Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C). Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a glass casserole dish, about 9×13 inches, so the potatoes don’t stick and the edges can brown nicely.
Scrub the potatoes well and pat them dry, leaving the skins on for flavor and texture. Slice them into thick rounds, about 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick. Keeping the slices fairly even helps them cook at the same pace and gives you that creamy center from edge to edge.
Arrange the potato rounds in a single snug layer in the buttered glass dish. It’s fine if they lean against each other a bit, but avoid stacking. This is what gives you those nicely browned tops you see in the dish when it comes out of the oven.
Brush or drizzle the melted butter evenly over the tops of the potato slices, making sure each piece gets a little shine. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the potatoes. At this point they should just look simply seasoned and lightly glossed with butter.
Place the dish on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes. During this time the potatoes will start to brown and the bottoms will begin to take on color where they touch the glass and butter.
Carefully pull out the oven rack and pour the chicken broth into the dish, aiming between the potato slices so you don’t wash off the browned tops. The broth should come about halfway up the sides of the potatoes, not cover them. Gently slide the dish back in.
Continue baking, uncovered, for another 25 to 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are deeply golden on top and very tender all the way through when pierced with a fork or knife. The broth will bubble and reduce, mixing with the butter and potato starch to create a silky, almost saucy layer around the slices.
Once the potatoes are tender and the tops are nicely browned, remove the dish from the oven and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. This short rest helps the centers finish softening so they turn incredibly creamy, while the tops stay a bit browned and the buttery broth settles.
Serve the potato rounds straight from the glass dish, spooning a little of the buttery broth over each portion. You should see thick, round slices with golden tops sitting in a shallow pool of glossy broth, and when you cut into one, the inside will be soft and almost melting.
Variations & Tips
If you’d like a little more character without straying from the spirit of the recipe, you can swap in vegetable broth for a meatless version or use a light beef broth for a deeper flavor. For an herb note, you can tuck a sprig or two of fresh thyme or rosemary around the edges of the dish before baking; just remember that technically adds another ingredient, so I think of it as optional rather than part of the base recipe. If you’re cooking for a crowd, use two glass dishes rather than piling the potatoes higher—keeping that single layer is what gives you the browned tops and creamy centers. For extra browning, you can slide the dish under the broiler for a minute or two at the end, watching closely so the tops don’t scorch. Leftovers reheat well in a covered skillet over low heat with a spoonful of water or broth, or you can chop them and crisp them in a pan for an easy country-style hash.
ADVERTISEMENT
