Best potato recipe ever. The potatoes are roasted on a bed of shredded Parmesan cheese that browns and forms an amazing, cheesy crust on the potato.
These roasted potatoes are seriously amazing. With very little effort you get perfectly roasted potatoes that have a crispy cheesy crust. I like to add onions to mine pan for extra flavor and variety, and because onions and Parmesan cheese taste so good together.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
How To Make Parmesan Potatoes
I like to use red potatoes for this recipe, they look great and the size means you only have to cut them in halves. (If you’ve got a few big ones, you can quarter them.) For the onion, I love Vidalia for that roasted sweetness. First you’ll toss the cut potatoes and onions with olive oil, salt, and thyme.
Next, fill a large oiled baking sheet with a bed of finely shredded Parmesan cheese. Then you add the red potatoes (cut-side-down) and onions. It goes in the oven at 450°F until the potatoes are tender and browning, about 40 minutes.
Making It All Crispy
The cheese sticks to the potatoes at the edge of the pan and gets crunchy. In the middle of the pan, the cheese stays a bit gooey. I actually like to leave it like that so that some cheese is more melted and some is crunchy.
However, you can also get it so that all of the cheese is crunchy. To do that, once the edge potatoes have a crust, move them to the middle of the pan, moving a less crispy potato from the middle over to the edge to take it’s place.
Type Of Pan To Use
The best kind of pan to use for these potatoes is a non-stick baking sheet. The pan in the photo above was not non-stick and it was really hard to get the Parmesan off. Since then, I’ve used non-stick every time and it’s the best.
You can use parchment paper to line the pan, but the cheese doesn’t get as crispy. I don’t recommend that you use aluminum foil though since the cheese really sticks to it and you lose some of that amazing crispy cheese to the foil.
If you don’t have a non-stick baking sheet, the best thing to do is to use whatever you have, not lined with anything. Add an extra tablespoon of oil to the pan before you add the Parmesan and make sure the pan is well-coated. When you want to get the potatoes off of the pan, use a metal lifter to get really under the cheese.
Note: If you are using a non-stick baking sheet, do not use a metal lifter at all. Use a plastic one.
I can’t wait for you to try this potato recipe. It’s one of my favorites and I just know you’re going to love it!
More Potato Recipes
If you’re like me and can’t get enough delicious potatoes, try these great recipes too or browse my full collection of side dish recipes.
Podcast Episode: Making Parmesan Potatoes
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make these potatoes, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintParmesan Potatoes Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
The potatoes are roasted on a bed of shredded Parmesan cheese that browns and forms an amazing, cheesy crust on the potato.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. of small red potatoes, halved
- 4 medium-sized onions, peeled and quartered
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil (divided)
- 3 cups (about 4 oz.) shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
- 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
- 2 Tbsp. roughly chopped chives (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Rub a large non-stick baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
- Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese all over the oiled pan in an even layer.
- In a large bowl combine the potato halves, onion quarters, the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and thyme.
- Place the potatoes on top of the Parmesan cut side down. Scatter the bits of onion all around.
- Roast in the oven until the potatoes are really tender and browning on top, the onions are browning on the edges, and the Parmesan cheese at the edges of the pan (and maybe further towards the middle) is crunchy and brown, about 35-40 minutes,. If you want all of the potatoes to have a crunchy crust, move some crispy ones from the edge to the middle, and middles ones that haven’t gotten as crunchy to the edge and roast for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven.
- Scatter the chives, if using, over top to serve.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in May of 2013 and was revised and republished in March 2024.