| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 pounds small potatoes, such as baby Yukon gold
- 2 1/4 cups kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter
Instructions
- Put the potatoes, 8 cups water and the salt in a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 30 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander and shake to remove excess water. Let the skins dry in the colander so that some of the salt crystallizes.
- Meanwhile, put the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted. Serve the potatoes hot with the butter for dipping.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 276 |
| Total Fat | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Carbohydrates | 40 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 30 mg |
| Sodium | 560 mg |
Reviews
Syracuse’s nick name is Salt City. When miners worked the salt springs in the Liverpool suburb of Syracuse they created salt potatoes as a snack while they were working. From there the potatoes migrated over to the “Great New York State Fair”. And the rest, as they say, is history.
If you’d like a full NY State Fair experience try making chicken, beef, pork, lamb or veal marinated in Spiedie Sauce (available online). A Binghamton area original and integral part of the NY State Fair or hot sausage with peppers and onions, again paired with corn on the cob. The best cook-out food you’ll ever find!
This is a great recipe, but don’t dip the potatoes in butter for the real thing. Melt the butter in the hot pan after draining the potatoes, then return the potatoes to the pan. Make sure they are all coated by either tossing or gently stirring (careful, don’t break the skins). Then, serve in individual dishes swimming in the butter. Also, as someone else said, table salt works just as well. When you buy a kit, that’s what is included.
I live in NNY like others here. I never knew that salt potatoes were a regional thing. Typically, you buy the salt potatoes in a kit – it’s a bag of potatoes and a pouch of salt. This is a good recipe when you can’t find the kit – actually better since you can control the ingredients. I used 3 lbs of small gold potatoes (a bit larger than a golf ball) and 1 and 3/4 cup of kosher salt. I didn’t measure the water – I just add water until it just covers the potatoes. While the potatoes were draining in the colander after cooking, I added the butter to the already hot pot to melt the butter over low heat. Then I added the potatoes back to the pot and gave them a toss in the melted butter to coat. When I served them, I spooned a bit of the melted butter atop for each plate. These go well with pretty much everything that potatoes go with (which is pretty much everything) – but I like mine with steak or seafood (like crab or lobster). I’m sure you can jazz them up with other ingredients, but then they’re no longer the traditional salt potatoes…not that there is anything wrong with that.
Amazing food. Have lived in Syracuse all my life. This recipe calls for WAY to much salt! And you use regular table salt. No need for kosher! I use a cup of salt for 5 to 8 pounds of potatoes. Fill kettle till just covering potatoes. Then beauty of this is If in a hurry high heat till a boil till tender. Best way is to do medium low heat simmer slowly until dinner is ready. I’ve kept them on slow simmer for a couple hours. They get great salt flavor but with less sodium and they literally burst open when you bite into them! Have plenty of melted butter on hand! And the smaller the potato the better! The ones marketed in bags with salt are way too big! And too much salt for the amount of potato. Good luck! Oh the next morning quarter them up fry onion with them in oil or butter for the most amazing homefries you’ll ever have! Since Syracusans often serve Salt potatoes with corn on the cob, strip leftover ears and throw the corn in with the onions and potatoes too! Get your sweet and salt on!!!
I grew up in upstate ny-love these!!!
Delicious! I smashed the potatoes and poured the butter over them. Addictive!
Made these ages ago from the magazine and LOVED them – I have been craving them again lately but I forgot which magazine they had been in, I finally found this recipe today and I’m excited to make them again 🙂
Freaking awesome! Another idea….Mash the whole potato with a fork then fry with some oil in a skillet till crispy add crispy bacon and green onions (maybe fry them in the skillet with bacon grease
I am looking for easy recipes for my crab dinner party and thought this would be easy to fix along with steamed crabs and corn on the cob. I have never tried the “real thing’ from New York so I am not sure if they are as good, but this was so simple, and yes, the insides of the potatoes were dense but creamy, very hard to describe, but tasted delicious. My first thought was of a boiled peanut-haha, but they are definitely potatoes, the crust when they sit is nice and light, and goes perfect with a bowl of plain old butter. I would make these again, and will make them for my party. I did go through my bag of red petite potatoes and pulled out the closest in diameter, but after making them, I doubt it really matters all that much.
These were okay… They really didn’t seem like they were all that to me… I really wanted to love them, but they seemed not much different than regular boiled potatoes to us.