Name: Torn Potatoes With Chile-Lime Butter
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Yield: 10–12 servings
Ingredients: 1 serrano chile, coarsely chopped, seeds removed if desired; 2 cups cilantro leaves with tender stems (about 1 bunch); 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature; 2 tsp. finely grated lime zest; 2 tsp. kosher salt; 5 lb. potatoes of mixed colors and similar sizes (such as sweet, purple sweet, russet, and/or Yukon Gold), scrubbed; 1 ½ cups pomegranate arils (from 2 pomegranates); Lime wedges and flaky sea salt (for serving)

Active Time
30 minutes
Total Time
2 hours 30 minutes

Sure, you could use just one kind of potato for this side dish, but we think the more, the better. Look for different varieties of potatoes that are around the same size for even roasting. Once roasted, tear them into pieces, dot them with a make-ahead cilantro, lime, and chile compound butter, and scatter pomegranate seeds over—and you may never want to serve sweet potato casserole again.

Ingredients

10–12 servings

1 serrano chile, coarsely chopped, seeds removed if desired

2 cups cilantro leaves with tender stems (about 1 bunch)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp. finely grated lime zest

2 tsp. kosher salt

5 lb. potatoes of mixed colors and similar sizes (such as sweet, purple sweet, russet, and/or Yukon Gold), scrubbed

1 ½ cups pomegranate arils (from 2 pomegranates)

Lime wedges and flaky sea salt (for serving)

Step 1
Pulse chile and cilantro in a food processor until finely chopped. Add butter, lime zest, and kosher salt and pulse until smooth. Transfer to a sheet of parchment paper and roll into a 6"-long log. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 375°F. Arrange potatoes in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and cover tightly with foil. Roast 40 minutes. Remove foil (save for later!), turn potatoes, and continue to roast, uncovered, until largest potato is very tender when pierced with a paring knife or fork, 20–30 minutes.
Step 3
Unwrap chile-lime butter and thinly slice crosswise. Using two forks, tear potatoes (including skins) into 3"–4" pieces. Transfer to a large (preferably warmed) platter. Using your hands, crumble and scatter butter over potatoes (yes, use all of the butter). Cover with reserved foil and let sit until butter is mostly melted, 3–4 minutes. Top with pomegranate arils, squeeze lime juice over, and sprinkle with sea salt.

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Reviews (5)

We needed a recipe that would fill out our vegetarian Thanksgiving menu and bring plenty of flavor and color to the table and be simple enough that family members members sharing the kitchen would be ablel to work on their respective dishes with minimal stress. This recipe knocked it out of the park on all counts. I did call in "backup" to get the pomegranate seeds prepared (which my lovely wife graciously did with the "peel it under water" trick) but otherwise I was able to get this recipe done while carrying on a (mildly inebriated) conversation with my parents. I stink at "multi-tasking", so this was a big deal. The recipe was a HUGE hit. It also seems fairly "flexible". We didn't have lime zest, so used zest from our meyer lemon bush. I also threw in 4 cloves of garlic because...GARLIC!! Two things I would note though. First, the purple and orange sweet potatoes we got were much larger than the yellow potatoes. We decide to cut the big ones into thirds before baking and were glad we did. Second, there are many ways to "tear" the potatoes with forks and some of them will mush the potatoes rather than tear them. You really do want them "torn" both for aesthetics and so that the herb butter can more readily melt into them. For me, two ways worked best: (A) for the bigger chunks -- insert the two forks "back to back" and pull them apart at the handles to split the chunk from the top down. (B) for the smaller yellow potatoes, insert back to back and twist to split them from side to side. If the skin gets crispy while baking, you'll need to insert the forks all the way down to the skin so that it splits along with the potato "flesh". Also, the recipe as written easily served 6 hungry adults using about 1/2 of what we made. We were happy to have leftovers, but I might scale it down a bit next time. For four adults, it would have been too much.
- Brian B.
- Berkeley, CA
- 12/4/2021
I've been making this recipe every year for Thanksgiving since it was first published in 2019 - Anna Stockwell is a genius!! It's my go-to potato side dish for T-day; an ultimate crowd-pleaser that's easy to make and beautiful on any table. The tang and crunch of the pomegranete seeds, the herbaceous and slightly spicy butter, the salty crunch of Maldon and the sweet, custardy interior of perfectly roasted sweet potatoes--it's velvety and rich yet refreshing, texturally diverse, and wonderfully flavorful... perfection!
- Emma F.
- Alameda, CA
- 11/19/2021
My new go-to potato side dish! Easy and delicious. Half the butter was enough, though not nearly as decadent. I usually have pale-fleshed sweet potatoes and Yukon Golds in the house, and while it would be pretty with purple and orange in the mix, those 2 are enough for everyday meals. Most recently made these as a side for the chorizo-chickpea tostadas (also on epi).
- mags425
- 1/4/2021
This was a delicious recipe! The family came together for Thanksgiving and all agreed the flavours were really good. Forgot to bring the pomegranite which I am sure would have added another dimension. Used baby potatoes as we don't have the larger coloured ones in our grocery store.
- nannyev
- Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
- 10/12/2020