Brown Butter Crispy Potatoes with Walnuts & Sage

Crispy Potatoes need a creamy, rich counterpart. Better yet if that counterpart is packed with flavor. Plus, crispy potatoes also need brown butter. Luckily this recipe is the perfect marriage. On Thanksgiving, Brown Butter Crispy Potatoes with Walnuts and Sage are the potatoes I crave (plus, they are a great friend to mashed potatoes! No potatoes left behind).

Now there are a few reasons to love these potatoes:

1. We use a method to make these potatoes the crispiest potatoes you ever did see. Not only to we peel and rough them up after they are cooked, we then let them cool completely so all the moisture evaporates out of them, Making them ideal for potato roasting.
2. Fried sage and brown butter walnuts show up as the topping of all toppings. The walnuts are rich and nutty, while the fried sage brings the festive, holiday feeling to this recipe. And yes, both are a treat.
3. The walnut spread is the creamy, dreamy counterpart to the crispy potatoes. No matter what, a crispy potato needs a counterpart so that it doesn’t read as dry (this is why fries + ketchup = a classic), here that counterpart is a fried sage and walnut spread that is something I could eat with a spoon (and often do). Don’t sleep on it, it is phenomenal.

Step 1 – Make the potatoes great

The “how I make potatoes crispy” debate is not a debate I want to get into – I just always find someone yells at me. I am just going to say how I make my potatoes golden, crispy and great, and you can do with that information what you will. BE NICE, OKAY.

I do think the Yukon Gold is one of the best potatoes out there. I think for maximum crispiness, it’s best to peel them and dice them. The boiling doesn’t matter so much, as what you do afterwards…

My trick to make the crispiest potatoes

Once your potatoes are fork-tender, there are two things I do to make them the crispiest potatoes you’ve ever roasted. First, I like to drain them, then put a lid on the pot I boiled them in and give everything 1-2 big shakes. Since the pot is still warm, a few shakes is all you need. This roughs them up so they look like the image above.

Second, I like to either put the potatoes in the freezer, or let them cool down for a few hours at room temperature. This let’s the moisture completely evaporate off the potatoes. When it comes to roasting, that will make the potatoes supremely crispy.

The walnut spread has layers

Layers of flavor, I mean!

Before you balk at the walnut spread, think of it more like a dip. It has a tiny touch of white wine vinegar to it, but you don’t even notice that. However you will notice the dip feeling wildly unbalanced without it. With dried rosemary, a good amount of salt, fried sage and vinegar, this dip turns into something with insane depth of flavor – perfect for Brown Butter Crispy Potatoes.

Frying sage takes seconds, and is the most slept-on ingredient of all time

I was once at a beautiful fall dinner upstate, and the chef chose for one of the snacking plates to just be a plate of brown butter walnuts and fried sage leaves, sprinkled with flaky salt. It was so elegant, delicious and refined, and I’m pretty sure it inspired this entire recipe.

The thing is – people sleep on fried sage. It is SO good. Here’s how to do it and not worry about burning a single thing:

1. Start with a good amount of butter, 2-4 tablespoons based on how many sage leaves you are frying.
2. Set the pan over medium-low heat, honestly more on the lower side, and let the butter completely melt.
3. When the butter has melted, add one sage leaf. If it lightly sizzles, feel free to add the rest. If it doesn’t sizzle or if it fizzes too much, adjust the heat accordingly until it hits a light sizzle.
4. Fry the leaves without flipping for 30 seconds, then use chef’s tweezers to give them a little flip.
5. When you see they are a shade darker and their edges are starting to curl up, transfer them to a paper towel.
6. Repeat as needed. When you are done, sprinkle them with flaky salt and try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Brown butter walnuts are pretty great, too

For this recipe, after the sage leaves are done, we throw some walnuts in there to get some brown butter love, too. While toasted nuts alone are delicious, getting some salty brown butter on the edges of these walnuts gives them a rich note that I love.

How to make these Brown Butter Crispy Potatoes with Walnuts & Sage ahead of time

Ahh, the age-old Thanksgiving question: How should you make this ahead of time? Luckily with this recipe it is simple, here’s what to do:

The day before:

• Boil the potatoes and store them in the freezer.
• Fry the sage and brown the walnuts. Place them on paper towels in an air-tight container and store at room temperature overnight.
• Pour the butter over the potatoes and place them in the freezer again (don’t worry about the butter hardening, it will all melt in the oven again!).
• Make the walnut spread. Store this in the fridge overnight.

The day you plan to serve:

• Take the potatoes out of the freezer, toss with the olive oil and roast.
• Take the walnuts and sage out of their container, place them on a bit of foil and warm them in the oven during the last five minutes of the potato cooking time.
• Plate with the walnut spread and serve!

And that’s it for these Brown Butter Crispy Potatoes with Walnuts & Sage!

If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.

And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3

Brown Butter Crispy Potatoes with Walnuts & Sage

I'm always trying to find ways to make the crispy potato just a tiny bit better on Thanksgiving. And these crispy potatoes with toasty walnuts, crispy sage, and a to-die-for walnut spread absolutely fit the bill. The walnut spread is more like a rich, creamy dip that perfectly counters super-crispy potatoes – and of course there's brown butter to help round everything out.

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Prep Time:25 minutes mins

Cook Time:45 minutes mins

Cooling time:3 hours hrs

Course: Holidays, Side Dish, Vegetable

Cuisine: American, Fusion

Keyword: crispy potatoes, potatoes

Servings: 6 to 8 servings as a side

Equipment

• 1 peeler
• 1 chef's knife
• 1 small sauté pan
• 1 half sheet pan
• 1 small blender

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 2 1/2 cups raw walnuts 300 grams, reserving 1/2 cup
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3/4 cup sage leaves 30 grams
• 1/2 cup salted butter 113 grams
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Peel the potatoes and chop them into 1-inch pieces.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season it with one tablespoon of salt.
• Boil the potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until fork tender. Drain the pot, cover with a lid and shake the pot to “rough” up the potatoes.
• Transfer the potatoes to a half sheet pan and place this in the freezer for 1-2 hours, or let it cool completely at room temperature. This is so all the moisture evaporates out of the potatoes. See Note*.
• Now make the walnut spread. Add 2 cups of raw walnuts to a blender and cover with 1 cup of boiling water. It may not fully submerge all the walnuts, but that’s fine. Set this aside to cool and soften the walnuts.
• Place a small sauté pan over low heat. Add 1/4 cup of salted butter and let it melt. In two batches, fry the sage leaves for 45-60 seconds, or until they are darkened a shade in color, but not brown. Immediately transfer the sage leaves to a paper towel to drain. The butter should begin to brown during this process.
• Now that you have brown butter, add the remaining 1/4 cup of butter to the pan and let it melt. Then add the reserved 1/2 cup of walnuts to the brown butter to toast. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the walnuts are fragrant, then use a slotted spoon to remove them from the pan. (Make sure to keep this brown butter in the pan, we will use it on the potatoes).
• Add half of the fried sage to the blender with the walnuts, along with 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar and 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (use half if using Morton’s).
• Blend the walnuts until you have a thick and creamy spread, this may take a few minutes. Set aside. This will also keep in the fridge for a few days.
• When you are ready to roast the potatoes, preheat the oven to 400°F convection or 425°F standard.
• Drizzle the potatoes with the brown butter you fried the sage in and 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir to coat well and season with 1 teaspoon of salt (the cold potatoes may freeze up some of the butter, but don’t worry and just mix everything as evenly as you can).
• Transfer this to the oven and roast for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through. They should be nice, golden and crisp when they are out of the oven.
• To serve, swipe the sage walnut spread along the sides of a bowl or serving dish, then pile the potatoes on top. Sprinkle the brown butter walnuts and remaining fried sage on top and serve!

Notes

Note* You can leave the potatoes in the freezer for one hour up to overnight. Just pull them out of the freezer when you are ready to roast them.