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These Syracuse salt potatoes are simple to make. Boiled in heavily salted water and then tossed in fresh herb butter, they are soft, creamy, and flavorful!
There is almost nothing I love more than potatoes. I’ll happily eat them in cheesy hashbrown form or roasted to perfection in an air fryer. I’m not picky. Just give me my potatoes.
This recipe is a simple yet flavor-packed way to enjoy potatoes. It’s completely underrated, in my opinion.
You start by boiling small waxy potatoes in heavily salted water until fork tender. Then, you drain them and toss them in fresh herb butter. It’s everything you want a potato to be!
The potato turns out soft and creamy with a salty skin that pairs perfectly with the melted butter and fresh herbs. This highly salted water is actually what gives the potatoes that creamy texture! It helps to
Trust me, these salt potatoes are a classic for a reason!
Ingredients needed
- Baby yellow potatoes – you can use baby red, white, or yellow potatoes for this dish. I like my potatoes to be no larger than 1-1/2 wide.
- Water – the right amount of water helps ensure your water is salty enough.
- Kosher salt – make sure you’re using kosher salt and not table salt. It is not the same and will not correctly.
- Unsalted butter – with all the salt you use on the potatoes, you don’t need any added salt.
- Fresh herbs – I’m using a mix of chives, basil, and oregano. Other tasty additions would be thyme, rosemary, or tarragon.
What are salt potatoes?
Salt potatoes are a regional food of upstate (specifically Syracuse) New York. However, they are much more popular now throughout the United States. They originated as a humble food salt miners would make while working.
Basically, it’s just small potatoes (traditionally white baby potatoes) boiled in heavily salted water. And I mean, heavily salted. Don’t skip this part, even if it seems too much salt. It’s not. The traditional ratio is 1 pound of salt per 4 pounds of potatoes.
After they have been boiled, you drain the water, leaving you with soft, creamy potatoes with salty skin. Traditionally, this is served with melted butter, which I did here, but I jazzed it up by making it fresh herb butter!
You could even get fancy and add garlic to the butter to enhance its flavor.
My Pro Tips
Syracuse Salt Potatoes Recipe Tips
Buy uniformly sized potatoes, so they all cook at the same speed. I like buying bags of baby potatoes as they are all the same size.
Using a waxy potato for this dish would be best, so a Russet potato would not work. Waxy potatoes are red, white, or yellow/gold-skinned potatoes.
You cannot make this dish with diced potatoes as the inside will soak up too much salt and become crumbly and overly salted.
Toss the potatoes in the butter or serve them alongside for dipping. Both are traditional.
You can use whatever combination of fresh herbs you have on hand. My favorite mix is chives, basil, and oregano.
More potato recipes
Syracuse Salt Potatoes
Ingredients
- 24 ounces baby yellow potatoes
- 4 cups water
- 1/3 cup kosher salt
- 4 ounces unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add potatoes to a 5-quart pot, cover with water, and stir in salt.
- Place over high heat and boil until the potatoes are soft and fully cooked about 15 minutes.
- Once fully cooked, drain, and add back to the pot.
- While your potatoes cool slightly, heat your herb butter.
- In a 10-inch skillet, add butter and set over medium-high heat.
- When the butter is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the fresh herbs and black pepper.
- Pour the butter over the potatoes and toss to combine.
- Store any leftover potatoes in an airtight container and consume within 3 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
