Confit garlic butter 15 hour potatoes
The potato dish from your wildest dreams
Someone pour butter over me and let me live out my days as a confit garlic 15-hour potato. The confit element gives a mellow, sweet flavour that seeps into the layers of potato. Using garlic this way is honestly magical. If you make this dish, I apologise in advance, because you’ll want to eat it every single day.
Why add confit garlic?
The magic here comes from the confit garlic butter. Cooking garlic low and slow in fat transforms it from sharp and punchy into something mellow, sweet and outrageous. I always have a jar ready to use. And this is no ordinary confit garlic as it’s been infused with rosemary and chilli. Yes, it’s a little more effort, but if you’re wanting a fancy treat or want to impress at your upcoming dinner party, this is what you make.
Why spend 15 hours on a potato?
You’ve got paper-thin potato, layered neatly into a loaf tin, compressed, slow-baked, chilled overnight, then fried until golden and crisp on the outside while staying ridiculously soft inside. It’s a labour of love but oh so worth it.
I’ve used confit garlic butter here, but this method works beautifully with beef fat, cream, or other infused butters too. Once you’ve mastered the base, the flavour combinations are endless and always delicious.
FAQs
Why use clarified butter?
Clarified butter has the milk solids removed, which means it can handle long cooking times without burning. It gives you a cleaner, richer flavour and a silkier finish. You can easily make it at home by following this recipe.
What is confit garlic?
Confit garlic is garlic gently cooked in fat at a low temperature. Instead of being harsh or spicy, it becomes sweet, soft and savoury, it’s basically garlic at its best and I can’t live without it in my kitchen.
Why use Maris Piper potatoes?
Maris Pipers have the perfect balance of starch and moisture, which helps the layers bind together while still staying fluffy inside. You don’t want to use waxy potato for this dish as you want that soft interior and extra crispy exterior.
What potato should I use in America?
If you’re cooking in the US, Yukon Golds are typically your best bet. They behave similarly and give great flavour and texture.
Can I use ghee instead?
You absolutely can and it’s what I use if I don’t have time to make clarified butter. Ghee works super well here and already has the milk solids removed, making it a great alternative to clarified butter.
Why 15 hours?
Before anyone panics, you are NOT actively cooking for 15 hours. The potatoes bake for around 3 hours, then rest and set in the fridge overnight for about 12 hours. This resting time is what gives you those perfect layers and clean slices.
My original 15-hour potato absolutely blew up on TikTok and Instagram, so it felt only right to share all the variations here on the website.
Is this recipe in your book?
It absolutely is! This recipe is an exclusive from The Potato Book. I know, I’m spoiling you. And, if you like what you see (and there are another nine recipes from the book hiding on my website), you can grab your copy of The Potato Book and dive into full potato obsession mode.
Trust me, once you make just a couple of these potato recipes, there’s no going back to “normal” potatoes ever again. No bog standard roasties, lumpy mash or burnt chips. It’s pure beige heaven with a side of butter, garlic and usually a bit of bacon or cheese. What more could you possibly want? Get youself a little treat or gift someone the perfect recipe book.
Confit garlic butter 15 hour potatoes
By Poppy Cooks
https://www.poppycooks.com/recipes/confit-garlic-butter-15-hour-potatoes/
Ingredients
Instructions
- First, you need to make some clarified butter (or, if you cba, then get some ghee - it's the same thing, and means you can skip this step). Pop your cubes of butter in a rectangular, microwavable storage dish. Melt the butter in short bursts, then place the dish in the fridge for the clarified butter to set hard. Once set, make a hole in the corner and pour out the buttermilk beneath - use this to marinate chicken or make pancakes. (There's a quicker but less foolproof alternative method for making clarified butter on page 146, too).
- Heat the oven to 140C/120C fan/275F/Gas 1.
- Pop the garlic cloves, clarified butter, rosemary and chillies in an ovenproof dish. Bake them for 1.5 hours. Check the garlic to make sure it's not burning and give it a stir from time to time. If it starts cooking too fast, turn the oven down. Once the cloves are golden and soft, remove the rosemary and chilli and, using a stick blender, mush up the garlic until smooth. Set aside - but don't let it set, keep it warm-ish.
- Using a mandoline, thinly slice your potatoes so that they're almost see-through (use a finger guard). Tip them into a large bowl, then mix them really well with your blended garlic and butter situation, and season with salt and pepper.
- Line a 900g loaf tin with parchment paper and layer the spud slices one by one, overlapping them neatly to build a loaf. Place a sheet of baking parchment on top and bake for 3 hours, until cooked through.
- Add some weight on top of the cooked, covered loaf. Tins of baked beans are good for this. Transfer it all to the fridge for 12 hours to set, then remove the tins and parchment and turn out the loaf. Trim off each end to straighten, and cut the loaf into 2.5cm slices (you'll get about 6 or 7 slices altogether).
- Pour your oil into a deep fat fryer or a heavy-based saucepan (don't let it come more than halfway up the inside of the pan). Place the pan over a high heat and get the oil to 190C/375F on a cooking thermometer (or use the thermometer in your fryer). Fry the potato slices in batches for 1-3 minutes or until golden. Drain each batch on kitchen paper while you fry the remainder. Sprinkle with flaky salt and serve as you fancy.