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Grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs

Parboiled first so the grill only has to char them. Twelve minutes over the coals, not forty.

Prep
15 min
Cook
25 min
Makes
Serves 6
Jump to the recipe
Herbed potatoes on a plate with a glass behind
Photo: Majkel Berger / Pexels

Raw potato on a grill is a slow disaster. The outside blackens long before the middle is edible, and by the time the center is cooked the skin is carbon. Parboiling separates the two jobs: water cooks the inside, fire browns the outside.

Cook them in salted water until a knife just enters — no further. A fully soft potato falls through the grill bars, and there is no recovering it once it does.

The unattended version, finished under a grill rather than over one, is slow cooker potatoes with garlic and herbs.

Dry them completely and let the steam finish escaping before oiling. Water on the surface prevents contact browning and makes the oil spit.

They go with Greek chicken gyros as naturally as anything on this site.

The garlic and herb butter goes on after grilling, never before. Garlic over direct flame burns black in under a minute and turns bitter, and chopped herbs simply incinerate. Off the heat, tossed through while the potatoes are still hot enough to melt the butter, both do exactly what you wanted.

A potato baking in foil on the grill
Photo: RitaE / Pixabay

Herb potatoes on the grill: the card

Parboiled first so the grill only has to char them. Twelve minutes over the coals, not forty.

Potatoes, and the garlic herb butter

For the potatoes

  • 2½ lb (1.1 kg) waxy potatoes, halved
  • 1 tbsp salt, for the water
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper

For the garlic herb butter

  • ¼ cup (60 g) butter, melted
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • Flaky salt

Parboil, then grill

  1. 1 Put the halved potatoes in cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook 10–12 minutes until a knife just goes in. They should still feel firm.
  2. 2 Drain and leave them 5 minutes to steam dry, then toss with the oil, salt and pepper.
  3. 3 Heat the grill to medium-high. Lay the potatoes cut side down and leave them 6–7 minutes without moving — moving them early tears the surface that is forming.
  4. 4 Turn and grill 5–6 minutes more, until marked and crisp on both sides.
  5. 5 Stir the butter, garlic, herbs and lemon together. Toss the hot potatoes through it and finish with flaky salt.

Which potato, and doing it ahead

  • Waxy potatoes here, unlike most roast potato recipes — they hold their shape on the bars where a floury potato crumbles.
  • Parboil up to a day ahead and refrigerate. They grill better cold and dry.