a baking dish and canopy them solely partially with a mix of cream and cheese. That leaves the tops uncovered, permitting them to crisp up nicely.
Crispy Mashed Potato Casserole With Bacon, Cheese, and Scallions
Mashed potatoes do not are likely to reheat nicely, that means you must time your Thanksgiving prep exactly to be able to end them proper earlier than serving dinner. There’s a workaround, although: Combining the mash with plenty of bitter cream provides the potatoes sufficient further moisture to permit them to maintain within the fridge for as much as 5 (!) days. All you may must do earlier than serving is high the casserole with diced bacon, cheese, bread crumbs, and scallions and bake till it is scorching.
Tater Tot Casserole (Hotdish)
Tater Tot casserole—or “hotdish,” because it’s known as in its Midwestern birthplace—is nice for gatherings any time of 12 months, and Thanksgiving isn’t any exception. Positive, almost certainly your Tater Tots will come frozen from a bag (although you possibly can attempt making your personal in case you’re actually hardcore!), however combining them with a flavorful home made mushroom sauce and thoroughly seasoned floor beef makes this model further particular.