Crispy Baked Accordion Potatoes

Name: Crispy Baked Accordion Potatoes
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 26 min
Total time: 41 min
Ingredients: 1/4 cup butter; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon paprika; 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary (1 small sprig finely minced); 2 teaspoons fresh thyme (2 sprigs finely minced); 2 cloves garlic (grated); 4 medium yukon gold potatoes; 2 tablespoons chives (finely chopped); Flaky sea salt

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These Crispy Baked Accordion Potatoes started as a viral TikTok trend and are now in regular rotation in our home. Making the lattice cuts is so simple and they form a crispy outer layer that wraps around the fluffy interior!

A white plate containing crispy accordion potatoes, bacon, and eggs.

I'm not a big TikTokker. I've hardly tikked or tokked at all, and I certainly don't consider myself addicted to the scroll. That being said, these viral Crispy Accordion Potatoes have been on replay all over the place for a couple of years now! Twitter, Instagram, morning news programs... you couldn't miss them.

Like most viral trends, I planned to steer clear, but my potato craving intervened. What's not to want? They're a part waffle fry, part hasselback potato, with an adorable lattice look. I'm in! The question was, could I make these potatoes just as crispy and fluffy as the internet claimed, without parboiling or deep frying? Turns out, with a few little tweaks, I can!

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Ingredients
A Note About Potatoes
Substitutions
Variations
Step-by-Step Instructions
Serving suggestion
Technical Note
Expert Tip
Recipe FAQ's
More Potato recipes
Crispy Baked Accordion Potatoes

Ingredients

To get a crispy accordion potato, you really only need potatoes, butter, and salt, but I always bring the flavor!

See recipe card for quantities.

A Note About Potatoes

I used Yukon Gold potatoes when making this recipe, but in testing I also used russet, red, and yellow potatoes with equal success. Each has its own texture, but as a potato lover, I enjoyed them all! Some people like to peel their potatoes, especially russet, but I gotta say, I'm a texture girl. I enjoy the peel.

Substitutions

These are potatoes. You knew what you were getting yourself into - delicious carbs! But how we flavor them is up for grabs!

Garlic - If you don't have fresh garlic, or are concerned about it burning in the oven, you can use garlic powder instead. One clove of garlic is equal to about ⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder, so you would use ¼ teaspoon total in this recipe.
Fresh herbs - I usually have fresh herbs lying around and try to use them before they go bad, but if you don't have them fresh, you can substitute with dry herbs. In general you can substitute 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs with 1 teaspoon of dry herbs, or ⅓ the amount of fresh. I don't recommend using dried rosemary as it can be quite pointy and doesn't really soften up with cooking.
Butter - If you are trying to make this vegan, you can use a vegan butter in place of dairy butter. You can also use your choice of oil.

Variations

It's amazing how much difference an herb or spice blend can make. In my extensive research (yay! more potatoes!) I tried quite a few:

Zingy - I'm all in with using lemon pepper seasoning. Amazing at breakfast, but equally delicious with fish! Garnish with chopped chives or parsley.
Cajun - I absolutely adore the smoky spice found by using cajun seasoning. You can use the one in my recipe for Spaghetti with Cajun Salmon, or your favorite bottled blend. Garnish with chopped chives.
Italian - Add Italian seasoning to your butter mixture. Garnish with chopped basil.
More Italian - Serve them with this delicious Herb Salsa Verde.

Step-by-Step Instructions

You are going to be amazed at how simple this is! After you make this recipe once, (slicing ever so carefully because it's your first time) you're going to be slicing like prep cook and adding this to your regular breakfast (or dinner) rotation!

(P.S. Peel or don't peel your potatoes. It's up to you.)

Spices, herbs, and garlic in a glass bowl.

1. Preheat oven to 425°F and place a large sheet pan in the oven to preheat as well. Melt ¼ cup (half a stick) of butter. Place your herbs, spices, and grated garlic cloves into a small bowl.

Pouring hot butter over garlic herb ingredients.

2. Pour the hot melted butter over your aromatics. The heat of the butter will help the flavors to bloom. Set aside.

Slicing yellow potatoes into ¼ inch planks.

3. Cut the rounded edges off of opposite sides of your potato and then cut the potatoes into ¼ inch planks (I get three planks per potato). Place planks into a bowl of cold water.

4. Place a pair of wooden skewers or chopsticks on each side of your potato plank. Using a sharp knife, make vertical (up and down) slices in the potato, about 1/16th of an inch apart (pretty close). The skewers will keep you from slicing all the way through.

5. Flip over your potato plank and make slices on a 45° diagonal, again very close together (about 1/16 of an inch).

Twisting a fully cut accordion potato to show its pleats.

6. Give them a gentle twist to see the magic you created. Place your latticed accordion potato in cold water and slice the rest of planks.

Brushing uncooked potato slices with garlic herb butter.

7. Use paper towels or kitchen towels to dry your latticed potato slices. Carefully remove your hot sheet pan from the oven and spray lightly with nonstick spray. Place your potatoes on the pan and brush with your seasoned butter.

Raw accordion potatoes brushed with garlic herb butter.

8. Flip each slice over and brush the other side as well. Try to gently pull the accordion pleats of your potato slices apart a bit to get butter in between them. Bake at 425°F for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are getting crispy.

Flipping over an accordion potato halfway through baking time.

9. Flip your potato slices over. Place back into the oven and bake for another 12 to 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are sizzly and as crispy as you want them to be.

Four crispy accordion potatoes on a sheet pan.

10. Allow to cool on the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Garnish with flaky sea salt and chopped fresh herbs, such as chives.

Cut shot of baked crispy accordion potato showing the creamy interior and crispy exterior.

Enjoy those crispy accordion pleats and the tender, fluffy interior of your potatoes!

Serving suggestion

These potatoes are especially good with salty bacon and over easy eggs. The way the pleats in your accordion potatoes capture the runny yolk is a thing of beauty and you'll find your self stacking yolky egg and bacon on top of a crispy lattice for the perfect bite (insert swoon here).

Technical Note

Popularly skewered and twisted, and occasionally fried, these potatoes are a beautiful sight. I will say this: after numerous attempts at skewering my potatoes the way they do in the videos, corndog style and twisted like a potato tornado, I came to a few conclusions:

Skewering raw potatoes is super scary! I did it, but in constant fear that I would impale myself. I'm already a kitchen klutz. I don't need a wooden sword.
Unless you are deep frying these, the twisting of the accordion potatoes on the skewer just doesn't make sense. It keeps the potatoes from making full contact with the sheet pan, losing prime crisp-portunities!
Through numerous arduous potato tests (aww, poor me), I found that the skewered potatoes were no more crisp than the ones that I didn't skewer. In conclusion, we skip the skewer.

Twisting a crispy accordion potato to show its pleats.

Expert Tip

I have you preheat your sheet pan to get a head start on the crisping process, but there are other steps you can take if you want even more crisp:

Pizza stone - If you have a pizza stone, you can preheat it along with the oven for at least 30 minutes. Place your sheet pan directly on the pizza stone to preheat, as well as while baking your accordion potatoes.
Baking steel - If you have a little more money in your culinary budget, I highly recommend investing in a baking steel. It not only makes amazing pizzas, but I use it to get extra crisp on roasted potatoes, potato hash, and even get the bottom of my focaccia more toasty. It even keeps the temperature of my somewhat unremarkable electric oven at a more uniform temperature. Just as above, preheat for 30 minutes and place your sheet pan right on top.
Broiler - If you want extra, extra crispy accordion potatoes, place your sheet pan about 6 inches from your oven broiler and let them toast up for a few minutes. Keep your eye on them though. Things can go from toasty to terrible in mere moments.

Recipe FAQ's

How do I store leftover potatoes?

First of all, you had leftover potatoes? You can store those rare things in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

How do I reheat these potatoes?

You're never going to get them quite as crisp as when they were first cooked, but the best way to reheat them is to heat them in a cast iron pan, or other heavy skillet, in a thin layer of oil until hot and crisp on the edges.

Can I make a double batch of these?

You can, but make sure that your oven racks are at least 2 levels apart and you rotate your pans and switch levels halfway through the cooking time, when you are flipping them. This is so that they each have adequate time closer to the heat at the bottom and to the heat that rises to the top of the oven.