Hasselback Potatoes are of Sweddish origin, although not a traditional Swedish meal, one created by Chef Leif Elisson at the Hasselbacken restaurant in Stockholm.

The gist of the recipes is cutting potatoes in thin slices, while still leaving them connected, baking them, stuffing it with cheese, and then baking them again to melt the cheese.

It wasn’t bad, wasn’t great either.

Maybe my cheddar was not strong enough.

Recipe

The base or the recipes comes from Just A Taste, however based on Reddit recommendations I added bacon bits on top.

Ingredients

• 4 Russet potatoes - medium (? about 6” long)
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 4-8 ounces of sliced cheddar, further sliced into 1-inch squares
• 1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2-4 tablespoons of bacon bits
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup of chopped fresh chives or green onions.

I’m intentionally vague on the cheese quantities because it’s dependent on the number of cuts made in the potato (1 cut - 1 square of cheese).

Mathematically speaking, if we cut the potato in 1/8 inch slices, that’s 8 slices per inch * 6 inches potato = 64 slices; divide that by 4 typical quarters per big slice of cheddar, you end up with 16 big slices of cheddar per potato.

At 1 oz per cheddar slice, sliced #2 at the deli, or 1 oz per 2 slices, if sliced #1, that’s a good 16 or 8 ounces of cheddar per potato, which is not only ridiculous and also, likely, heart-attack inducing.

So obviously math is useless, check-mate mathematicians…

Instead I would say that 8 ounces is probably enough for all 4 potatoes.

The bacon bits and the chives are more according to taste. I like bacon.

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
2. Don’t peel the potato – this is important – we want that skin.
   The trick here is to place two wooden chopsticks on either side of the potato, as we make cuts every 1/8-inch from one end to another.
   The chopsticks are going to keep the knife from going all the way through and thus keep the bottom of the potato slices connected.
3. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and brush them with the melted butter.
   I don’t know if necessary, but I tried to get the butter into the cuts as well.
   Season with salt and pepper.
4. Bake for 55-60 minutes (until tender).
5. Remove from the oven, but don’t turn the oven off.
   Insert the 1-inch squares into the cuts.
   Sprinkle the top with the shredded Parmesan and half of the bacon bits.
6. Bake for 3-5 minutes until the cheese is melted.
7. Remove potatoes from oven, sprinkle the rest of the bacon and the chives/green onion and serve immediately.

Serving size: 1 potato, serves 4.

• calories: depending on the amount of cheese, but probably 200-400 per serving.
• fat: way too much
• cholesterol: I don’t even wanna know.
• carbs: potato - need I say more?

Variants

Using less cheese (or even not stuffing them with cheese but only sprinkling on top), sprinkling bread crumbs or even roasted almond slices on top. Sour cream on top was good too.