How to Make Hasselback Potatoes: Cuts, Fat, and Roasting

By the end of this guide, you'll know how to make hasselback potatoes with genuinely crispy edges and a tender interior the result most recipes describe and fewer deliver. That outcome depends on four sequential decisions made right: which potato to use, how to cut it without splitting it, how to roast it in stages, and when to apply fat. Get all four right and the technique is repeatable. Get one wrong and you'll know exactly which one.

The dish is commonly traced to the Hasselbacken restaurant in Stockholm, where it is said to have been created in 1953 a whole potato sliced almost through at thin intervals, fanned open in the oven, basted with fat until the edges crisp and the center softens (America's Test Kitchen, October 2021). The method is simple in concept and specific in execution. This guide works through both.

Prerequisites: A sharp chef's knife. Two chopsticks or wooden spoon handles. A rimmed baking sheet large enough to give each potato clear space on all sides.

The default method at a glance

Start here before the explanations.

• Use a medium Yukon Gold or russet (7–10 oz), raw, unpeeled
• Slice at ⅛-inch intervals using chopsticks as depth guides; leave the bottom ¼ inch intact
• Skip parboiling entirely
• Brush with oil or butter, working fat into each cut before the oven
• Space potatoes well apart on the pan crowding kills crispness
• Roast covered at 425–450°F for 20–35 minutes, then uncovered for another 20–35 minutes, basting after the foil comes off

The sections below explain why each step matters and what to do when things go wrong.

Step 1: Do you parboil hasselback potatoes? No start raw

Before touching a potato, understand what you're managing: moisture and surface area. The accordion cuts expose more potato surface to direct oven heat, which is what allows the edges to dehydrate and brown. Anything that adds excess moisture back into the system works against that.

Parboiling is the main culprit. Chef Rick Martinez is direct about it: partially boiling before roasting sets you up for a mushy interior, and he skips it entirely (Chowhound, October 2025). Water absorbed during boiling steams the potato from the inside during roasting, softening the flesh before the outside has had a chance to dry out. Raw potato goes into the oven, full stop.

Crowding the pan creates the same problem. A full sheet pan generates too much ambient steam, making crispy edges much harder to achieve (Chowhound, October 2025). Treat pan space as an ingredient.

Slice thickness is the third variable. Cuts spaced too far apart stay closed during roasting less surface area, less fat absorption. Thin, even slices around ⅛ inch are what allow the potato to expand and soak in fat between layers, as Well Plated notes (December 2022). Thicker cuts produce a baked potato with decorative scoring, not a true hasselback.

Step 2: How to cut hasselback potatoes without slicing through

This step intimidates people. It shouldn't, because there's one piece of setup that separates a controlled cut from a split potato.

Set up your guides before you pick up the knife. Lay two chopsticks or wooden spoon handles flat on a dry cutting board and nestle the potato lengthwise between them. The sticks stop the blade automatically at the right depth it's the only special equipment the dish requires, as NYT Cooking describes it (October 2023). A damp board lets the potato slide, so dry it first.

Scrub the potato well and don't peel it. The skin crisps during roasting and adds texture. Chowhound suggests scrubbing with white vinegar for extra cleanliness (October 2025). Pat completely dry before cutting wet skin won't crisp.

Slice across the potato at ⅛-inch intervals, pressing the blade down until it meets the chopsticks. Leave the bottom ¼ inch intact. That uncut base is structural: it's what keeps the potato from falling apart in the oven or on the way to the table, as Epicurious specifies (October 2023). Start about ¾ inch from one end and maintain consistent spacing throughout (Cookie and Kate, February 2025).

Aim for consistent spacing, not just thin cuts. Uneven slices mean some edges brown before others are cooked through, and slices that fan unevenly trap less fat. Slow, deliberate cuts with a sharp knife beat fast ones with a dull one every time.

Gotcha: If a slice goes all the way through, pin the base back together with a toothpick before the potato goes in the oven. It'll hold during roasting.

Step 3: Roast in two stages covered first, then uncovered

This is where the interior and exterior textures get set separately, which is the core logic of the method. Roasting uncovered for the full time produces what Epicurious identifies as the most common hasselback failure: leathery on top, still firm at the center (October 2023). The fix is straightforward. Cover the pan first to hold steam around the potato and cook the interior through. Then pull the cover so the surface dries and the exposed edges crisp.

Brush with fat and space out on the pan before the oven. Apply oil, butter, or a combination over the outside and work fat into each cut. Getting fat inside every slit before roasting begins is essential Martinez is explicit about this (Chowhound, October 2025). Then give each potato room to breathe.

Roast covered at 425–450°F for 20–35 minutes. A foil tent works fine. The exact time depends on potato size smaller potatoes need less covered time. The interior should be mostly cooked through when the foil comes off.

Remove the foil, baste between the opened slices, and roast uncovered for another 20–35 minutes. The slices will have begun to fan open by this point. Baste into the open slices every 20 minutes through this stage until the edges are crisp and a fork meets no resistance at the center total time runs 60–70 minutes for a full-size potato (NYT Cooking, October 2023).

A note on the competing approach: Cookie and Kate roasts uncovered the entire time at 450°F for a full hour, holding butter until the last 10 minutes to avoid burning (February 2025). This works on medium Yukon Golds and russets where starch content compensates for the drier roast environment. The covered-first method is more forgiving on larger potatoes and cuts the leathery-top risk significantly. Both produce good results; the covered approach is recommended here for reliability.

What done looks like: The fan of slices is visibly open, the outer edges are deep golden-brown, and a paring knife slides through the center with almost no resistance. If the top is dark but the center is still firm, cover loosely and add 10 more minutes. If the slices haven't fanned fully after the covered stage, extend the uncovered time by 5–10 minutes before the final baste.

Optional: Switch the oven to convection for the last 5 minutes of the uncovered stage. Martinez recommends the fan for just that final stretch whenever a browned, crispy exterior is the goal (Chowhound, October 2025).

Step 4: Best potatoes for hasselback potatoes and how the choice changes the result

Potato variety is a variable, not a fixed answer. The right choice depends on the texture you want and how much margin for error you need.

For a fluffy interior and classic presentation: use russet. High starch content means the interior opens up and absorbs fat readily. Well Plated calls russet its first choice because the flesh turns creamy rather than gummy, and the skin crisps well at high heat (December 2022). Use medium russets in the 7–10 oz range, and steer away from waxy varieties for full-size hasselbacks (Chowhound, October 2025).

For a creamier, denser interior and faster cook: use Yukon Gold. Epicurious pushes back on russet orthodoxy, arguing that their dry starch makes them less than ideal; smaller Yukon Golds cook faster and produce the crisp-yet-creamy result most people are actually chasing (October 2023). Yukon Gold works as a substitute but yields a naturally buttery, denser result (Well Plated, December 2022).

For the easiest first attempt: use mini potatoes. Fewer cuts per potato means fewer opportunities for a slip-through. Baby hasselbacks cook in roughly 35 minutes total and leave more room for error and in small format, fingerlings, baby Yukons, and small red potatoes all work (Real Simple, July 2025). The waxy-variety caution applies primarily to full-size potatoes where the ratio of surface crisping to interior moisture matters more. In mini format, the geometry changes enough that waxier potatoes manage fine.

Decision summary:

• Fluffy interior: russet
• Creamier and faster: Yukon Gold
• First time or weeknight: mini potatoes, any variety

Whatever you choose, pick potatoes of roughly uniform size so they finish at the same time.

When things go wrong: a compact troubleshooting reference

• Slices didn't fan open: Cuts were too thick or spaced too far apart. Target ⅛ inch next time. Also check that the covered stage ran long enough tight slices need heat to relax and separate.
• Leathery top, firm center: Roasted uncovered the entire time. The covered-first stage is the fix. Epicurious identifies this as the most common failure mode for uncovered-only hasselbacks (October 2023).
• Mushy interior: Too much moisture before or during roasting. If you parboiled, that's the cause. Start raw next time.
• Collapsed potato: A cut went all the way through and the base detached. The intact bottom ¼ inch is structural use chopsticks consistently and ease up on pressure near the end of each cut. Epicurious specifically flags this failure point (October 2023).
• Edges not crispy: Pan was too crowded. Give each potato clear space so moisture can escape rather than accumulate.

Toppings and finishing

The fanned slices function as channels that hold toppings in place through the final minutes of roasting. NYT Cooking describes hasselbacks as "a canvas for toppings of all kinds" sour cream, cheddar, bacon bits, and scallions are the obvious routes (October 2023).

A few approaches worth specifying:

• Cheese inside the cuts: Push thin slices of Gruyère or Parmesan between the slits before the final uncovered stage. They melt into the gaps and crisp at the exposed edge. Serious Eats uses this logic in its gratin adaptation, tossing slices with cream and cheese before arranging them accordion-style (October 2024).
• Garlic butter in two stages: Mix softened butter with pressed garlic and apply half after the covered stage, the rest after the uncovered stage. Cookie and Kate uses this split to keep the garlic from burning during the long initial roast (February 2025).
• Dairy-free: Olive oil with smoked paprika and garlic seasons the cuts without butter. Well Plated uses this combination as a complete seasoning (December 2022).

Storage: Keep cooked hasselbacks in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days (Real Simple, July 2025). Reheat at 400°F for 20–25 minutes to restore crispness. The microwave softens the edges. Don't freeze thawed hasselbacks turn mushy and won't recover (Well Plated, December 2022).

The repeatable formula for crispy hasselback potatoes

A properly done hasselback has edges you can hear, a center that gives under a fork, and enough structural integrity to hold toppings. Getting there every time comes down to this sequence:

1. Start with a raw starchy potato russet for fluffy, Yukon Gold for creamy, minis for speed and ease.
2. Dry the potato and your cutting board. Don't peel.
3. Cut at ⅛-inch intervals using chopsticks as guides. Leave the bottom ¼ inch intact.
4. Space potatoes well apart on the pan. Fat goes in the cuts before the oven.
5. Cover and roast at 425–450°F for 20–35 minutes. Uncover, baste, and roast 20–35 minutes more.
6. Add toppings that go between the slices, not just on top.

The covered-first stage handles the interior. The uncovered stage handles the crust. Fat in the cuts handles both. That's the whole system and it scales directly to mini potatoes with a shorter roast, or to a hasselback-style gratin for a larger group when individual potatoes aren't practical (America's Test Kitchen, October 2021).