Pommes Anna

Pommes Anna is thinly sliced potatoes layered with butter and baked until golden. That’s really the whole recipe. What makes it feel like something special is the flip — when you invert the pan and the potatoes come out as a beautiful, caramelized cake that you cut into wedges like a pie.

Pommes Anna — buttery golden potatoes worth every layer

The first time I made it was for a Steak au Poivre dinner at home. I used a Dutch oven. The potatoes were completely delicious — especially broken up and served with the au poivre sauce pooling around everything. But the flip didn’t go the way I’d pictured. They fell apart, Chad and I laughed, and I did my best to plate them as nicely as I could. We called that version Pommes Anne.

A couple of nights later I bought more potatoes, used a shallow oven-safe skillet, and tried again. That’s the version in the photos. If the presentation matters to you — and it’s a beautiful thing when it works — a wide, shallow pan with an oven-safe handle is what you want.

Either way, they will taste wonderful. The Pommes Anne version alongside that sauce was genuinely one of the best things on the table that night.

Pommes Anna

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 1 to 1½ teaspoons kosher salt

• Freshly cracked black pepper

• Flaky salt for finishing

Peeling the potatoes for Pommes Anna

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.

2. Peel the potatoes and slice them as thin and even as possible. A mandoline gives you the most consistent results. Pat the slices dry if they seem very wet.

Slicing the potatoes thin and even

3. Brush the bottom of your oven-safe skillet generously with melted butter. Layer the potato slices in overlapping circles, starting from the outside and working inward. Brush each layer with butter and season lightly with salt and pepper as you go. Press down firmly every few layers.

4. Place the pan over medium heat on the stovetop for about 5 minutes to begin building the crust on the bottom.

5. Cover with a lid or foil and transfer to the oven. Bake covered for 20 minutes.

6. Remove the cover and bake another 15–20 minutes until the top is golden and the edges are deeply caramelized.

7. Remove from the oven and rest for 5–10 minutes. Run a thin spatula around the edges to loosen. Place a large plate over the pan, hold it firmly, and flip in one confident motion.

8. Finish with flaky salt. Cut into wedges and serve.

Ready to serve.

Make Ahead

Pommes Anna reheats well. Let it cool completely, refrigerate, and warm individual wedges in a 375°F oven for 10–15 minutes. The crust comes back nicely.

This is the potato for a steak dinner. It belongs next to Steak au Poivre with that cognac cream sauce spooned over everything. If you haven’t made that yet, start there.

Get the full A French Bistro Night at Home post, including the Steak au Poivre recipe  →

Get the Simple Green Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette recipe →