Syracuse Salt Potatoes Recipe

Name: Syracuse Salt Potatoes
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 5 pounds small waxy potatoes, like white potatoes, small yellow potatoes, fingerlings, or new potatoes; 12 ounces (about 1 cup) pickling salt or other fine-grain salt; Optional: Butter, diced chives, diced scallions

A regional favorite of upstate New York, Syracuse Salt Potatoes are easy to make at home! They're tender, buttery, and deliciously salty.

Boiled potatoes piled into a glass pie plate.

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Jump to:

The discovery
A history of salt potatoes
Irish Creamy Potato Soup
Salt potatoes: a phenomenon unique to upstate New York
Why are Salt Potatoes so good?
🔪 How to cook Salt Potatoes
Tips:
What to serve with Salt Potatoes?
FAQs
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

The discovery

I heard about salt potatoes for the first time at the start of one fine summer many moons ago, from my friend Meghan. Our conversation went like this:

Meghan: "I went to Hannaford's to see if salt potatoes are in, but they didn't have any. The guy there said he's never heard of salt potatoes."

Me: "What are salt potatoes?"

Meghan: "You've never heard of salt potatoes?!?"

I had not—but I love potatoes and I love salt, so I was intrigued!

Meghan explained that salt potatoes are small spuds that come in a bag along with a big packet of salt. The potatoes are boiled in a big pot with all of that salt in the water. "Then," she said, "you eat them hot with lots of butter." So simple—and yet so freaking delicious!

Shortly after that conversation, Meghan made a trip to the Syracuse, New York area where she grew up and where bags of salt potatoes are plentiful. She stocked up and brought back an extra bag for lucky me!

The brand was Hinerwadel's Famous Salt Potatoes, and I cooked them up according to the recipe printed on the bag. Those little, steaming potatoes with rings and swirls of white salt on the skins were sublimely salty and buttery! The insides of the cooked potatoes were soft and fluffy. My husband and I had them for dinner—nothing else, just a big bowl of salty, boiled potatoes.

Now that we're hooked, and to cover the bases in case we can't find them in the store, I have my own Syracuse Salted Potatoes recipe—a two-ingredient dish you can make in the summertime or anytime.

A history of salt potatoes

Metal measuring cup holding overflowing salt.

Salt potatoes are a regional favorite of upstate New York, especially in Syracuse where they seem to have originated. The Onondaga Lake area in Syracuse is full of natural salt springs; beginning in the late 1700s the salt harvesting industry there slowly grew. By the late 1800s, this briny business was booming and Syracuse became known as Salt City.

The method for harvesting salt was to gather salty water from the springs into enormous trays where the water could evaporate—leaving the salt behind. Workers would scrape it from the trays, grind it, and package the salt for sale.

Some of the salt harvesting, especially in the early years of the business, was done by boiling the salt water to speed up the evaporation process. Many of the salt miners working in the area were Irish immigrants who brought potatoes with them for their lunch. One of these workers has the idea to drop their raw potatoes in the boiling salt water—and delicious salt potatoes were born.

Even after the salt industry in Syracuse folded, salt potatoes remained a local favorite. They appeared on dinner tables and were even served as snacks at bars and pubs—instead of salty pretzels, pints of beer were served with salty potatoes.

Creamy soup in a bowl with cheese and toppings.

More Irish inspiration!

Irish Creamy Potato Soup

A simple dish, but still so flavorful.

Get the recipe →

Salt potatoes: a phenomenon unique to upstate New York

Having grown up in Bennington, Vermont (just a stone's throw from New York) with a lot of family living in New York, I was surprised that I had never heard of salt potatoes. Had I been denied these tasty taters as a kid??

My mother grew up just outside of Hoosick Falls, a town about an hour outside of Albany and close to Vermont—and yet she had never heard of salt potatoes! It seems this area of New York is too far south to have ever been touched by the salt potato craze.

Next, I checked with family who live in the Rochester, NY area. And bingo! Though they hadn't heard of the Hinerwadel's brand specifically, my cousin said that there are many brands of salt potatoes in their grocery stores, and they all come with a packet of salt. My uncle and cousin both agree that these boiled, salted potatoes are delectable, and say that they're usually served at clambakes and lobster bakes.

This seems to jive with the history of the Hinerwadel brand—John Hinerwadel began selling salt potatoes at his popular Syracuse-area clambakes in the early 1900s. More than one hundred years later the brand is still going strong, selling about a million bags annually.

I just love learning of regional favorites like this, with their unique histories and devoted local fans.

Why are Salt Potatoes so good?

Crusts of salt on teh outside of a blue pan of boiled potatoes. — _{As the potatoes boil, a crust of salt forms along the sides of the pan!}

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Two things make these briny spuds so tasty: smaller-sized potatoes and lots of salt. The whole potatoes cook through quickly while boiling, and as they do soak up salt from the water. The salt also coats the skins of the potatoes, making them just as good to eat as the tender insides.

It's okay if you can't find bags of salt potatoes at the store because you can easily replicate the dish with this Salt Potatoes recipe. It only requires two ingredients and cooking salt potatoes is a snap—only 15 minutes.

🔪 How to cook Salt Potatoes

Bowl of potatoes next to a pitcher of salt.

Ingredients

Potatoes: Choose small, waxy potatoes for this recipe, like white potatoes, small yellow potatoes, fingerlings, or new potatoes.
Salt: Pickling salt is very fine which is ideal in this recipe because it dissolves quickly.

Step 1: Get everything into a pot

Blue Dutch oven with potatoes, water, and salt pouring in.

Pour the potatoes into a large Dutch oven and cover them with water. Add the salt and stir until it's fully dissolved.

Step 2: Boil the potatoes

Cooked potatoes in water with salt crusted on the outside.

Bring the water to a boil and cook for 15 minutes or so until the potatoes are fork-tender.

Step 3: Get the butter and enjoy!

Boiled potatoes on a plate with one cut in half to show yellow insides.

Drain and serve Salt Potatoes while they're hot and with plenty of melted butter.

Tips:

Waxy, small potatoes are key here because they cook through quickly while absorbing some of the salty brine. They also keep their shape, unlike starchy potatoes.
I use pickling salt because it has a very fine texture and dissolves quickly once added to the water.
Don't be surprised when the sides of your pot and the edge of the burner become crusted with salt. This is what happens as they boil: drips and droplets of water evaporate leaving all that salt behind!

What to serve with Salt Potatoes?

Make New York-style Salt Potatoes as a side for summertime barbecues, clambakes, or any time of the year as an easy and fast accompaniment for meatloaf, roast chicken, roast beef, steak, and fish.

Salt potatoes are also quite tasty on their own when you want a light meal or a salty snack!

FAQs

How do you reheat salt potatoes?

Keep any leftover salt potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge—they'll last for up to five days. You can reheat them in a dish in the microwave. Or, cover them in a small baking dish and reheat them in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes or so, until they're warmed through.

Are salt potatoes a New York thing?

Salt potatoes ARE a New York thing—specifically a Syracuse and upstate New York thing. Some consider the Albany area to be upstate New York, but my family who grew up in that area never had salt potatoes. So when I say upstate I mean north and east of Syracuse. They're also well-loved out Rochester way.

Does Syracuse, New York still produce salt?

The large-scale salt production that took place in the area in the 1800s disappeared at the turn of that century, due to over-mining and increased competition. Today there are a few small salt producers in Syracuse, harvesting salt from the same springs as the workers who created salt potatoes.

What kind of salt is used for salt potatoes?

The best kind of salt is one that is very fine-grained, so it will dissolve almost instantly when added to the water. Pickling salt is my choice—it's inexpensive, very fine, and comes in a big box.

What does salt potatoes mean?

The term salt potatoes refers to this Syracuse, New York regional dish of small, whole potatoes boiled in heavily salted water until tender.

Boiled potatoes in a dish topped with diced chives.

The recipe for Salt Potatoes Syracuse-style is below, and here are a few more posts about favorite regional eats!

💬 Have you ever heard of these taters? Leave a comment below.

📖 Recipe