This slow cooker 3-ingredient Amish brown butter potatoes recipe is exactly the kind of rustic side dish my grandpa talks about from growing up on the farm: simple ingredients, big flavor, and absolutely no fuss. Baby potatoes slowly soak up nutty brown butter and a good pinch of salt until they’re unbelievably tender and almost creamy inside, with a glossy, toasty sauce that clings to every bite. It’s the kind of recipe you can throw together before work, let the slow cooker do its thing, and then pull out a platter of melt-in-your-mouth potatoes that taste like you spent all afternoon in the kitchen.
Serve these brown butter potatoes piled onto a warm white platter and spoon the extra brown butter from the slow cooker over the top so every potato gets a good coating. They’re perfect next to roast chicken, pork chops, pot roast, or grilled sausages, but they’re also great with simple weeknight mains like baked salmon or seared steak. I like to finish them with a small sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley or chives (optional, not part of the core 3 ingredients) for a pop of color, and they reheat beautifully for lunch the next day alongside leftover meat and a green salad.
Slow Cooker 3-Ingredient Amish Brown Butter PotatoesServings: 6
Ingredients
3 pounds small baby potatoes, scrubbed and left whole
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
Directions
Slice the butter into several chunks and place it in a medium skillet over medium heat. Let the butter melt completely, then continue cooking, swirling the pan often, until the milk solids at the bottom turn deep golden brown and smell nutty and toasty, 5 to 8 minutes. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn.
As soon as the butter is a rich brown color, remove the skillet from the heat. If you see any very dark bits, you can leave them behind in the pan when you pour, but don’t worry about the golden brown specks—those add flavor.
Place the scrubbed baby potatoes into the slow cooker in an even layer. Pour the hot brown butter over the potatoes, scraping in all the golden bits for maximum flavor.
Sprinkle the kosher salt evenly over the potatoes. Toss gently with a spatula or large spoon to coat all the potatoes in the brown butter and salt.
Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, or on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours, until the potatoes are very tender when pierced with a fork and the skins look slightly wrinkly and glossy from the butter.
Once cooked, give the potatoes a gentle stir so they’re all coated again in the brown butter sauce at the bottom of the slow cooker. Taste one and add a pinch more salt if needed.
Transfer the potatoes to a serving dish, spooning all of the brown butter from the slow cooker over the top so they’re well coated. If you like, you can sprinkle a little chopped fresh parsley or chives over them for color right before serving (optional and not part of the 3 ingredients). Serve warm, letting everyone spoon extra brown butter from the platter onto their plates.
Variations & Tips
For a slightly different texture, you can lightly smash the potatoes right in the slow cooker once they’re tender—just press each one gently with the back of a spoon so they crack open and soak up even more brown butter before serving. If you need to stretch the recipe for a larger crowd, you can use up to 4 pounds of baby potatoes without increasing the butter, but the sauce will be a bit lighter. To keep things in the spirit of the original 3-ingredient farm-style dish, I stick to just potatoes, butter, and salt, but you can add optional touches at the table: a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley or chives for color, a grind of black pepper, or a spoonful of sour cream on the side. For make-ahead prep, scrub the potatoes the night before and store them in the fridge in a covered container of cold water; in the morning, drain, pat dry, and add them to the slow cooker with the browned butter and salt. Leftovers reheat well in a skillet over medium heat—just warm them in any leftover brown butter or a small extra pat of butter until heated through and lightly crisped on the outside.
