Looking for an easy side dish that takes little work, few ingredients, and still counts as real food? These Simple Dill Potatoes fit the bill.
Some of my favorite recipes are virtually non-recipes. Just a little bit of this, a little bit of that, throw it in the oven until it looks right. Eat and enjoy.
Yes, I know. Not all of us are comfortable cooking intuitively. But, really, I don’t think that you can hurt this recipe. Truly. These Simple Dill Potatoes are practically foolproof (no offense) and they are, indeed, simple.
The fact that this recipe contains only a handful of ingredients, all of which are standard pantry staples, makes this an anytime kind of meal, er, I mean, side dish.
Dill was an herb that I grew up with, so you’ll see it in quite a few of my recipes. It’s a regular feature in my creamy salads like tuna, potato, or macaroni. It’s a friendly presence in several of my herb blends and herb butter. It’s out of this world good in this Homemade Buttermilk Dressing. Dill is your friend. If you haven’t started cooking with it, please do.
Typically I use dry dill, just like my mama does. However, fresh dill is delightful as well. Whenever I see it marked down in the produce department, I snatch it up. Remember that you will need three times as much fresh herb as the dried herb counterpart. More fresh; less dried. Remember that.
The first time I made these Dill Potatoes, I did so with very new potatoes from our produce box. I don’t know that I’ve ever tasted potatoes so fresh. They were almost sweet. My brother came by as we were finishing up dinner and he finished off any spuds that were left. So easy, so good. No one would know what a no brainer recipe it is.
Pictured are some very small, standard russet potatoes. Whatever potato you regularly buy will work well with this recipe.
These potatoes are an excellent side dish for chicken, fish, pork, or beef. Leftovers — if there are any — are great chopped into a pot pie, stirred into soup, or reheated for home fries with breakfast.
How I make this good:
Whenever possible I like to cook with plain old ingredients. While the convenience of mixes and canned sauces is nice, I feel better about feeding my family just real food whenever possible. (Go here for some of my reasons on all that.)
You couldn’t get “plainer” than the ingredients here: potatoes, olive oil, dill, salt, and pepper. Boom. Real food, real good.
How to make this cheap:
Here are some of the strategies I use to make this recipe more economical:
- Shop in bulk. I typically buy olive oil in large jugs at Costco. Olive oil is my main cooking oil, so we go through it pretty quickly. If yours is a smaller household, see if you can split the purchase with a friend or two to save money and prevent waste. I also buy dill, salt, and pepper in large quantities. You can freeze the dill to extend its shelf life.
- Meal plan around what’s on sale. I put these Dill Potatoes on the menu when I see potatoes on sale.
Tools I use to make this recipe easy:
This is a pretty straight-forward dish. You don’t need any fancy equipment. However, having some good basic kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I like to use in this recipe.
- a food scale – awesome for dividing up a large bag of potatoes.
- plastic cutting boards – I have blue boards for veggies and white boards for meat.
- Ergo Chef chef’s knife – I’ve had my set for several years and they work well.
- stainless steel mixing bowl – a big one helps to mix everything together.
- a shot measuring glass – so nice for small measurements.
- Large sheet pans are a must as is parchment paper, unless you buy USA sheet pans. You don’t need to grease or line those.
Simple Dill Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 lb red potatoes scrubbed, trimmed, and cut into thin wedges
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried dill or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped dill
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toss the potatoes with enough olive oil to coat. Add the dill, salt and pepper and toss until herb and spices are well distributed.
- Lay the potatoes in the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Stir once or twice during cooking to prevent sticking.
- Adjust seasonings and serve hot.
Notes
Nutritional values are approximate and based on 1/8 the recipe.
Nutrition
This post was originally published September 21, 2011. Updated October 8, 2016.
Jen Blacker
Thank you so much for hosting. I bought some country style pork ribs on sale a few months back, froze them into portions and forgot about them. I pulled them out a few weeks ago and made this recipe. So easy, and you use your slow cooker to make them.
Heather
I have put dill in mashed potatoes before, but I never thought to use it in pan roasted potatoes. What a great idea! I love dill, but don’t have a lot of recipes that use it. Thanks!
Erika
I love to roast potatoes and dill sounds like the perfect thing to add to them! We just finished canning our peaches around here and I made a first (for me) peach honey. Yum! http://ourheirloomlife.blogspot.com/2011/09/millions-of-peaches.html
Carrie @ My Favorite Finds
I’m going to make these soon. These sound so good, and different way to try potatoes. Thanks for hosting.
Queen of the House
I love making potatoes this way, and dill sounds like a tasty herb to try with them! Thanks for the link up! 🙂