Pommes Dauphines

Appetizer, Appetizers & Snacks, Side Dish

Crispy golden puffs of potato and choux pastry that are impossibly light, soft and creamy inside and crunchy outside. The perfect contrast. These are what the French serve alongside a dish when they want to show off a bit!

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients 

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For the mashed potato

• 500 gr floury potatoes
• 30 gr unsalted butter
• salt and black pepper

For the choux pastry

• 125 ml water
• 50 gr unsalted butter
• 75 gr plain flour
• 2 egg
• 1 pinch salt

For frying

• 1,5 l rapeseed oil or vegetable oil or sunflower oil

Equipment

1 large saucepan for potatoes

1 saucepan for choux pastry

1 potato masher

1 wooden spoon

1 fryer or large heavy-bottomed pot

1 kitchen thermometer

1 skimmer spoon

kitchen paper

1 piping bag

Instructions

1. Cook the potatoes

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into even chunks, about 4cm pieces. Put them in a large saucepan of cold, salted water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes until they're completely tender and falling apart when you prod them with a knife. Drain them well, then put them back in the hot pan for a minute to dry out properly. This step matters, any water left in the potatoes will make the mixture too wet.

2. Mash the potatoes

• Mash the potatoes really well until there are absolutely no lumps. Add the butter whilst they're still hot, along with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix it all in and set aside to cool slightly whilst you make the choux pastry. The potatoes should be warm but not boiling hot when you combine them with the choux.

3. Make the choux pastry

• Put the water, butter, and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring it to a proper boil, you want the butter completely melted. Take the pan off the heat and tip in all the flour at once. Beat it hard with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a smooth ball of dough. Put the pan back on low heat and keep beating for about 2 minutes, this cooks out the raw flour taste and dries the dough out a bit. You'll know it's ready when the dough stops sticking to the sides of the pan.

4. Add the eggs to the choux

• Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a minute. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing really well after each addition. The mixture will look like it's split at first, that's normal. Keep beating and it'll come back together into a smooth, glossy paste that drops off the spoon slowly. If it's too stiff, beat in a tiny splash of water.

5. Combine potato and choux

• Add the choux pastry to the mashed potato whilst both are still warm. Mix them together thoroughly until you've got a smooth, uniform mixture. It should be soft and pipeable but hold its shape. Taste it and adjust the seasoning, it needs to be well seasoned because the frying dulls the flavour a bit.

6. Heat the oil

• Pour oil into your deep fryer or a large, heavy pot to a depth of at least 8cm. Heat it to 170°C, use a thermometer to check. This temperature is crucial. Too hot and the outside burns before the inside cooks; too cool and they'll be greasy and won't puff up properly.

7. Fry the pommes dauphines

• You can either pipe the mixture or use two spoons.

  If piping: put the mixture in a piping bag with a large plain nozzle, pipe out small amounts (about the size of a walnut) directly into the hot oil, using scissors or a knife to cut them off.

  If using spoons: scoop out walnut-sized portions with one spoon, use another to push them into the oil.

  Fry 4-5 at a time, don't overcrowd the pan. They'll sink, then float to the surface and start to puff up. Fry for 6-8 minutes, turning them occasionally, until they're golden brown all over and have roughly doubled in size.

8. Drain and serve

• Lift the pommes dauphines out with a skimmed spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Keep them warm in a low oven (around 100°C) whilst you fry the rest. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt whilst they're still hot. Serve immediately, they're at their best within 20 minutes of frying.

Notes

• The mixture can be made a few hours ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Bring it back to room temperature before frying.
• If the mixture seems too wet to hold its shape, add a tablespoon of flour. If it’s too stiff, add a splash of milk.
• Don’t skip the potato ricer if you’ve got one, lumpy potatoes make lumpy puffs.
• You can freeze uncooked pommes dauphines on a tray, then fry them from frozen, adding 2-3 minutes to the cooking time.
• Day-old pommes dauphines can be reheated in a 200°C oven for 5-6 minutes, but they won’t be quite as good as fresh.
• For a cheesy version, add 50g grated Gruyère to the mixture!

About this recipe

Pommes dauphines are one of those French dishes that sound complicated, look impressive, and are actually much more doable than you would expect. Crisp on the outside, almost hollow inside, and unlike any other fried potato you have had. Once you understand the method, you will wonder why you ever settled for frozen ones.

Where the name comes from

Pommes dauphines are named for the Dauphine, the title given to the wife of the Dauphin, heir to the French throne. The story goes that in the 1860s the Dauphin had a habit of arriving late to dinner, and the kitchen needed something impressive they could make quickly to keep guests happy while they waited. These little potato puffs did exactly that: fast to fry, beautiful to look at, and tasty enough that nobody minded the delay.

Pommes means apples in French, but it is also shorthand for pommes de terre, “apples of the earth,” which is the word for potatoes. Almost every French potato dish starts with pommes in its name: pommes frites, pommes Anna, pommes sarladaises. There must be a hundred variations, each with its own method. Pommes dauphines are one of the more elegant ones.

Two classic French techniques in one dish

The clever thing about this dauphine potato recipe is that it combines two classic preparations. First you have pommes duchesse, mashed potato enriched with butter and egg yolk, smooth and rich. Then there is pâte à choux, the light pastry used for éclairs and profiteroles. When you fold the two together and pipe the mixture into hot oil, something magical happens. The choux puffs around the potato and forms a shell that is crisp on the outside and almost completely hollow inside, with just a thin layer of soft potato clinging to it.

No other fried potato behaves like this. That texture is what makes pommes dauphines feel genuinely special rather than just “another way of doing potatoes.”

How they relate to other French potato dishes

Pommes dauphines belong to a family of French potato dishes that also includes pommes noisette (small round balls), pommes croquettes (breadcrumbed cylinders), and pommes soufflées (thin slices that puff in hot oil). Each uses a different trick to get its particular texture.

What sets pommes dauphines apart is the choux pastry. The croquettes are dense, the pommes noisette are solid all the way through. But the pommes dauphines feel unexpectedly light, almost airy, despite being made from potato. That lightness is the whole point why you should try this dauphine potato recipe.

Why the piping matters

To get reliable pommes dauphines, you need them to be roughly the same size, and that means proper piping. The mixture has to be piped straight into the hot oil in small, even lumps. Too big and the outside browns before the inside is set. Too small and they never quite form that hollow centre.

A good piping bag with a plain round nozzle gives you control over both size and shape. I use a De Buyer piping bag that can handle a warm, fairly thick mixture without splitting. It keeps the process tidy and consistent, which really helps when you are working quickly over hot oil.

Restaurant food you can make at home

You usually see pommes dauphines on the menus of proper French bistros, often next to côte de boeuf, entrecôte, or roast chicken. They have a bit of a “restaurant” reputation rather than being standard home cooking. At home, most French families buy them frozen if they want them, but i don’t recommend doing so, it just doesn’t taste that nice. They are dense, heavy, and never puff the way fresh ones do, and the flavour is quite dull. Making this dauphine potato recipe from scratch takes more effort, yes, but the difference is so big, it is hard to go back once you have tasted the real thing.

Serving them the French way

Pommes dauphines are at their best straight after frying, when the shell is still crisp and the inside is steaming. They will work with almost any main course you would normally serve with potatoes, but they are especially good with rich, saucy dishes like a salmon Florentine for example. The crisp exterior stands up well to gravy or pan juices, and the light interior does not fight the main the way heavier potato sides sometimes can.

Serve them in a warm bowl lined with paper towel to catch any extra oil, and get them to the table quickly. Those first few minutes are when they are at their absolute best.