Purple Potatoes with Rosemary and Caramelized Onions
My second installment of Whatever Wednesday and I already love this…just cooking and a few photos and sharing a great simple recipe from the archives of my first food website! This dish is normally made with red or fingerling potatoes but I had purple potatoes delivered in my CSA box and that’s my update for this dish from 1995.
As unique as they are; mashing them scared me. I’m not sure why but I thought that a roasted potato from this color wheel would be unique but more palatable than mashed spuds. Adding some rosemary and onion not only elevated the look of the finished dish but the flavor was elevated too and they tasted amazing. I don’t care what potato you roast; something about herbs and roasted onions seem to fit all of them.
Really, tell me – how often are potatoes so gorgeous? The purple potatoes with some fresh herbs filled my kitchen with a delightful aroma and were both a beautiful addition to our plate and our palate. Full disclosure? I do love purple; it’s my favorite color!

Purple Potatoes with Rosemary and Caramelized Onions
Ingredients
- 2 lbs potatoes purple, fingerling, red or yukon gold, sliced
- 2 medium onions sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the potatoes, onions and garlic in a large roasting pan or baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix to coat.
- Bake uncovered for 30 minutes; test potatoes with a fork for doneness; remove or continue to cook in 5 minute increments until potatoes can be easily punctured with a fork.
- Taste, season with more salt and pepper if necessary.
Notes
It’s a PARTY!!
My baby is gonna be ONE YEAR OLD!! Friday, September 14th I’ll be celebrating one year of The Friday Cocktail.
Stop by for food, drink and friends with a LOT of recipes. Oh yeah…lots of prizes too!
Natural pigments and flavonoids give these potatoes their vibrant color. All potatoes contain an assortment of nutrients and other health-promoting compounds. The colored-flesh potato varieties contain anthocyanins and carotenoids.
I once purchased those purple potatoes, but I just couldn’t stand the color. I like the idea of including the onion and rosemary to improve the presentation. Barb, thanks for the article.
I bought those purple potatoes once and just couldn’t get used to that color. Love this idea of adding the onion and rosemary for a visually better experience. Thanks for the post Barb.
I just can’t see them mashed for some reason…maybe because adding milk might make them lavender? I did love the flavor though so hope you’ll try them again Lea Ann.
It’s funny how I so quickly forgot about purple potatoes, which I love because of that color is just stunning! Such a great use of them!
Thanks Brian…my foray into veggies is to keep them pretty simple; roasted and grilled are what I do most often.
I love using purple potatoes. They really do elevate any potato dish with their beauty!
I expected the color to change the first time I made them but I love that they stay dark and certainly purplish…and don’t mind that they taste so good either!
I love the idea of whatever wednesday. I do like purple potatoes but we don’t find them as easily.
It’s been fun; I have so many recipes to share and not quite the time to do them justice; this is the best of all world for me! They are not readily available here either but now I’m looking more closely…I really enjoyed them.
I love purple potatoes too!! True story: served them to my grandmother in a potato salad and she would NOT eat them because of the color. Oh well, more for me. This recipe looks delish Barb!!
I believe it…it is a funny color for potatoes for sure; but they are so good. Now to find some more and have no idea where to start.
Purple potatoes are not only pretty but also delicious! We discovered it this year and can’r have enough. Beautiful post! 🙂
Aren’t they good? Certainly unique but we just loved them.
Yumm… I love potatoes and this side dish looks delicious and beautiful!
Purple is my favorite color too… I love the potato medley that costco has that includes small purple potatoes …
I know exactly what you’re talking about Doreen; I’ve bought that before too. Which reminds me; I need to make a Costco run. Pray for me. 🙂
they look stunning! what a great twist on a side dish!
Being a lover of potatoes I’m delighted to see this recipe. Now to find purple potatoes in my area. Talk about adding colour to your plate!
I normally make red or fingerling potatoes the same way; heck I would have done a red, white and blue melange if they had been in the house!
I love potatoes so much 🙂 This looks amazing. Thanks for posting!
This is a great and easy way to prepare them Addie…and they really are unique although I love doing the same thing with red and fingerling potatoes too.
I am on a constant lookout for purple potatoes… have never found them! (and mashed is exactly what I want to do with them… ) 😉
You had me at potatoes. Anything else is just a bonus 🙂
I know that feeling…I used to not eat many of them but I am in love with smaller potatoes; guess it’s the ease of prep? And I ADORE rustic mashed potatoes…those aren’t lumps anymore! 🙂
Wow, just look at that COLOR!! So beautiful!
It takes a bit of getting used to because it’s so not the norm but they are great potatoes…sweeter than the others yet not like sweet potatoes. We loved them
They are so pretty. I couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy them. Caramelized onions add such wonderful flavor to dishes. Although, mashed is a nice idea I’m thinking;)
I do love mashed potatoes; maybe next time…if there is a next time. They sure aren’t something I see a lot of.
Wacky color! ANYTHING with caramelized onions would be perfect on my plate. What a nifty Halloween idea – just add carrots. 🙂
That would be cool wouldn’t it…without having to artificially make something black. Now I want more!