Roasted Pancetta Potatoes

Fast, easy, simple, and delicious is how I would describe these Roasted Pancetta Potatoes. Great for brunch or breakfast, but also a great side dish to a main for dinner. The potatoes are perfectly roasted with a soft, steaming hot interior and a browned, slightly salty and savoury exterior – who wouldn’t love that!?

Everyone knows what potatoes are, but some of you might not be familiar with pancetta. Pancetta is similar to bacon, but pancetta isn’t smoked. It does have that fried pork flavour that we all love about bacon, but without the smokiness. Like bacon, pancetta does render quite well, which makes Roasted Pancetta Potatoes taste even better!

Pancetta is sometimes sold sliced paper thin or cubed. The thin slices can be wrapped around vegetables or meat before cooking. The pancetta cubes are often used like bacon, sautéed with onions or garlic to form the base of a soup, pasta, or risotto. It’s best to use the cubed pancetta in this recipe.

LET’S TALK POTATOES!

Baby potatoes are almost 100% the only type of potatoes we buy in our home.  They offer me more versatility. They cook a lot faster; the skin can be left on; and when cooked, the skin doesn’t become tough or ugly – for lack of a better word. 

And, probably just as important as those things, is the fact that they come in small two-pound bags, which is more than enough for the three of us, and they don’t take up a lot of room like most bags of regular-sized potatoes which usually come in five-pound bags.

I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to try my hand at Roasted Pancetta Potatoes.  It wasn’t until the day the mood finally hit me to make them, that I realized I had baby potatoes already, and could certainly make them using baby potatoes rather than large potatoes. 

I’m not against using larger russet or golden potatoes for this recipe, in fact, if I were serving these with chicken or steak, I probably would use larger potatoes as well.  But, as I said, I had baby potatoes on hand. If you use large potatoes, wash them well and cut them into one-inch cubes. Skin-on is best!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Baby Potatoes – I love using these potatoes. They cook up quickly and I like to leave the skin on. You can use regular potatoes too. Just chop them into roughly one-inch cubes.
• Pancetta – You will need 250 grams of diced pancetta. I used this one from Costco.
• Butter – Use unsalted butter.
• Salt & Ground Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder

HOW TO MAKE ROASTED PANCETTA POTATOES

The key to a really good side dish here is to render out some of the fat from the pancetta. If you add the pancetta to the potatoes and roast it, the potatoes will be done before the pancetta properly browns. The browning of the pancetta adds flavour and texture, so it’s important to start them off a little bit first.

Add the pancetta to a skillet along with the butter. Over medium heat, fry the pancetta until it releases some of the grease and starts to get just a little golden in colour. Don’t overcook the pancetta at this stage, because it will burn in the oven when you roast it with the potatoes. So, only fry the pancetta for 5-7 minutes here.

Next, add the potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Add in the salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and the pancetta. Add all of that grease and butter mixture into the bowl too. Toss to combine well and transfer to a large baking sheet. You do not want the potatoes to be overlapping, because they will steam instead of roast. In a preheated 400 degrees F oven, roast for 30 minutes, tossing at the 20-minute mark.

THEY’RE ROASTED – NOW WHAT?

You no doubt noticed that the potatoes are sitting in a pool of grease at this point. Grease is flavour, but we don’t want to consume it by the spoonful! While the pan is still hot, transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl. I like to use a fish turner so that I’m not scooping up excess grease with the potatoes.

Transfer the potatoes and the pancetta to a serving bowl that has been lined with a couple of layers of paper towels. Once all of the potatoes are in the bowl, pull up on one side of the paper towel to remove it. Garnish the potatoes with finely chopped parsley and serve.

But, don’t throw away that grease on the baking sheet! Transfer it to a clean mason jar and save it for further cooking. You can roast more potatoes in it. You can fry eggs in it. Or you can use a spoon or two to pan-fry some broccoli for a very flavourful side! Use the leftover pancetta grease anywhere you would use oil or butter for cooking or frying.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

I’ve already mentioned that you can serve these Roasted Pancetta Potatoes with breakfast, brunch, or dinner. So, with that said, why not make a really great, full-on breakfast for yourself or your family? You already have the potatoes and ham, so why not cook up some of these Old Fashioned Hard Boiled Eggs? I would totally devour that breakfast – just be sure to give me some really good, buttery toast!

If serving these potatoes for dinner, I would probably serve them with chicken. Let’s see – I have this Oven Fried Chicken and this Oven Roasted BBQ Chicken Quarters. They would both be perfect! Or what about a whole Sunday Roast Chicken? Of course, try to add something green to the plate too. You could make a green salad or even just dress some arugula with some sweet mustard and lemon vinaigrette. Perfection!