Fork soft, tender potatoes oven baked in lemon and oregano for a delicious side dish. The perfect accompaniment to any main entree.
I am a lover of all things potatoes. In my younger days, sweet potatoes were questionable but in recent years, we’ve reconnected and they’ve been added to the menu rotation!
One of my favorite traditional Greek side dishes are these lemony, herby oven baked potatoes that are initially steamed in the oven in its own juices and then uncovered to crisp for a soft inside and a crunch outside; the best of both worlds when it comes to potatoes.
This side dish is made with six ingredients, that’s it!
What you’ll need for this recipe is a potato peeler, sharp knife, cutting board, mixing bowl, a 9×13 inch pan, and some aluminum foil. Prep time is about 15-20 minutes (how fast can you peel potatoes?!) and cook time is about 75-90 minutes, depending on your oven.
Potatoes: for this side dish, I like to use Yukon Gold or yellow potatoes. Compared to red and russet which are on the earthier side, gold potatoes have a creamy and buttery texture and flavor which pair wonderfully with the olive oil and oregano.
These potatoes simmer in a hot oven with lemon juice which infuses with the oregano and is absorbed by the starchiness of the potatoes which results in a lovely savory yet slightly tangy explosion of flavor. Not a fan of lemon? Feel free to scale back on the amount of lemon juice. You can always add fresh lemon juice if you feel like you didn’t add enough in the beginning. There’s nothing that a fresh squeeze of lemon juice can’t cure đ
What to pair them with? Here are some ideas:
1. Serve with salad. Move on over soup and salad, it’s soup and potatoes time.
2. Served with my Stewed Green Beans and Chickpeas dish.
3. As a side to your favorite protein. One of our favorites is Smoked Crispy Tempeh paired with the potatoes and a side of leafy greens.
4. My favorite way? Served as a side to one of the best Greek dishes, Stuffed Peppers or as they’re known in Greek, Gemeista.
The possibilities are endless but whatever you choose, you can’t go wrong! Enjoy one of our favorites!
Oven Baked Greek Lemon Potatoes
Equipment
- large pan, at least 9×13
- Aluminum Foil
- large mixing boil
- citrus juicer
Ingredients
- 3 lbs potatoes yukon gold or yellow
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 lemons, juiced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Peel the potatoes and rinse.
- Slice potatoes into wedges. You don't want them too thin (they will fall apart) but you don't want them too thick as they will take much longer to cook. Ideally, the wedges are slightly less than 1/4 inch thick.
- In a bowl, dress the potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and lemon juice. Mix well. Pour evenly into your pan. (I use a spatula to get all the seasonings out too! No speck gets left behind)
- Add about 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of your pan. Potatoes shouldn't be completely covered but there should be enough for them to sit in.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 45-60 minutes.
- Check to make sure that the potatoes have gotten soft enough. You don't want them mushy but they should be cooked enough! Then uncover and put them back in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until your desired crispiness is achieved!
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