Crispy on the outside, meltingly tender on the inside, potato rösti are a classic side dish simply made from grated potato that’s fried until golden.
If you’re looking at how to make the best rösti potatoes, look no further - we’ve covered all the basics with this handy guide to the beloved Swiss staple...
What are the best potatoes for making rösti?
Unlike mashed potato, which requires a specific type of spud, the good news is that you can use either floury or waxy potatoes for a rösti - both work, but yield slightly different results. Floury potatoes give a softer, almost mash-like result, whereas waxy potatoes keep their shape better, resulting in well-defined strings of potato.
Should I cook my potatoes before grating them for rösti?
Some recipes boil potatoes first, then allow them to cool (sometimes a day in advance), which can help if you’re worried that your rösti will be undercooked inside, or you want to make a thick rösti, but you can make them from raw potato easily.
What’s the best way to grate potatoes for rösti?
Coarsely grate the potato, as finely grated spuds will turn to mush. You can use a box grater or easier still: a grating attachment on your food processor.
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How do you prepare potatoes for rösti?
After grating the raw potato, put it in a clean tea towel, gather up the sides and squeeze as much excess water out of the potato as possible. If you’re not blessed with strong hands and have a little extra time to spare, salt the grated potato in a colander first and leave for 10-15min before squeezing the water out in the tea towel - the salt will draw out some of the moisture first and make the process much easier. Drying out the potato first helps it cook faster, stick less and gives a crisper finish.
Do you need to add anything to the potato?
Traditional rösti needs nothing else except a generous amount of seasoning. No binding agents (like egg or flour) are necessary - there is plenty of starch to keep the potato together.
What’s the best fat to cook potato rösti in?
Butter has a beautiful flavour that complements the starchy crispness of potato, but because of the longer time needed to cook the rösti, it tends to burn before the cakes are cooked. The best thing to do is cook the rösti in oil first (olive oil works, but other fats that have a higher smoke point will also work, such as ghee or goose fat), then add butter to the pan nearer the end of the cooking time and fry it briefly, for the best flavour.
What temperature should you cook potato rösti?
Don’t cook potato rösti on too high a heat, or you’ll end up with a burned outside and raw inside. It’s best to cook it on a medium heat, which will allow the centre to cook through, and the outside to become golden. The thicker and bigger the rösti, the lower and longer you’ll need to fry it.
How do you shape a potato rösti?
You can either drop the grated potato into the pan in individual rounds, or spread the mixture out to the size of a pan. Either way, use a heatproof spatula to pat the mixture into a round and pack the potato together. If using raw potato, we recommend making the rösti fairly thin so you don’t end up with an uncooked centre.
How do you stop rösti sticking?
The best way to stop rösti sticking is to make sure you’ve squeezed out as much of the moisture from the potato as possible, use a generous amount of fat in the pan and leave the rösti to cook for as long as possible without disturbing the underside. Trying to flip the mixture before it’s browned properly will mean the starch in the potato will have stuck to the pan but not yet released. If your rösti sticks or breaks, all is not lost - just scrape as much as you can from the pan and then press it all back together and fry for a bit longer.
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How do you flip a potato rösti?
A thin and flexible fish slice will slide under individual cakes like a dream, but if you’re making a large pan-sized rösti, you need a bit more help. Once the rösti is really golden, loosen the underside as best as you can with a palette knife. Find a chopping board that’s larger than the pan, remove the pan from the heat, leave for a couple of min to cool slightly, then put the board on top of the pan. Wearing oven gloves that have a good grip, carefully turn the pan and board over, so that the rösti ends cooked side-up on the board. Add a little more fat to the pan if needed, then slide the rösti back into the pan and cook on the other side. Don’t worry if it falls apart a little when you do this - just press it back together. To remove the cooked rösti from the pan, put the board on top, and invert the pan again.
How long should you cook potato rösti for?
Small rösti take around 5min-8min per side. Larger pan-sized ones need around 12-15min per side.
How do I test if a rösti is cooked all the way through?
Push a cutlery knife into the centre of the rösti - there shouldn’t be any resistance if the potato is cooked.
What do you serve potato rösti with?
The Swiss serve it with cheese, ham and a fried egg on top, but truthfully, rösti can be served with anything you’d eat crisped potatoes with. Roast meats, game, steak, all work well. You can even serve it up with a Christmas dinner, or use them like hash browns with a savoury brunch. Rösti also makes a delightfully different topping to a fish pie.
Rösti for beginners
Nervous about making rösti? Try our oven-baked rösti cake instead - no frying pan or flipping required!
Easy potato rösti recipe
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 900g (2lb) potatoes
- Olive oil, ghee or goose fat, to fry
- 40g (1½oz) butter
Method:
- Peel potatoes and grate on a coarse grater.
- Put grated potato in a muslin cloth or a clean tea towel. Wrap up tightly and squeeze moisture out into a bowl. The potato needs to be as dry as possible, otherwise it won’t crisp up when cooked.
- Put potato in a bowl, separate strands with your fingers and season well.
- In a frying pan, heat enough olive oil/ghee/goose fat to coat the bottom, over a medium heat. Shape rounds of grated potato in pan, or make one large rösti. Fry for about 5min until golden and crisp on underside, then flip over. Add butter to pan and fry rösti for a further 5min until golden. Drain on kitchen paper before serving.
