Crispy baked potato stacks with Parmesan and garlic! So easy to make in a muffin tin.
When the weather gets colder, I turn to baked potatoes for comfort. It’s the perfect excuse to turn on the oven and warm up the house. Besides who doesn’t want a side of roasted taters for dinner?
These crispy Parmesan potato stacks are a fun twist on your standard baked potato, and they’re surprisingly easy to make.
A muffin tin is definitely required equipment for this recipe. I tried baking these stacks on a baking sheet, but nearly half of the potato stacks toppled over midway through the bake. The walls of a muffin pan help keep everything in place.
Because they need to fit in the muffin tin, look for relatively small potatoes when shopping. Potatoes that are 2 inches in diameter or so work well. (For reference, a standard muffin cup is 2 inches wide at the bottom and 3 inches wide at the top.)
I tried this recipe a few times with Russet potatoes, and in general, I found that these potatoes are just too big to fit into muffin cups. Yukons are usually a better size, plus they have a buttery flavor that I love. (Yukons are also our top choice for mashed potatoes here at Simply Recipes!)
Slice the potatoes as thinly as possible. A mandolin set to 1/16-inch is great for slicing uniform, thin slices, but you can use a chef’s knife, too. Just try to slice as thinly as you possibly can.
If you’re using a mandoline, make sure to be very careful with the blade. As an extra precaution, I always wear cut-resistant gloves when I’m operating the mandoline.
One or two stacks is usually enough for each person. If you have a big crowd coming around for dinner, feel free to double up the recipe! Just be sure to save a stack for me, okay?
Crispy Parmesan Potato Stacks Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 stacks
I purposely use a silicone pastry brush for this recipe because I found that a standard pastry brush with bristles added too much oil.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 pounds Yukon potatoes
- 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Special equipment:
Method
1 Preheat oven to 375F. Set an oven rack in the center position. Coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or brush on a thin layer of oil.
2 In a small bowl, mix olive oil, garlic powder and salt together. Set aside.
3 Slice the potatoes: Rinse and scrub your potatoes. Slice each potato thinly, between 1/8 and 1/16-inch thick. I use a mandoline to get 1/16-inch thick slices.
4 Assemble the potato stacks: Place 4 slices of potatoes at the bottom of each cup of the muffin tin. Using a silicone brush, lightly brush the potatoes with some of the oil mixture. Sprinkle some thyme leaves on top. Continue stacking several layers of potatoes, brushing the oil and sprinkling thyme leaves until you have stacked all the potato slices. Each muffin cup should be filled to the top with potato slices.
Sprinkle half of the Parmesan evenly over the potato stacks.
5 Bake the potato stacks: Bake the stacks for 30 minutes, then pull out the potatoes and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake another 5 to 15 minutes, depending on how brown and crispy you want them to be (35 to 45 minutes total).
6 Transfer the stacks to plates or serving dish: Use a spoon to help release the potato stacks from the muffin pan. Season potato stacks with more salt and pepper, if you like. Serve immediately while hot and crispy.
