Locally known as “Salt City,” Syracuse, New York is known for its salt potatoes. Local salt mine employees made salt potatoes in the 1800s as a quick and low-cost lunch by cooking tiny potatoes in salt water. The potatoes make an exceptionally simple and delectable side dish and are still quite popular with the Central New York crowd today.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 4 pounds new potatoes
- 1 ½ cups fine salt
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Wash potatoes and set aside.
- Fill a large pot with water; stir in salt until fully dissolved and no salt sinks to the bottom of the pot. Place potatoes in the pot and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender but firm, about 15 minutes. Drain; cover to keep hot and let the salt crust develop.
- While potatoes are cooking, melt butter in a small pan over medium-high heat, or in the microwave. Drizzle over hot potatoes.
- The nutritional information displays the entire amount of salt used in the recipe; the actual amount consumed will be less.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 277 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 40 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 95 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Loved them at Hinerwadels and they taste the same. A staple of any CNY BBQ.
The recipe is fine, but there is another way without all the mess. Tear 2 large sheets of aluminum foil. Get just over a pound very wet and place them on the foil. Sprinkle liberal amounts of salt over the top and then add a stick of butter. Close the foil up and throw it in the grill at medium heat for 20-25 minutes and remove from the grill, letting them sit for about 5 minutes before serving. I live in North Carolina and we have Wegmans near us so I can get the right potatoes and salt ingredients. They taste great and I have developed a lot of salt potato fans out of native North Carolinians.
Yes the point of this much salt in this recipe is to get a wonderful salt crust on the potatoes. Definitely better hot with the melty butter!
The purpose of the salt is to raise the boiling temp of the water, resulting in a boiled potato with creamy inners. To achieve this effect, a 15 minute simmer will not suffice. Boil for 35-45 minutes till the inside of the potato basically melts in your mouth.
The comments: so much confusion! One lady says you should use half butter and half margarine to “cut the fat”, but fat is fat! Another guy “clarifies” that the amount of salt called for is what you want for two quarts of water, and then emphasizes you want 32 ounces… uh, that’s only one quart, dude! A third says the salt is intended to “lower the boiling point” of the water… nope, adding salt INCREASES the boiling point! But as it turns out, that’s probably the whole idea. Since the salt won’t really penetrate the potato skins, the only useful reason for adding that much is to raise the boiling point of the water above its usual 212° (less at higher elevations, but Syracuse is only 423 feet above sea level.) You can bake potatoes in the oven at temperatures much higher than 212°, but the moisture escapes the potato and changes the final texture; there are also big differences in heat transfer between an oven and submersion in a liquid. However, adding a bunch of salt will raise the boiling point of water to well above 212°, and the slow simmer at that elevated boiling temperature –with no reduction of the moisture content– is what cooks the potatoes so well. The salty crust that forms on them at the end is just a flavor bonus. In my kitchen, adding 1½ cups of salt to one quart of water increased the boiling point temperature I could hold by about 15-20 degrees. I would bet that the folks who said “these are just boiled potatoes” either used too much water (so that there wasn’t enough salt to change the boiling point substantially) or live at higher elevations where the boiling point is lower to start with.
I’m from Watertown NY and these are the ABSOLUTELY the best!!!
Had these in Utica when on leave from Army in 70’s. Now am in my 70s and am enjoying them once again. Thanks for the memory!
Love This! There is a place in Wildwood NJ, called Maui’s Dog House, They make these and they are Delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
These are just like we had at any fair or sporting event when I lived in Ithaca!
Taste of my childhood growing up in the Syracuse area! Thank you
I was a Chef working at Drumlins owned by Syracuse University. We cooked for up to 5,000 people at time. Any cookout without Salt Potatoes was a crime if you didn’t have them! This is the easiest and best way to make them, believe me. We made them hundreds of pounds at a time most of the time! Just fill the pot over the top of the potatoes by a few inches and add the salt and bring to a boil like it says. We use to add fresh minced garlic to the butter while we were melting it for a little more taste. I do the same at home and I keep a bottle of hot sauce handy as well, along with a cold beer! They also make great Home-Fries with the leftovers
Its a lot better if you pierce the potatoes with a fork to help the salt water infiltrate the tater.
These salt potatoes are delicious! I did add some black pepper to my finished potoatoes though.
What a major flavor blast, I made a small batch with ¼ of the ingredients, cooking for one. I’m saving this recipe, thank you for the try.
I had heard of these potatoes from my son. They taste great!
I use it as a base for Smashed Potatoes and get crispy deliciousness every time!
This is great simple recipe. I use Yukon gold potatoes and they come out great every time.
Absolutely adore this dish. The potato skin has a bite to it still, but inside they’re creamy.
I am commenting because I was born and raised in Syracuse, and grew up with Salt Potaoes since the 50’s. They are sold in grocery stores bagged with the salt. We always added more salt. It may sound like a lot, but it is necessary to create the salty “crunch” on the outside. The photo looks like red potatoes, but they are made with new potatoes. They were/are the star of the New York state fair. I moved to NH 30 years ago, and make them frequently. Everyone who has tried them, love them.In NY, they are a staple with clambakes. When we do seafood here, we ALWAYS have salt potatoes & corn on the cob! You will love these. We dip them in melted butter as we eat them, instead of pouring the butter over them. That is the traditional way.
They may be a regional specialty for Syracuse, but they are welcome in the midwest any day! Following this recipe is a great way to go, but the portion size is little light for my family. We do 1.5 lbs. of potatoes for two people.
I spent 10 months in Oswego Ny in the Early 80’s and on friday afternoons all the local volenteer fire depts would have BBQ chicken and Syracuse salt potatoes and I was hooked so now my grandkids ask for them when I dig new taters. It was also at this time that I discovered Buffalo Wings and I have burnt up a few fryers in thos 40 years.