Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes

4 Servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes are super easy to make in one skillet on the stovetop. Enjoy buttery, melt-in-your-mouth potatoes in 35 minutes!

This is the perfect potato recipe when you want something different from Mashed Potatoes or Roasted Potatoes. It’s an easy Side Dish of tender potatoes that melt-in-your-mouth with a delicious butter flavor. Give this amazing potato dish a try tonight!

Sabrina’s Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes Recipe

When you hear steamed food, you might immediately picture leafy green veggies or some healthy, not necessarily overly flavorful, diet recipe. But don’t worry, there is nothing bland about these amazing potatoes steamed in butter! Each pillowy, buttery bite of Steamed Baby Potatoes will have you wondering why you’ve never cooked your potatoes like this before. 

Steaming potatoes is an easy cooking process that’s actually much faster than boiling or baking potatoes. Plus they turn out incredibly tender and delicious with this cooking method. best of all, steaming them with melted butter in the pan makes the finished potatoes extra rich and flavorful.

Ingredients

  • Baby potatoes: For this recipe, you need 2 gold baby potatoes. If you want to make a bigger batch, you can add more potatoes. You just have to make sure there’s enough room in the pan and you use enough butter for them to all be coated in melted butter as they cook.
  • Butter: The cooking butter not only acts like oil to cook the potatoes in, but it also gives them a rich, buttery flavor, and helps the seasonings stick to the potatoes.
  • Seasonings: For flavoring, all you need is salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. Make sure you use kosher salt, and not just table salt. Kosher salt is in larger salt flakes and works better for cooking.
Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes ingredients separated in prep bowls and tray

Kitchen Tools & Equipment

  • Skillet: This recipe needs a large enough skillet to be able to shake the potatoes to keep tossing them in butter easily. If it is too small, they won’t really move so you’ll have to remove the lid to stir them and you’ll lose all the steam.
  • Lid: You definitely need a lid for your skillet that fits snugly to trap all the steam to make these potatoes. If you don’t have a lid you won’t be able to create steam and a poorly fitting one might come off when you are shaking the potatoes and let the steam out.

How to Make Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes

Time needed: 35 minutes.

  1. Clean your Potatoes

    Since you leave the skin on for these potatoes, you want to clean them well. Scrub the potato skins in cold water until the water runs clear.

  2. Coat the Potatoes in Butter

    Add the butter to a large, heavy-bottomed skillet. Make sure you use a pan that you have a lid for, and that is big enough for the entire recipe. Melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the baby potatoes, and turn the heat to low. Shake the pan to coat the potatoes in butter.Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes cooked potatoes in skillet before adding parsley

  3. Cook the Potatoes

    Cover with the lid, and cook for 30 minutes. Continue to shake the pan every five minutes or so throughout the cooking time to make sure the potatoes are coated in butter. When the cooking finishes, season with salt, pepper, and parsley before serving the buttery potatoes.Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes zoomed out view of cooked potatoes in skillet with parsley

Nutritional Facts

While these buttery potatoes taste decadent and rich, it is actually a fairly light potato dish compared to creamy, heavier dishes like potatoes au gratin. It’s a potato recipe that leaves you perfectly satisfied!

Nutrition Facts
Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 312 Calories from Fat 144
% Daily Value*
Fat 16g25%
Saturated Fat 10g63%
Trans Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 41mg14%
Sodium 598mg26%
Potassium 974mg28%
Carbohydrates 40g13%
Fiber 5g21%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 647IU13%
Vitamin C 47mg57%
Calcium 36mg4%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Cooking Tips & Tricks

Keep the Skillet Covered

Much like when you make rice, you do not want to remove the lid until the cooking time is up. If you remove the lid too soon, the steam will escape and the potatoes could burn on the outside but not cook through because there isn’t enough liquid to make new steam.

Make Sure to Shake Occasionally

It’s important to keep the potatoes coated in butter so it steams around them and you don’t want all the butter burning off on the bottom of the pan. So make sure to shake the pan to re-coat the potatoes about every 5 minutes or so.

Side dishes for Your Butter Baby Potatoes

Drinks: A nice crisp white wine, like Pinot Gris, would taste delicious served with these buttery potatoes and a light Baked Fish. For a steak dinner, serve the potatoes and meat with an earthy red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.

Main Dishes: This is the perfect easy and delicious dish as part of a comfort food dinner menu. Enjoy them with hearty meals like Cube Steak and Gravy, or Slow Cooker Chicken with Gravy. Those recipes are particular favorites because the Butter Steamed Potatoes taste amazing dipped in gravy.

How to Store

Serve: After cooking, don’t leave your Butter Baby Potatoes recipe at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Cool the potatoes then store in an airtight container. They’ll stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Reheat: It’s best to reheat your baby potatoes in the oven so they don’t dry out. Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet and cover with foil, then bake for about 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Freeze: If you want to store them longer, let the potatoes cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Keep them in the freezer for up to 6 months. You can thaw them in the fridge before reheating or just pop them in the oven and heat from frozen.

Sauces to Serve with Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes

While these delicious potatoes are absolutely amazing just how they are cooked, they would taste equally amazing with a buttery sauce for dipping. Here are two favorite quick and delicious sauce recipes to try with our Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes.

Garlic Butter Sauce

To make a garlic butter sauce, add ⅓ cup butter, and 1 clove minced garlic to a small saucepan. Cook for 1-2 minutes over low heat. Then add ¼ tablespoon dried basil, and 2 teaspoons dried oregano to the browned butter sauce. You can use the sauce to dip the potatoes in and drizzle over your main dish.

Tarragon Sauce

To make this buttery herb sauce, add 3 tablespoons lemon juice, ½ cup white wine, and one halve shallot to a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Then take it off heat, and stir in 1 tablespoon cream. Strain the solids out of the sauce. Then add 1 tablespoon butter, and melt over low heat. Stir in 3 teaspoons chopped tarragon, and serve Fresh Tarragon sauce over the buttery potatoes and chicken.

Frequent Questions

How long should you steam potatoes?

It should only take about 25-30 minutes for your baby potatoes to steam all the way through and be tender. If after 30 minutes your potatoes aren’t tender, add some water to the pan to add extra steam then cover and cook another 5 minutes or so.

Can I use regular potatoes?

You can absolutely make this recipe with regular potatoes, you’ll just want to cut them into small 1-inch pieces. It’s best to use Yukon potatoes or russet potatoes because they will absorb more of the butter and get more tender than waxy red potatoes.

Can you overcook steamed potatoes?

Yes, you can steam them for too long and they will begin to break down and crumble. You want to make sure your potatoes are even in size so you don’t overcook small ones waiting for the larger ones to cook through.

Recipe Card

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Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes

Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes are super easy to make in one skillet on the stovetop. Enjoy buttery, melt-in-your-mouth potatoes in 35 minutes!
Yield 4 Servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 pounds baby potatoes , (about 1" sized)
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons parsley , chopped

Instructions

  • To a large heavy-bottomed skillet add the butter on medium-low heat.
  • Add the potatoes, lower the heat to low, and shake to coat the potatoes.
  • Cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes, shaking the pan every 5 minutes.
  • Garnish with parsley to serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 312kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 598mg | Potassium: 974mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 647IU | Vitamin C: 47mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword: Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes

Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes Variations

  • Fresh Herbs: To experiment with the flavors, try using a different blend of herbs like fresh sage, fresh dill, rosemary, or oregano.
  • Garlicky Potatoes: For some bold garlic flavor, you can either add minced garlic cloves to cook with the potatoes, or you can sprinkle garlic powder over the buttered potatoes.
  • Vegan: You can easily make this a Vegan potato dish by swapping the butter with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Since the potatoes are cooked at a low heat, you don’t have to worry about the smoke point and you can use a good quality extra virgin olive oil with lots of flavor!

More Delicious and Easy Potato Recipes

Butter Steamed Baby Potatoes collage of cooked potatoes in wooden bowl plus recipe name across bottom and "tender buttery side dish" in upper right corner

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

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