I have only made hasselbacks once before now, a few years ago, and it was a disaster. They took forever to prepare and while painstakingly slicing the the potatoes I cut through most of them. Plus someone had told me that the best way to prepare them was to put a sliver of cold butter between each slice (lies! lies!), making it the most time consuming (and frustrating) food prep ever.

Well, clearly I didn’t do enough research because I have since come across several recipes that mention THE SPOON and also that any ol’ kind of fat is fine, so I have opted for a 50/50 blend of melted butter and extra virgen olive oil. One thing I’ll do differently next time (and so should you) is only use half the fat at first and spoon over the rest after about half an hour in the oven, so avoid the butter getting too browned. They still turned out great but I was basting with the very browned fat at “half time” and think it’s better to add it fresh at that point. Also, best to use potatoes that are close to the same size. I was working with what was left of my “lockdown potatoes” .

I am SO going to make these again (and soon) because they keep well in the fridge for a few days (bring them back to room temp and then quickly reheat in the oven). You can also add different toppings, like cheese, garlicky bacon bits, whatever. I mean, they’re potatoes. Everything is great with them. Someone on Twitter told me that they call these “armadillos”, which I think is an even better name for them.

Ingredients and instructions below
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