How to make Rösti | 2 main ingredients recipe

“Rösti or rööschti is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes, sautéed or shallow-fried in a pan. It was originally a breakfast dish, commonly eaten by farmers in the canton of Bern, but is now eaten all over Switzerland and around the world. Many Swiss people consider rösti to be a national dish. Rather than considering it a complete breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it is more commonly served to accompany other dishes such as Spinat und Spiegelei (spinach and fried eggs, sunny side up), cervelas, or Fleischkäse. It is commonly available in Swiss restaurants as a replacement for the standard side dish of a given meal.” ¹

It has many variations in different countries and exists in many names. The common variable is the grated potatoes. Rösti is kind of like a cross between hash browns and a potato pancake.

For me, it instantly became one of my favorite comfort meals. First I saw rösti on TikTok, and I had to give it a try. I uploaded a video about making rösti on Pinterest and it is one of my most popular videos on that platform.

It is perfectly salty, crunchy, warm. Absolute perfection. Although you only need 2 main ingredients for this dish (potato, cheese), it can be very versatile, because you can top it with different things or eat it alongside different dishes. I usually eat it on its own for lunch or dinner, or with some light salad.

I prefer to make my rösti as thin as possible, in order to make it as crunchy as possible.

I hope you will like rösti as much as I do. 🙂

Disclaimer: This will probably not be an authentic swiss rösti recipe. But my take on it. Thank you for understanding. 🙂

Happy baking/cooking! Jó étvágyat!

Let me know if you try this recipe…you can use #cutecuisine on Instagram. I would love to see your creations.

How to make Rösti

Ingredients

3 to 4 medium starchy potatoes
a handful of grated cheese (I would say any type you have at home…I used Emmentaler Swiss cheese.)
2-4 tablespoons olive oil or butter
pinch of salt
pepper
Optional add-ins: parsley, onions, nutmeg, pepper, or ground paprika

Instructions

Wash and peel the potatoes.
Grate the peeled raw potatoes into a bowl. You may also make rosti with parboiled potatoes. Cook them al dente one day in advance, peel, and store in the refrigerator. Grate them just before you fry them. PS.: I used raw potatoes.
Squeeze out the excess liquid then transfer to a bowl. No need to be 100% thorough here, squeezing out every drop of water, because we actually need some of that water to help steam-cook the inside (otherwise it takes forever to cook through!). That’s why I just grab handfuls rather than using a tea towel which is more thorough. Don’t worry if your potatoes go brown/reddish while sitting around. This is just from oxidation (reaction of potato to air) and it’s all bluster; it doesn’t mean the potato is off. Once you start cooking, it will change back to white.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil or melt 2 to 4 tablespoons of butter in a 20 cm (8-inch) nonstick or cast-iron skillet. Add the grated potatoes about 0,5 cm (0,2 inches) deep and salt them as desired.
Add the grated cheese on top, and add the rest of the grated potatoes. Add ground pepper on top.
Cook the potatoes over medium heat for several minutes. Pat the potatoes into a cake with the spatula and let them cook for 6-7 minutes.
Cover the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
When the bottom of the potato cake is golden brown, place a plate that barely fits inside the skillet on top of the potatoes. Invert the pan, holding on to the plate. Or you can try with a plate that covers the pan. For me, both methods worked.
Remove the pan and set it back on the stove. Add another tablespoon or so of olive oil to the pan, or butter (allowing it to melt).
Slide the rosti off the plate and back into the pan, golden side up. Cook for about 7-10 minutes, pressing down once or twice with the spatula to make the pancake stick together a little more.

If you use more potatoes and you make a thicker rösti the cooking time increases.

Your rösti is ready to eat.