Duchess potatoes are an easy-to-prepare festive-looking side dish. With just five ingredients, this potato side dish is made in just an hour.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my husband is a big grill fan and prefers to prepare everything on the gas grill. So we also prepared half of the duchess potatoes on the gas grill.
We made the second half of the duchess potatoes in the oven because I wanted to know how different both preparation variants were.
We made these duchess potatoes as a side dish to grilled bacon wrapped venison tenderloin and Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts. Beforehand we started with a delicious chestnut soup refined with porcini mushrooms made in the Dutch Oven.
Duchess potatoes also make a wonderful side dish for a Christmas dinner because of their festive appearance.
Duchess potatoes also go wonderfully as a side dish with any type of meat or fish, such as Smoked Prime Rib!
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🥘 Ingredients
- Floury potatoes
- Yolk
- Butter
- Nutmeg
- Whipped cream
- Salt & pepper for seasoning
- Baking Oil for the baking tray
See the recipe card for quantities.
🍽 Equipment
- Potato ricer - a glorious invention
- Mixing bowls
- Pastry bag with open star tip
- Baking brush
- Large cooking pot - for cooking the potatoes
- Strainer
- Baking trays
- Parchment paper - optional
🔪 Instructions
Take a large cooking pot. Fill it with water and bring it to a boil. While the water is heating up, you can peel and quarter the potatoes.
Now cook the quartered potatoes in boiling water, strain, and let cool shortly.
Before going any further, don't forget to preheat the oven to 200 °C // 392 °F.
As long as the potatoes are still warm, they are easier to smush by using the potato ricer! So do not wait too long!
Once you've smushed all the potatoes through the potato ricer into a large mixing bowl, add 4!!! yolks, the butter, nutmeg, whipped cream, salt, and pepper, and mix all ingredients well together!
It is essential to save the fifth yolk! You will need it to coat the dough.
Now fill the finished mixture into a piping bag with a star tip and prepare your baking trays before piping.
Either line them with baking paper or coat the baking tray itself with oil, and then you don't need any more baking paper. You don't need much oil. Just drizzle some oil on a brush and brush it on the tray.
Once everything is prepared, you pipe tiny heaps on the trays.
Before baking, brush the duchess potatoes with yolk and bake for 20 minutes on the middle rack until golden brown.
Serve immediately after baking!
If you love potatoes as much as I do, try out this yummy smashed potatoes air fryer recipe if you wanna make another quick and easy side dish!
More delicious side dish recipes for you to try
- Duchess Potatoes on the Grill
- Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts and Bacon
- Austrian Erdäpfelschmarrn (grated pan fried potatoes)
- Oven Baked French Fries (created by thehonoursystem.com)
💭 Top tip
You are left with 5 egg whites and a lot of whipped cream after creating this recipe. The following two cookie recipes are perfect for using up leftover egg whites! Coconut "Busserl" Cookies, chocolate cake, and Walnut Meringue Cookies.
My Whipping Cream Bundt Cake recipe is ideal for using up whipped cream.
🙋🏻 FAQ
What are Duchess Potatoes?
Duchess potatoes are in themselves nothing more than a fancy way of serving mashed potatoes. They are formed into decorative squiggles with a pastry bag, usually in individual portions, spread with butter or yolk, and browned in the oven. And the bottom line is that they are simply delicious!
Duchess Potatoes History
The first known recipe for the dish was published in La Nouvelle Cuisinière Bourgeoise in 1746. The phrase à la duchesse became an appellation in French cuisine for any dish incorporating a mashed potato/egg yolk mixture. Recipes for duchess potatoes have been published in American cookbooks since at least 1878. In her 1896 cookbook, Fannie Farmer described the creative potential of duchess potatoes, writing: "Shape, using pastry bag and tube, in form of baskets, pyramids, crowns, leaves, roses, etc. Brush over with beaten egg diluted with one teaspoon water, and brown in a hot oven." In 1902, the Boston Cooking School published a duchess potatoes recipe in its magazine. French cookbook author Auguste Escoffier described duchess potatoes in his highly influential cookbook Le Guide Culinaire, first published in 1903.
Source: wikipedia.com
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📖 Recipe
How to make Duchess Potatoes in the Oven
Equipment
- Pastry bag with open star tip
- Cooking Pot large
- 1-2 Baking trays
- Parchment Paper optional
Ingredients
- 1 kg Floury potatoes
- 5 Yolks
- 80 g Butter
- 1 dash Nutmeg
- 2 teaspoon Whipped Cream
- Salt and Pepper for seasoning
Instructions
- Take a large cooking pot. Fill it with water and bring it to a boil.
- Peel and quarter the potatoes.
- Cook the quartered potatoes in boiling water, strain, and let cool shortly.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C // 392 °F.
- Smush the potatoes with the potato ricer.
- Add four yolks, the butter, nutmeg, whipped cream, salt, and pepper, and mix all ingredients well together
- Fill the finished mixture into a piping bag with an open star tip.
- Line your baking tray with parchment paper or coat the tray with oil.
- Pipe tiny heaps on the trays.
- Before baking, brush the duchess potatoes with yolk.
- Bake for 20 minutes on the middle rack until golden brown.
- Serve immediately after baking!
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
⛑️ Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
For further information, check Safe Food Handling - FDA.
Jan says
how delicious are these potatoes! I just need more of these in my life! Will be making these on the regular now
nancy says
its a close tie between the crispy tops and the soft pillowy centers. lovely recipe
Sadie says
These potatoes have the best texture! Perfect for dinner parties!
Nora says
Thank you so much, Sadie! I am happy you like them!
Nicole says
What a delicious recipe! Thanks for sharing!