Quick and easy Parmesan Baked Potatoes halves have a creamy center and a crispy Parmesan cheese crust with butter and garlic—perfect for steaks or chicken dinners.
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Easy to adjust both in number and serving size. With a skill level of 2/10, just follow these easy step-by-step photo instructions.
With an incredible crust of Parmesan cheese, butter, and garlic, it's a near-perfect side dish that goes with almost any meal. But it is filling enough to be the main dish.
These baked potatoes are perfect with Seared and Baked Filet Mignon, Seared and Baked Strip Steaks, Baked Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and Pan Seared Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin.
Check out some other great potato-sided dishes that will work with most meals—like Roasted Red Potatoes, Smashed Potatoes, Cheesy Potato Casserole from raw potatoes, and Baked Parmesan Potato Wedges.
🥔Ingredients
- Potatoes—Russet, red potatoes, or Yukon Gold potatoes
- Parmesan cheese—grated - fresh if possible
- Butter
- Pantry ingredients—Kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and other seasonings.
👨🍳How to Bake Parmesan-Crusted Baked Potatoes
- Spread melted butter over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Then sprinkle grated parmesan cheese.
- Scrub potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise.
- Lay the cut potatoes flat on the Parmesan mixture, cut side down.
- Bake the potatoes to 200°-210° internal temperature—about 40 minutes for medium russet potato halves. Thinner potatoes will take 30-35 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes to let a crust form.
- Run a sharp knife around the edge of the potatoes so the crust does not pull off.
- Remove from the pan carefully and serve.
✔️Tips and Options
Potatoes
- Any potatoes should be fine. Potatoes will all cook the same. I chose to use russets, but red potatoes or Yukon Gold would be excellent choices.
- The size of the potatoes will determine the baking time.
- You will find that half of a large baking potato will be plenty for a serving size. These are very filling.
The Parmesan crust
- Good Parmesan cheese will go a long way to making this dish spectacular. A cheap cheese will give inferior results.
- The seasoning is to your taste. Use herbs and spices like thyme and rosemary. Seasoning salt with paprika or specialty seasonings like Cajan, Italian, or any seasoning blend you like or matches the meal.
- Please see the discussion below about recipe size to adjust the amount of crust ingredients.
Baking
- The glass baking dish will help this not to stick. Parchment paper will help if you have sticking issues.
- The potatoes must fit flat in the dish. Pick a dish size that fits the amount you need and adjusts the crust ingredients to cover the bottom well.
↕️How to make this a "for two" or "family size" recipe
This is a relatively easy recipe to adjust to exactly what you need, but it is a little different than adjusting other recipes.
To adjust the size of this recipe, a little math is needed. You want the "topping" to be about the same thickness. Just close is fine; exact is not needed.
- Choose the potatoes, amount, and size you want to bake.
- Pick a pan size that allows all the potato halves to sit flat on the bottom.
- Adjust the crust ingredients to the pan size. The recipe uses a 9X5 dish which is 45 square inches. To use a 9X9 which is 81 square inches, double the topping ingredients, which is close enough. A 9X13 is 117 square inches, about 2.5 times the area of a 9X5, so increase the ingredients by that much.
- To make smaller amounts is dependent on the cookware size you have available. You may end up using a bigger baking dish than you truly need and "wasting some topping.... but it makes a crunchy snack.
❄️Leftover storage and reheating
Seal leftovers airtight and store them in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Or freeze for 3 months.
Leftovers, while good, will never be as good as freshly baked.
If frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave. They can also be reheated in a 350° oven.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat oven to 400° convection (425° in regular ovens).
Melt butter in a microwave (about 30 seconds). This is 4 tablespoons in a five-by-nine glass baking dish.
Spread the butter over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of coarse salt with ¼ teaspoon each of granular garlic and pepper. Sprinkle ½ cup of grated parmesan.
Scrub and cut in half lengthwise. I used russets, but red potatoes or Yukon Gold are good choices.
Lay the cut potatoes flat on the Parmesan mixture, cut side down.
Bake the potatoes to an internal temperature of 200°-210°—about 40 minutes for these medium size russets, but for thinner potatoes, it will be 30-35 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes to let a crust form. Then run a sharp knife around the potatoes, cutting the crust so it does not pull off.
Remove from the pan carefully and serve. They will stay hot for a while.
📖 Recipe
Parmesan Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 medium russet potatoes - or other potatoes like red or Yukon Gold
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese - grated - fresh if possible
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° convection (425° in regular ovens).
- Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a 5 by 9 glass baking dish. Adjust the size and amount of ingredients to fit your needs.
- Spread the butter over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of coarse salt with ¼ teaspoon each of granular garlic and pepper. Sprinkle ½ cup of grated parmesan.
- Scrub and cut in half lengthwise. I used russets, but red potatoes or Yukon Gold are good choices.
- Lay the cut potatoes flat on the Parmesan mixture, cut side down.
- Bake the potatoes to an internal temperature of 200°-210°—about 40 minutes for these medium size russets, but for thinner potatoes, will be 30-35 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes to let a crust form. Then run a sharp knife around the potatoes, cutting the crust, so it does not pull off.
- Remove from the pan carefully and serve. They will stay hot for a while.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Use russet, red, or Yukon Gold potatoes.
- A good quality Parmesan is a must.
- Cooking time will vary by the thickness of the potatoes, your pan, and the oven. Cook to a final internal temperature of 200- 210°.
- We use our All Purpose Seasoning - 7:2:1 and 7:2:2 instead of individual seasonings. As always, season to your taste, not mine.
- Glass or ceramic baking dish is recommended.
- It may be cooked at different oven temperatures, but the time will need to be adjusted.
- Be sure to wait 5 minutes after removing from the oven for the crust to firm up, or it will just come off. Do not short the time. And be sure to cut through all the coating just before removing it from the pan.
- To adjust the size of this recipe, a little math is needed. You want the "topping" to be about the same thickness. See the discussion in the post, but the adjustment is by the size of the pan you are using instead of the number of potatoes used.
- This reheats very well in a microwave.
- Nutrition calculation includes only half of the topping since there is a lot of waste.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published May 18, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
4Graces
Don't you think this baking method is wasteful of good cheese and butter? I don't know where I originally got the recipe for Half Baked Potatoes, but the method is halving the potato, piercing it, buttering it generously, coating the cut surface with a good grated Parmesan, salt and pepper, and placing the potato cut side down on a baking sheet. Bakes at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. Works for me.
GK
This is a great recipe. I cooked in a microwave convection oven in my rv. Thank you for sharing.
Susie Cooper
I tried this recipe last night for dinner. I followed the instructions and must say that the potatoes turned out perfectly. They were delicious!!
Deborah J. Lein
So easy. My husband pronounced these 'Absolutely Superb!' and then looked guilty for not acknowledging the rest of Easter dinner. That's okay. Just Steamed Green beans and baked ham. These potatoes were the stars of the dinner. Next time I will pour a little melted butter over the uncut sides and also use regular salt and not big sea salt crystals. They needed a little more salt. Fresh grated Parmesan is the secret weapon. Thanks Dr Dan!
Kathy M
I love this recipe. It is my go to for steak and potatoes. Sometimes I use Montreal steak seasoning instead of the garlic, salt and pepper.
Jerri
Made this today and it was a hit! Thank you Dr. Dan! Love your recipes!
Cindy D.
I have made this recipe many times. It is so tasty as a side dish to many proteins. Sometimes I like to put a little sour cream on my plate and dip in before gobbling. They are just that good.
Susan
I'm thinking of adding a little pesto to the butter/parm cheese, and using small russets, so as to cut down cooking time. What do you think?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Susan,
Both sound good to me. Give it a try.
Dan
Anne
This is sooo good!! Thank you for the recipe. My spouse loved it, and I'll be making it again, for sure. Delicious!
DrDan
Hi Anne,
What I love about this recipe is that I get something special for almost no work. My lazy is coming out.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kris
This was very good and easy too. The cooking time might be just a tad too long since the Parmesan got very brown. I will make these again.
DrDan
Hi again Kris,
The Parmesan does get brown and crisp. Very much my taste and the time is consistent with other recipes. My only pause about shortening the time is be sure the potatoes are done to your taste. I like 210 but some recommend 205. I do fine 200 "acceptable". Also, a thinner potato instead of a plump one would cook faster so the cheese would not get as brown.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Jaime
Made these as a side for grilled ribeye last night. Best meal we've had in awhile.
Lynette R Cowper
For some reason this reminds me of something my grandpa used to cook. He had an old folding pan -- similar to an omelet pan, but more square and deep -- that he used to make cornbread or coffee cake using a muffin mix on the stove. Another thing he used to make was potatoes roasted with bacon. Basically, he'd lay down a few strips of bacon, slice a potato in half and put it cut-side down on the bacon, close the pan, then put it on his wood burning stove to cook while he went about his morning routine --shaving, showering, dressing, getting the coffee on. The potato cooked through in perfect synch with the bacon crisping up. They were to die for.
DrDan
Hi Lynette,
First sorry for the delayed reply.
If I tell my wife about the bacon, I will need to do it. We so love bacon. I'm thinking bacon hashbrowns as I'm typing.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kenneth
I fixed this recipe and your filet recipe on new years day and both were a 5+. I am cooking for 2 and just used one potato and half a potato each was sufficient. There was a great crust on the potato and I was glad you mentioned cutting between the potatoes so it didn't pull off. This worked out well as it could cook at the same time as the filet and at the same oven temp. I started the potato, then the steak, and then when the steak went in the oven a little king crab to steam for extra credit. This was a hit with my wife who had no idea what I was fixing. Thanks for a great recipe and site.
Nancy
What if I don't have granulated garlic?
DrDan
Hi Nancy,
Use regular garlic powder and be sure it is mixed in well. Or skip.
Dan
Charlie
DrDan, do you always use salted butter in your recipes?
DrDan
Unless stated otherwise. Most of the time, it is what I have. If you have unsalted (which is fine) I might up the salt a pinch. In this recipe, a lot of the butter does not end up being consumed and the seasoning has lots of salt so it doesn't matter here. In baking, I try to use unsalted mostly.
Josh Pinkham
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