Cottage Fries

These crispy oven-roasted cottage fries are the perfect shape for dipping! They make a great side dish for chicken, meatloaf, burgers, and sandwiches. You can make these delicious potatoes with only a few basic ingredients and 10 minutes active prep time.

This easy recipe for cottage fries will be your new go-to potato side dish! First of all, they are delightfully crispy and brown on the outside and tender and soft on the inside. And, the flat shape means they are perfect for dipping. (Try them with my avocado lime ranch dressing or yogurt dill sauce!)

These potatoes are also versatile; they pair well with many different entrees including burgers, sandwiches, chicken dishes, and meatloaf. Or, you can even use them as a base for a whole new dish - potato nachos, anyone?

Finally, you can make them with only a few basic pantry ingredients and with only 10 minutes active prep time!

Recipe ingredients

Ingredient notes

• Oil: I used olive oil, but if you have your own favorite oil you like to roast with, such as canola oil or peanut oil, feel free to use that instead.

• Paprika: this gives the potatoes a lovely color! For even more flavor, substitute smoked paprika.

• Dried thyme: if you don't have dried thyme, you can substitute 2 teaspoons fresh thyme instead. Or, you can substitute another dried herb such as rosemary, parsley, or oregano.

• Russet potatoes: this variety of potato is perfect for roasting in the oven. I discuss more about other types of potatoes that can be used in the Recipe FAQs section below.

Step by step photos

1. First of all, get your oven pre-heating to 425 degrees F/220 degrees C. Then, mix up the seasonings and set aside.

2. Now, turn to the potatoes. Give them a good scrub to remove any dirt on the outside and dry them. Slice them horizontally into ⅓ inch (8.5 mm) thick slices. Try to slice the potatoes evenly so they cook at the same rate.

3. Use paper towels or a clean lint-free kitchen towel to pat the excess moisture off both sides of the potatoes. This helps the skin to crisp in the oven - I talk more about this in the Tips and tricks section below!

4. Now dump the potatoes out onto a baking sheet in a big pile. Drizzle the oil overtop and toss them well with your (clean) hands so each potato slice is evenly coated in the oil. You can use tongs too if you like, but I like using my hands, it's much quicker!

5. Spread the oiled potatoes out evenly on the baking sheet, so no two pieces are touching.

6. Next, sprinkle the potatoes with half of the seasoning blend. Flip the potatoes and sprinkle the other side with the rest.

(If you prefer to just toss the potatoes with the seasoning mix instead and then spread them out on the pan, you can do that too. I just find sprinkling to be slightly neater and more even, but either way works.)

7. Place the baking sheet in the pre-heated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the baking sheet and flip over each piece.

8. Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 13 - 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are well browned and cooked through, like this:

Tips and tricks

How to get crispy cottage fries

When testing this recipe, I tried several different preparation methods for the potatoes, in an attempt to perfect the perfect crispy skin: (1) just cutting and tossing with oil; (2) patting the cut potatoes dry then tossing with oil; and (3) rinsing the potatoes first, then patting dry before oiling.

Method 1 resulted in delicious potatoes, but they were a little less crispy on the outside than methods 2 and 3. Rinsing the potatoes before patting dry resulted in very crispy skin, but they seemed a little tough when biting into one. I think this was especially true because the potatoes are quite thin compared with the size of a typical roasted potato.

So, for me, #2 was the winner - simply patting the excess moisture off the potatoes before tossing with oil. The potatoes were crispy on the outside without being tough, and tender on the inside!

All that being said, if you are in a hurry, you can of course skip this extra step and just slice the potatoes and toss with oil. They will still be delicious and without a side-by-side comparison, the difference won't be as noticeable.

Other tips and tricks

• You don't need to feel constrained by the seasonings I included in this recipe. Instead, you can use your own favorite spice blend, such as Cajun seasoning, lemon pepper, or even Old Bay! But, I do like to include the paprika or a spice blend with a reddish hue (like Old Bay), because it gives the potatoes a gorgeous color.

• Kosher salt is coarse-grained; if substituting fine-grained salt, use ½ teaspoon instead of the ¾ teaspoon kosher salt called for in the recipe (or salt to taste).

• If you notice at the half-way mark that the potatoes are browning more on one side than the other, rotate the baking sheet front to back when placing it back in the oven for the second half of cooking.

• The cook times for the recipe are based on slicing the potatoes ⅓ inch thick - if your potatoes are thinner or thicker than this, you may need to adjust the cook time accordingly. Cook times will also depend on your individual oven. So, just keep an eye on them during the last few minutes of cooking, and be prepared to either remove them a little early or cook them for a few additional minutes if needed.

Recipe FAQs

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