This easy duck fat potato recipe is perfect for special dinners. Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes are a 5-ingredient dish with a crispy outside and creamy inside. Smashing the spuds adds more surface area to form a golden crust and potatoes cooked in duck fat aren’t at all greasy! Not your everyday baked potatoes.
What is it about “little” potatoes that’s so appealing? Is it their bite-sized quality? Or that everything’s cuter when it’s little (i.e. puppies, kittens, babies, mini tarts)? Maybe it’s the “no peeling required” element that makes baby potatoes so sought after. Whatever the rationale, these Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes will be one of your favorite ways to eat them.
For this dish, I used Dutch Baby potatoes. They’re about 1 1/2″-2″ in diameter with a nice thin, yellow skin that’s perfect for this preparation.
Because the potatoes are small, they cook quickly, only needing about a 10 minute simmer until they’re fork tender.
After draining the water from the spuds, transfer them to a baking sheet to rest for a few minutes. The residual heat from the potatoes should dry any wet spots.
Then, carefully smash the potatoes with the flat bottom of a wide glass or measuring cup. You only want to crush them to about 1/2″ thick and try to avoid breaking them apart — though a few little nuggets aren’t a bad thing… Watch the video to see how to smash them…
Then toss them with DUCK FAT, salt and pepper and roast. Flip them half way through cooking and continue to roast the potatoes until they’re crackly and golden.
So, you may wonder where to find duck fat. You can look for it in specialty markets and online. If you happen to make duck breasts at home, you can save the fat when it’s rendered. I had a can of confit duck legs and saved the leftover fat from that can. It yielded more than 2 cups of lard, which I keep in a sealed jar in the fridge. It’s now my “secret ingredient” for so many things, like these Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes.
This special fat creates an uber-crackly crust with a tender creamy center. You’ll definitely want to keep this recipe in your repertoire.
Roasted Smashed Duck Fat Potatoes
Roasting par-cooked potatoes in duck fat makes them super crispy, golden and delicious. Turns any meal into an occasion.
Ingredients
- 1 pound honey gold or baby dutch potatoes or other teeny tiny potato
- 2 tablespoons duck fat
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- sprinkle parsley chopped
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°.
Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender, but not falling apart. Drain potatoes and place on a rimmed sheet pan.
Use the flat bottom portion of a one cup measure, glass or other 3-4" wide flat surface to gently smash the potatoes to about 1/2" thick. Add the duck fat to the potatoes and gently toss the potatoes to coat them with the duck fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes.
Using a spatula, flip the potatoes and return them to the hot oven for an additional 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parsley. Serve.
Recipe Video
More Potato Sides:
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- Browned Butter Sea Salt Mashed Potatoes
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- Rosemary Mustard Potatoes
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- Creamy Scalloped Potatoes with Thyme
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Roasted potatoes are my favorite! I can never have enough. Adding duck fat sounds absolutely amazing!
Potato growers here so we’re always looking for new recipes. Smashed potatoes like this are my kids favorites and I enjoy how versatile they are. I’m seeing duck fat trending and never would have thought to purchase it online.
These potatoes are EVERYTHING! I live for duck fat on potatoes! I absolutely adore the smashing suggestion, I will definitely try this the next time I roast some potatoes in duck fat.
I love duck fat for potatoes and smashing them is the best! I’m not sure what it is about tiny things, but I agree, they usually taste better. I also think the skin/peel to inside potato ratio is just about perfect in potatoes this size!
I had never thought of the skin:flesh ratio, but I think you’re right.
Anything with duck fat HAS to be good! And you’re right, those adorable little potatoes are just sooo much better! I don’t know what it is either, but I’m ok with just going with it!
These potatoes look ridiculously amazing! So, I was actually making duck breasts a couple of weeks ago. I seared the skin and then took them off the pan, they were still raw but the skin was crispy. I then poured the excess fat into a bowl and returned the duck breasts to the pan to cook. I originally wanted to keep the fat but then I thought that what if it goes bad because the duck breasts were still raw and I am sure I contaminated the fat a bit with the spatula while transferring the breasts to a plate… Long story short, I threw the fat out but kept wondering how to actually make proper duck fat. Do you by any chance know?? sorry to hijack your post…
Just render the fat and store it in a glass jar… I roasted a whole duck once, to make rillettes and there was so much fat that I filled two jars. If you want to get technical I would melt the fat and refrigerate it, so that any juices would separate from the fat… then scoop the fat from the juice and save it.
Oh my – that cracky crust on the outside is what gets me every time! These sound completely delicious and have me itching to order some duck fat and play with it!
We love duck fat potatoes and make them often. I’m lucky to live down the street from one of the farms that distributes to D’Artagnan, so duck fat is something that’s readily available in these parts. Our favorite way to make them is smashed-roasted, and then we take a cue from a local restaurant and serve them with a dollop of black garlic sour cream. Sublime.
Well, of course, THAT sounds fabulous!
Tiny potatoes are the cutest! And I love that you can cook them without cutting them, so they don’t absorb as much water. I’ve never used duck fat- but I bet it gives these an amazing flavor!
These look amazing, maybe because I’m hungry or maybe because I could live the rest of my life only consuming potatoes, cheese and coffee, not all at once I promise. I swear small potatoes taste better, could that be true? Like it is with zucchini? Who knows but your smashed potatoes takes the cake.
Ok…so first you got me at potatoes. Then you had me at DUCK FAT!! These sound delicious. I am a duck lover….and I just know these would be a hit for everyone in this house. I could just eat these alone….OMG….now I am drooling.
Can’t go wrong with Duck Fat Potatoes… these look AMAZING!!
Thank you, Katrina!
Sinfully delicious! Seriously, move over bacon fat. I’ve only had duck twice in my life, but I can just imagine how perfect these are.
LOL! Yes, move over bacon fat…
My husband would marry me all over again if I made these for him, that golden color is gorgeous!
That’s really what it comes down to, isn’t it? Love — especially at Valentine’s Day.
I love potatoes and these look absolutely amazing! They would be such a perfect side dish for roasts and holidays, yum!
I’ve been seeing duck fat on a lot of trendy menus here in Virginia! (I wasn’t sure if it was just a southern thing?) These look delicious!
Where in Virginia? I’ve got family all over that state!
Lisa! These. Look. INSANE(ly delicious). Duck fat and potatoes is just one of the most gorgeous combinations! Your version looks amazing! Love the process shots too!
They are crispy and good! Give ’em a go, Chris!
So I LOVE cooking with duck fat. Especially on potatoes! I make a recipe that’s pretty similar to this and the duck fat just makes those potatoes so good. I love this 🙂