In a blog post she entitled, “What’s the Deal with Hasselback Potatoes,” Nutritionist Tina Marinaccio explains that the dish, which features potatoes cut crosswise in thin slices that don’t quite cut the potato all the way through, hails from Sweden.
It received its name, she says, from the tavern that created it: Hasselbacken.
Regardless of its origin, if you haven’t tried hasselback potatoes, I highly recommend them. It’s like the goodness of a baked potato, combined with thinly sliced crispy taters.
I hadn’t tried making them until this week, because I was a little nervous they were hard to create, but honestly, they were really easy, and in combination with the rest of the recipe I’m sharing with you, they were a huge home run.
The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Street Smart Nutrition” by Cara Harbstreet. You can find her original post at https://streetsmartnutrition.com/kielbasa-sheet-pan-dinner-with-cheesy-hasselback-potatoes. I added garlic to my version, and I swapped out the cheese to what I could find locally.
Sheet Pan Kielbasa and Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds small Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 pound Polish kielbasa
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup sauerkraut drained and squeezed out
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, and set it aside.
- The potatoes will be hasselback style, which means you will create thin slices crosswise along the potato but not cut all the way through. Leave about one-quarter inch at the bottom so that your the potato remains intact.
- Transfer the potatoes to the prepared baking sheet, and using one tablespoon of the olive oil, brush each one all over, especially letting it drip into the crevices you created on top. Then salt and pepper them, to taste.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- While the potatoes bake, prepare the kielbasa and onion. Slice the sausage into one-quarter-inch coins and the onion into one-quarter-inch slices, and set them aside.
- You can also prepare the glaze. In a small bowl, add the other tablespoon of olive oil, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar and stir until it’s well combined. Set that aside, too.
- When your timer goes off, carefully remove the sheet pan from the oven, and add the sliced sausage and onions to the pan in as even of a layer as you can.
- Bake for another 20 minutes.
- While this part bakes, drain the sauerkraut really well, squeezing out the extra moisture as much as you can. (If it is cold out of the refrigerator, you might want to heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave so it’s at least a bit warm before adding it to the sheet pan at the end.)
- Once that time has elapsed, carefully remove the pan from the oven again, and sprinkle about a tablespoon of cheese on the top of each potato. Also, brush the sausage and onions with all the glaze you made, and add the garlic. Then, use a spoon to stir the meat and veggies a bit to make sure everything has a bit of the glaze on it.
- Bake for another five to 10 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown on top.
- Remove the pan from the oven and stir the sauerkraut in with the sausage and veggies, letting it heat through on the pan.
- Serve immediately with more cheese sprinkled on top.
This was really yummy. The sausage/onion/sauerkraut mixture was mustard-y and flavorful, and the potatoes were the perfect sidekick. They were a great combination of creamy and crisp, all in one dish. It was a nice meal for a cool evening.
And since I still have half a package of sauerkraut left, I may have to make this again, sooner rather than later, especially since I am no longer intimidated by hasselback potatoes.
I guess I can thank the Swedes for yet another great way to enjoy a tater.
This piece first appeared in print Nov. 14, 2024.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
