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These melt-in-your-mouth garlic butter fondant potatoes (also known as melting potatoes or pommes de terre fondantes) are bursting with the incredible flavors of butter, thyme, and garlic. They’re perfectly crispy on the outside and have a soft and tender interior. Served hot from the oven, this classic French recipe pairs beautifully with any kind of beef, pork, game, roast chicken, or seafood main course. This elegant potato dish is just ideal for a romantic date-night dinner, a dinner party, or a side that will have everyone asking for seconds at the holiday dinner table!
Treat your taste buds to these gorgeous garlic butter fondant potatoes. They’re crispy on the outside, soft inside and literally just melt in your mouth.
You might also like crispy potato stacks, slow cooker cheesy ranch bacon potatoes, loaded mashed potato casserole, or garlic parmesan baby potatoes.
Why You’ll Love It
An elegant side dish: This recipe adds a touch of class to your dinner plate regardless which protein you’re having. It’s amazing what you can do with the humble potato!
Simple to make: You just need to cut out potato rounds, sauté until crisp, add some more ingredients, and then finish them off in the oven.
An economical recipe: Potatoes are pretty affordable, so this recipe lets you prepare a gorgeous and elegant side dish that works out surprisingly cheap.
Gluten-free side dish: There’s no gluten in garlic butter fondant potatoes.
A one-pot recipe: You only need one skillet to make this recipe.
Fondant Potatoes Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Russet potatoes: The star of the dish. Choose “baking potatoes” or nice big ones for this recipe.
Garlic cloves: This ingredient has such a natural affinity with potatoes.
Fresh thyme sprigs: Pull off the leaves and discard the stems.
Italian seasoning: A pinch of this adds an aromatic flavor.
Butter: For rich creaminess and lots of flavor. I used salted butter. You can use unsalted butter if you prefer, perhaps adding an extra pinch of salt to the recipe instead.
How to Make Garlicky Fondant Potatoes
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Prepare the potatoes: Cut the potatoes into thick slices and use a cookie cutter to cut them into perfect rounds.
Sauté the fondant potatoes: Add butter and oil to an oven-safe cast iron skillet and add the potatoes, cooking over a medium high heat.
Add more flavors: Add chicken broth, garlic, fresh thyme leaves, Italian seasoning, salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Bake the fondant potatoes recipe: Transfer the skillet into the preheated oven and cook until fork-tender and a deep golden brown all over. Add more butter to the skillet, stirring until it melts, then add more salt and pepper if needed and serve hot, perhaps on a serving platter.
Substitutions and Variations
Chicken broth: Use beef broth for a richer flavor or vegetable stock for a vegetarian dish.
Different herbs: Fresh thyme is good or you could try fresh rosemary, oregano, sage or dill weed.
A gourmet touch: You can make fondant potatoes with duck fat instead of butter for an extra-rich flavor.
Olive oil: Sub canola oil or vegetable oil.
Serving Suggestions
Appetizer: Start the meal with some garlic tomato shrimp.
Main course: Enjoy coffee-rubbed steak, roasted chicken or beef tenderloin medallions with your fondant melting potatoes.
Side dishes: Pair the fondant potatoes with some veggies, perhaps some jalapeno creamed corn or these parmesan roasted carrots.
Dessert: Treat yourself and your dinner guests to one of these mouthwatering brownie recipes to finish.
How to Store Melting Potatoes
Store: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eat within 4 days.
Freeze: Fondant potatoes don’t freeze well. Their texture won’t be good when thawed.
Reheat: Warm your garlic butter potatoes back up in a 350°F oven, adding a little butter and a splash of chicken broth to bring the sauce back to life.
Top Tips
Use the right potatoes: I recommend you use Russet potatoes for this recipe because they have a higher starch content, which helps them become crispy on the outside and buttery on the inside. Look for the ones labeled “baking potatoes” which are nice and big.
Dry the potato slices: After slicing the potatoes, pat dry on paper towels to get rid of excess moisture (this helps them crisp up).
Use good quality butter: This isn’t a recipe for margarine. Instead, use good quality butter. It makes all the difference!
Garlicky Melting Potatoes FAQs
This recipe originates from fondant, a French term that means melting – this is a great way to describe the tender, creamy inside of these potatoes. Fondant potatoes, or melting potatoes, have been around since the 1800s.
There’s no need to peel the potatoes. Use unpeeled potatoes because you will cut around the skin when you turn them into rounds anyway.
Yukon gold potatoes would work but might not crisp up as well as Russets.
Use a 1½ or 2-inch cookie cutter (I have this set because I love the handles!)
Pommes de Terre Fondantes Recipe
Garlic Butter Fondant Potatoes
Equipment
- Cast Iron Skillet Large and Oven-Safe
- Circle Cookie Cutter 2-Inch
Ingredients
- 4 Russet potatoes, large (baking potato sized)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1½ Cups chicken broth
- 3 Cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 3 Sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only, discard the stems
- 1 Teaspoon Italian seasoning, dried
- ½ Teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- ½ Teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Cut each potato width-wise into 4 to 6 circles, each an inch or 2 wide.
- Use a 2-inch cookie cutter to cut each section into a potato round.
- Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large oven-safe skillet over a medium-high heat.
- Add potato rounds and cook for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until browned.
- Turn off the heat. Add the broth, garlic, thyme, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Transfer skillet into the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until fork-tender and cooked through.
- Remove the fondant potatoes from the oven and add the last tablespoon of butter to the skillet. Stir until the butter melts into the sauce.
- Season with more salt and pepper if desired and serve immediately.
Notes
Dry the potato slices: After slicing the potatoes, pat dry on paper towels to get rid of excess moisture (this helps them crisp up).
Use good quality butter: This isn’t a recipe for margarine. Instead, use good quality butter. It makes all the difference!
Nutrition
These fondant potatoes, or melting potatoes as they’re sometimes called, make an elegant side dish yet they’re pretty easy to make. Flavored with garlic, fresh herbs and Italian seasonings, along with butter and chicken stock, these potato slices are crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. If you’re tired of the same old boiled or mashed potatoes recipe, give these a whirl. You will be impressed!
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
I couldn’t get enough of these garlic butter fondant potatoes! They came out perfectly crispy on the outside, tender inside. They’re now my go-to holiday side!