This is a recipe for truly crispy Potato Rosti that’s beautifully golden on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The secret is pan frying in the right fat! Butter = tasty but not crispy. Oil = crispy but flavourless. The Swiss cracked the code – use clarified butter (or ghee!). Buy it or make your own – it’s super easy!
Make one giant one as I do, though if you have the patience, you can make lots of smaller ones!
Potato Rosti
She who was labelled Potato Girl by her family when she was a mere teenager cannot comprehend how she’s made it through 6 years with a recipe website and not shared a rosti recipe.
At least, not “properly”. A variation of it is buried in this old Smoked Salmon Rosti Stack breakfast recipe.
But – onwards! It has arrived, ready to serve alongside your schnitzels, parmies, an epic standing rib roast or roast chicken!
Difference between potato rosti, hashbrowns and latkes
Broadly speaking, they are similar as they are all made with shredded potatoes that are pan fried until crispy. The other thing they all have in common is that I am a fan of all three.😍
However, there are subtle differences:
Rostis (or properly spelt rösti), which originate from Switzerland, typically are pan fried in a medium(ish) skillet then cut up to serve as a side dish for a meal;
Hash browns are usually individual size – think Macca’s hash browns – and served for breakfast; and
Latkes are also individual size but usually bound with some egg and flour, and because of these additions, they are not as crispy – unless you use basically deep fry them.
What you need for potato rosti
Here’s all you need to make Potato Rosti (I get salt and pepper for free!):
Potatoes
There’s no definitive rule about what type of potatoes to use, and there’s no need to get pedantic about it either! Floury potatoes will make the inside more fluffy, a bit like mashed potato, and waxy potatoes hold those lovely strands better, but still very soft and cooked through.
Both go nice and crispy, albeit waxy potatoes get a bit crispier. In all honesty, use whichever you prefer – I just use all-rounder floury potatoes to get the best of both worlds.
I use Sebago potatoes (Australia, the dirt brushed type) which is a great all rounder that leans towards floury. The equivalent in the US are Russets though Yukon Golds are excellent all-rounders, and in the UK – Maris Pipers, King Edward and Desirée;
Clarified butter or ghee (virtually the same thing)
This is for flavour and crispiness. Make your own (it’s cinch!) or buy it (Indian section of large Australian grocery stores, labelled Ghee). Your rosti won’t be crispy if you pan fry in ordinary butter because butter has water in it. And if you fry in oil, you will miss the buttery flavour!
The solution is clarified butter or ghee.
Ghee and clarified butter is simply pure butter fat, and they are virtually the same thing so they can be used interchangeably. They have a more intense butter flavour than ordinary butter and unlike regular butter, can be used for frying without burning.
What is it actually? Butter is made up of ~84% fat, and the rest is water and dairy (milk solids). For clarified butter and ghee, the water and milk solids are removed leaving pure butter fat which has a much higher smoke point (ever set off your smoke alarm with burning butter??🙋🏻♀️). You also won’t have the little dark brown/black flecks you get when cooking in butter for more than a few minutes, which are the burnt milk solids.
Clarified butter also makes the rosti crispier than using normal butter (because butter has some water content = bad for frying) and also has a more intense butter flavour.
Difference between ghee and clarified butter – While both are made the same way (ie simmering to remove water and milk solids), ghee is simmered a little longer which gives it a slightly nuttier flavour. Clarified butter is from Europe (classically used in French cooking) while ghee is used in Indian cooking (the secret to amazing curries!).
Best alternative: butter and oil combo. Just using butter gives a better flavour but won’t make it as crispy and you get little black bits from the burnt bits of butter. Just using oil doesn’t have as nice a flavour.
How to make Potato Rosti
If you’re staring at the giant rosti and already fretting about The Dreaded Flip – don’t! My trick is to use a wooden board with a handle or even a cutting board – just something with some protrusion that you can grip onto for the flip. Much easier than using a plate (says the girl who has lost more rosti than she cares to remember by attempting a plate flip 😩).
1. Grate the raw potatoes using a standard box grater. I like to do it lengthwise to get nice long strands – but it really doesn’t matter how long or short your strands are. There is no need to parboil – I find that makes the inside too much like mashed potato before the outside gets golden;
2. Squeeze out the excess liquid then transfer to a bowl. No need to be 100% thorough here, squeezing out every drop of water, because we actually need some of that water to help steam-cook the inside (otherwise it takes forever to cook through!). That’s why I just grab handfuls rather than using a tea towel which is more thorough.
However, squeezing out most of the water is necessary because otherwise all that water leeches down to the base of the pan as it cooks and it does eventually evaporate, but it takes longer and stops the base from getting really crispy.
Don’t worry if your potatoes go brown / reddish while sitting around. This is just from oxidation (reaction of potato to air) and it’s all bluster; it doesn’t mean the potato is off. Once you start cooking, it will change back to white;
3. Mix the potatoes with melted butter (or clarified butter, if that’s what you’re using), salt and pepper;
4. Scatter into skillet lightly, don’t pack it down tightly. We want FLUFFY on the inside! It will seem quite deep – around 3.5cm / 1.5″ – but it cooks down to 2cm / 4/5″.
Cook for 12 minutes on medium low to make the underside golden and for the inside to cook through and semi-adhere together. We don’t want mash – we just want the strands to cook through until soft and bond together enough to be sliceable without falling apart. This is the reason it’s best not to rinse the grated potato – because it removes much more starch than just squeezing out excess water. This results in “slippery” potato strands, rather than bonding together.
It takes longer than you think to become golden because residual water from the potato leeches out and that needs to evaporate – which also sort of “steam-cooks” the inside – before the underside goes golden and crispy.
Individual Rosti
If you’re making small ones, just place the potatoes into small rounds. Again, don’t pack them down – place the potato in the skillet, then use a rubber spatula to push the sides in to form rounds. Resist the temptation to use rings – those little pokey bits on the side get extra crispy!!
5. Flip! When the underside is golden (use a rubber spatula to peek), using a round wooden board with a handle or even a large rectangle cutting board (or plate, if you are a pro!) to cover the skillet then quickly turn to flip! Using a plate is a little more difficult because you don’t have anything to hold onto so you need to press the plate and skillet together very firmly and hold them together as you flip. It’s much easier to do that manoeuvre using something with a handle. Once I switched from a plate to a wooden board with a handle, I’ve never lost part of a rosti during The Flip! It’s also easier to slip the rosti back into the skillet if you use a board, rather than a plate with a ridge;
6. Lift the skillet off the board to reveal the golden underside. If at this stage, you realise it’s not as golden as you thought, just flip it back into the skillet and keep cooking;
7. Slide the rosti back in, uncooked side down and cook for a further 12 minutes or until you can slide a knife through the centre easily, with no resistance from uncooked potato; and
8. Slide the rosti onto a serving platter or cutting board. Cut into (large!) wedges and serve immediately!
How to make rosti super crispy
The crispiness of a rosti comes down to the amount of fat you use to cook it – and nothing more. Any type of potato cooked in plenty of fat will become very crispy – waxy or floury.
I use 4 tablespoons / 60g of clarified butter to cook my rosti and it makes it quite crispy on each side, but still fluffy on the inside. You will hear how crispy it is in the recipe video!!
However if you make thin small ones, they can be potato crisp-level crispy. As in, THIS crispy:
They are pretty much like potato crisps when they’re this thin!
So for those of you who rate crispiness very highly, this might beg the question – why would you make a large one instead of small ones?
Sheer practicality.
For small rostis, it takes up to 10 minutes per batch – 3 to 4 in a medium/large skillet. They will stay warm and crisp in the oven, but if you’re feeding a family of 4, that’s a LOT of batches you need to make, and the time quickly adds up.
On the other hand, one giant rosti takes 25 minutes to cook, and it’s low maintenance at that. So for me, it’s a no brainer – I always go the large format.
What to serve with rosti
The first thought for most people is Schnitzel – it’s a pub grub favourite here in Australia!
But actually, I find rosti to be a really handy starch side dish that’s cooked entirely on the stove when a centrepiece requiring exact cook times is hogging the oven. When I’ve invested in a precious prime rib, or I’ve been slaving for hours over the perfect Roast Turkey, or making the best ever Roast Chicken, I do not want to muck up oven temps by cramming the oven full of other stuff. Stay away from the oven, people!
So a grand potato side dish that’s made on the stove is a very handy recipe indeed, especially around the holiday season – Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter.
Of course, rosti also makes a wonderful addition to the breakfast table, whether in lieu of hash browns alongside bacon and eggs, or accompanying grander affairs like last week’s Eggs Benedict. Though that’s one ambitious breakfast spread, even I’ll freely admit! – Potato Girl x
Watch how to make it
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Crispy Potato Rosti
Ingredients
- 1kg/ 2 lb potatoes (skin on weight) – Aus: Sebago (dirt brushed), US: Yukon Gold, Russet, UK: Maris Piper, King Edwards (Note 1)
- 3/4 tsp salt , kosher/cooking salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)
- 1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper
- 15g/ 1 tbsp clarified butter / ghee or normal butter , melted (Note 2)
Cooking:
- 60g/ 4 tbsp clarified butter / ghee , separated (sub half butter, half vegetable oil) (Note 2)
Instructions
Grate & squeeze:
- Peel then grate the potatoes using a box grater, trying to get nice long strands if you can.
- Grab handfuls of potato and squeeze out excess liquid, then place in bowl. This helps make the potato crispier (otherwise all that water has to steam out in the pan).
- Add butter, salt and pepper then toss. Don’t worry if your potatoes go brown/reddy – it’s still safe to eat, and turns white again when cooked.
Cook
- Melt half the clarified butter in a 26cm / 10.5" (or thereabouts) non-stick pan or skillet over medium low heat. Shallow non-stick pan with sloped sides is best for easy rosti removal.
- Place the potato in pan, but do not pack down. Use rubber spatula to tidy the edges, then lightly pat down to even surface.
- Cook first side: Cook 12 minutes until underside is very golden and crispy, lifting edge with rubber spatula to check. If by 8 minutes it is not going golden, increase heat.
- TIP: Insurance policy – If you didn't use a non stick pan, slide the rubber spatular underneath all the way to the middle and run it around, to be 100% sure nothing is stuck before attempting flip.
- Flip: Cover pan with a round wooden board with a handle (or anything similar with a handle, Note 3). Holding the handle of the board, flip quickly – and with confidence!
- Cook second side: Melt remaining clarified butter in the pan, then slide the rosti back in and cook for 12 minutes until golden crispy, and there is no resistance when a knife is inserted into the middle.
- Slide onto cutting board, cut into 4 or 6 wedges and serve immediately!
Small rosti
- Use 25g / 1 1/2 tbsp clarified butter for each batch, medium heat in a non stick pan. Place potato in rounds in a skillet, around 8cm / 3" wide, 1.5 – 2cm / 2/3" thick (without patting down). Cook 5 minutes until deep golden and crispy, flip, and cook another 5 minutes until done.
To hold / keep warm
- Transfer to rack set over tray in a 120°C/250°F oven until ready to serve.
Recipe Notes:
- Normal melted butter for mix into potato (just a touch helps disperse salt and pepper better, plus touch of extra flavour).
- Cooking: 15g / 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp vegetable oil for each side you cook.
Nutrition Information:
More great potato sides
Life of Dozer
Potato Girls’ Potato Boy.
how do you make the clarified butter.
Here you go! Super easy -> https://salesdock.info/how-to-make-ghee-and-clarified-butter/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hi Nagi! I love this recipe and would love to include it in a blog post I’m writing with full credit to you for the recipe, would you be interested in this?
Hi Elaina, that’s fine – you’ll often see I do the same with my recipes, giving credit to the original source if I have used someone’s recipe 🙂 N x
wonderful, thank you so much!
Nagi, Every recipe I look up it’s always you! and what a pleasure! Still make your Steak Marinade once a week! thank you!
Hmm I’ve tried a couple of recipes and cooking rosti has been quite frustrating so far. Ok the first issue could be that I’m not using a non-stick pan. I usually season enough such that meat and eggs don’t stick, but for some reason, rosti always gets stuck and the brown parts can’t get flipped together. Oh, could it be that meat and eggs themselves have oil while potatoes don’t? So I’ll have to season the potato with much more oil first?
Next is that I also tried the method of soaking the grated potato in hot water to soften it first as what some recipes say. But I guess it may really make it slippery like what you said, so the strips just don’t hold together 🙁
Just to confirm, does the lid need to be put on during the frying? Because some methods require the lid for a while to steam, then the lid removed later on for frying. If the lid is not used at all, is there sufficient steaming effect to soften the potatoes?
I really enjoy rosti and hope to be successful the next time!
Hi Shu, no the lid doesn’t need to be on at all and yes this is completely cooked through. The starch in the potatoes is what glues this together – can I ask what potatoes you’re using? N x
Hihi I’m using russet potatoes
During lockdown in Melbourne, we’ve been doing a theme night each week. This week was “breakfast for dinner”. I made a large rosti, using my spiraliser for the potato, which worked well. I cooked it in a cast iron pan and managed the flip without too much drama. It was delicious! Today I’m trying mini ones to have as nibbles with smoked salmon to celebrate the Cox Plate at home. Thanks Nagi
Can you reuse ghee.
Thanks
Hi Suzanne, do you mean can you store it for use later? If that’s what you mean – yes you can! Keep it in the fridge and use when needed. N x
This brings back so many memories of my Mum, when I got married I rang and asked her for her recipe for Mock Fish as I missed it so much, she said grated potato and tho9ught she said an egg, I asked where is the fish! she said it looks like fish scales the outside crispy bits LOL !! I was horrified and said you served that to us with mashed potatoes and veggies, she laughed and said well you were never sick!! so all good, ( we were not in the wealthy range) LOL so thanks for sharing this recipe will try ghee as I can never get them crispy like Mums as she used dripping!
Another amazing recipe – thank you Nagi. Just made it for brunch with eggs, delicious!! Definitely be making this again.
YUM! Sounds great Karen!! N x
Hi
could you put cheese and onion in the potato Rosti?
It looks really nice
Hi Teresa, you could but it won’t be as crispy due to the water content in the onions 🙂 N x
Try frying off the onions first and cool before adding to mix.
Made the individual rosti for lunch today and topped it with some smoked salmon baby spinach and a poached egg. Absolutely delicious!!
Worked like a charm. Made the ghee first – easy peasy. Added a small sweet potato as didn’t quite have enough potatoes. Was crispy and delicious – all were impressed
So yummy 😋 and just as crisp as you promised!
Help: I cooked a 3 person portion. Used Charlotte potatoes as waxy. Whilst grating they started to discolour. By the time I fried them the potato was quite reddish. Whilst cooking the underside the top went black. Rosti did cook within the time frame of the recipe. The rosti was crunchy but black which made it unappetising. Any ideas?
Your problem is oxidation. You need to acidulate your shredded potatoes ASAP. A little lemon or lime juice and water solution and pour over your shredded potatoes. Or use apple cider vinegar and water solution. Squeeze out all the liquid from the potatoes before you make the rosti.
Thank you for for comments. I wonder whether this is a problem with the waxy varieties. They were going reddy brown on shredding. I read on other sites that it is recommended to par boil waxy potatoes first. I don’t get immediate discolouration on slicing, dicing etc the floury varieties
Thank you so much for this recipe…I lived many years in Amish country in Ohio where the best swiss cheese is made. We would add a slice of swiss cheese on top after flipping to the second side to melt. Yum, yum
I’m cooking it now! Will it work with olive oil instead of butter? (One daughter is dairy free.)
Hi Lara, you can but it won’t be as nice in flavour – I’d pick a neutral flavoured oil to use here instead of olive. N x
Hi Nagi, tried the Rosti & added some sweet potato, chopped parsley and mint. Had a problem flipping as board and pan were both Quite heavy and slipped a little when flipping, just a tad mis-shapen but Tasted great, hubby loved it. Will try it again. Yummm. Thanks Nagi.
I’m so glad you salvaged it Carmen!! N x
Love your blog and Dozer ! Laughed when I read you were potato girl. I love potatoes and my husband calls me spud 🥔 LOL 😂
Nagi after seeing your crispy Rosti I just had to try them.
They certainly didn’t disappoint and we look forward to cooking them again.
Thanks again for another excellent easy to cook recipe.
Two words: DUCK FAT! Sure, butter mixed into the potatoes, but duck fat makes the BEST fried potatoes. You know that, right? Also, can minced/diced scallions be mixed in?
Hi Hollis, yes I use duck fat in my roast potatoes, but it can be quite expensive here – whereas ghee/clarified butter is a cheaper option that’s readily available 🙂 You can defiantly add scallions if you like! N x
You can get duck fat online at fatworks.com (16-oz. jars) or Amazon (28-oz. tub).
and LOL I’ll definitely add scallions, not defiantly! I don’t cook angry 😉
So delicious Nagi! Reminds me of my mom’s cooking. She used to make what she called ‘shoe string potatoes’ which were very similar.
Yum Jessica! I’ll take my potatoes any way! N x