Dutch Oven Potatoes
These dutch oven potatoes have been a legacy in our family for many, many years. Cooking potatoes this way in the dutch oven gives them a delicious caramelized flavor with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture that you will love.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds potatoes
- 1 small/medium onion
- ½ cup butter
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
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Wash and peel potatoes and slice into ½-inch rounds. Dice onion roughly into ½-inch pieces.
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In a medium sized heavy duty dutch oven over medium high heat (see note), melt butter with the canola oil, salt and pepper. Heat until butter is melted and sizzling.
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Add potatoes and onion all at once and give it a good stir to coat potatoes with butter mixture. Place lid on dutch oven and continue to cook over medium-high heat, adjusting the heat as need so potatoes brown slightly but don't burn. Using a heavy duty metal spoon, give them a good stir every 3-5 minutes (less often at the beginning, more often towards the end of cooking time - see note). Cook potatoes for about 20 to 25 minutes or until tender and some pieces are browned and caramelized.
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Remove from heat and serve. Alternately, potatoes will stay warm in dutch oven with the lid on for up to 30 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
1. We've also made these potatoes many times while camping using charcoal briquettes or over hot coals. I will defer to the dutch oven experts as to how many coals you need etc to maintain the medium high temperature, but feel free to experiment.
2. When done the potatoes should be tender enough that they kind of melt in your mouth. We like them best when parts are brown and caramelized, giving them a lovely caramelized flavor.
3. If you want to prepare the potatoes ahead of time, you can wash, peel and slice the potatoes and then place them in a large bowl of cool tap water for up to an hour to keep them from turning brown. Just make sure you drain and dry them well before cooking.
4. If you tend to be an overly anxious stirrer, make sure to restrain yourself from stirring too much, especially at the beginning otherwise you won't end up with the lovely caramelized bottoms on the potatoes that make these so delicious