Rösti is a Swiss shredded potato casserole that's perfect for brunch. It comes out of the oven, brown and crisp on the edges, melting cheese in the middle, soft-cooked eggs on top.
Imagine a giant potato pancake - crisp on the outside, tender on the inside - with onions, ham and melting cheese mixed in, and soft-cooked eggs baked on top. Doesn't that sound amazing? This recipe is inspired by a very old and popular Swiss dish called Rösti.
Rösti is up there with fondue and raclette as one of Switzerland's most iconic dishes. The traditional Swiss Rösti recipe is more like a pancake than a casserole. It's made by pressing shredded potatoes into a cast iron skillet to form a cake, and cooking it in hot butter until it's brown on the outside and soft inside. Back in the early 1800's this was a common farmer's breakfast - cooked over the fire in a wood stove.
Nowadays in Switzerland rösti is served for breakfast, lunch or dinner and sometimes as a hearty side dish with meat.
How to make Rösti:
- Boil and shred the potatoes
- Sauté the onions and ham
- In a large bowl, mix the shredded potatoes with the onions and ham, yogurt, mustard, shredded cheese and spices. Spread the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes at 400ºF. Remove the casserole from the oven and, with the back of a tablespoon, make 8 indentations in top of the casserole.
- Crack 1 egg into each indentation. Return dish to oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until egg whites are firm and yolks barely move when pan is jiggled. Cut into 8 pieces. Garnish with chives, parsley or scallions, sour cream or yogurt, if desired. Serve immediately.
I love the making a rösti into a big casserole. I got the idea from Cooking Light. I tweaked the recipe quite a bit, mostly by adding ham and cheese and mustard to the mix. My version is not as "light" but it is definitely a worthwhile splurge!
A note about how to shred potatoes
I want to call attention to this step. I a lot of research for this rosti recipe. Mostly I focused on how to shred the potatoes to achieve the desired texture for the potatoes. I wanted them to be crisp on the outside, tender inside. I came away with two choices: grate raw potatoes or to go the extra step of boiling and cooling the potatoes before grating them. I tried both methods. The boil first method was the clear winner. You can throw potatoes into boiling water, skin and all. Once boiled, the skin practically falls off by itself. Chilling the boiled potatoes in the fridge for an hour or so makes them easy to grate by hand. When you cook them, they are the perfect texture inside and out. I'm so happy with this new discovery, I now make potato pancakes this way too.
Rösti is one of my favorite brunch recipes. It always stirs up a lot of excitement and happiness at the table.
More Delicious Savory Brunch Recipes To Try:
- Eggs Mimosa with Tuna [French Deviled Eggs]
- Chopped Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
- Gallo Pinto: Costa Rican Rice and Beans Breakfast
- Smoked Salmon Quesadillas with Goat Cheese
Here's the Rösti recipe. If you try this I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and comment. I'd love to know what you think!
PrintRecipe
Rösti: Shredded Potato Casserole with Ham and Eggs
- Total Time: 4 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Shredded potato casserole with ham, cheese, and eggs baked on top. Perfect for breakfast or brunch.
Adapted from this Cooking Light recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds russet potatoes (about 4 large)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped (2 cups)
- 6 ounces smoked ham, such as Black Forest, diced (¼-inch dice)
- 1 cup low-fat Greek-style yogurt
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 6 ounces grated Emmentaler Cheese (or substitute Gruyere)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 8 large eggs
- Optional garnish of fresh snipped chives, chopped parsley, sliced scallions, sour cream or plain yogurt.
Instructions
- Cook & Grate Potatoes: Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and boil them for ½ hour. Remove potatoes from pot and cool them in the fridge for at least two hours or as long as overnight. Once cooled, peel potatoes and grate them into a large bowl using the large holes in a cheese grater.
- Saute Onions & Ham: Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add ham and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the potatoes.
- Assemble the Casserole: Preheat oven to 400°F. Add yogurt, mustard, cheese, salt, pepper and cayenne to the bowl with the potatoes, ham and onions. Toss gently to combine (I like using my hands for this) Spread potato mixture evenly into a baking dish (about 13 x 9–inch) coated with cooking spray or lightly oiled. Bake for 25 minutes. Turn the heat up to broil and cook for 4-5 minutes longer, checking every minute, until the top is lightly browned. Turn the heat back down to 400. Remove the casserole from the oven. With the back of a tablespoon, make 8 indentations in top of the casserole. Crack 1 egg into each hole. Return dish to oven. Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until egg whites are firm and yolks barely move when pan is jiggled. Cut into 8 pieces. Garnish with chives, parsley or scallions, sour cream or yogurt, if desired. Serve immediately.
- For brunch or lunch, a simple green salad or steamed asparagus would be a good accompaniment.
Notes
Nutrition Information: The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and is not a substitute for the advice of a professional nutritionist.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 40 mins
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Swiss
Melinda
This looks wonderful. If not using the eggs do you still cook the additional 10-15 mins?
Lisa Goldfinger
Good question Melinda - yes, it will need that 10-15 minutes to cook through, but if you're not adding the eggs, I suggest you add 10 minutes onto that initial 25-minute cooking time. After you've cooked it for 35 minutes, then turn the oven up and brown the top. I hope you enjoy the Rosti!
Erin Galbreath
We made this last weekend, and my husband went crazy over it. It is so rich and delicious and pretty easy to put together too. Don't forget the broil step it makes it nice and crispy like the edges that are up against the pan, yummy crispy cheesy bites!
Elizabeth @ Bowl of Delicious
This is so simple and perfect! What a great way to use leftover ham.
Lisa
Thanks Elizabeth!
Kristina
Stumbled on this recipe yesterday; absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing. I already added it to my list of favourites.
Lisa
Great! I'm so glad you enjoyed 🙂
jean scarrow
Hi Lisa -- I just made this yet again. My son came home from college yesterday post-finals, and slept til noon today. He's in heaven, lying on the couch, eating Rosti and watching sports-center. I made the full batch of potato mixture, but divided it into several baking dishes, one of which I will take to a neighbor who's going through some tough stuff -- it will be great comfort-food for them to cook up tonight for supper.
We once had Rosti in Switzerland, on a raw afternoon, high in the Alps. I was so pleased to be able to make it at home. Thanks for showing me how!
Lisa
Hi Jean - Thank you so much for this note - I love the image of your son, post finals, luxuriating with sports and delicious home cooked food. Rosti is such great comfort food. I hope it comforts your neighbor, too. L
Andrea
How much of this process can be done the night before? If I shred the potatoes and then refrigerate them will they turn brown?
Lisa
I would not suggest shredding the potatoes the night before because they might discolor. However, you can boil them the night before and they'll be fairly easy to peel and shred the next day. Here's what you can do the night before: grate the cheese and store it in a baggie in the fridge. Chop the onions and store them in a baggie in the fridge. Dice the ham and store it in the fridge, too. Measure the spices out into a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. If you do all of that in advance, that should help a lot with speeding up the process the next day. Good luck with it - I hope you enjoy it.
maureen humeniuk
Awesome question and great answer, i am so glad I looked at the reviews as I am boiling the potatoes right now and was going to do the hashbrown mixture the night before!! But will follow her directions and reduce my time tomorrow morning for sure!!!
maureen humeniuk
Oh yes 1 more comment i think Lisa you should include this in your recipe post!
shelagh tracey
can frozen shredded has browns be used?
Lisa
Sure! I think they would work well.
Laura @MotherWouldKnow
I am drooling over this casserole. Of course, anything that involves crusty potatoes begins with my vote and it only got better with that delicious-looking egg spilling out. Yum!
Kristen @ A Mind Full Mom
This is totally going on my weekend brunch plans--I can't wait to make this!!!
Lisa
I hope you enjoy it Kristen!
Lori T.
Cooked this for dinner last night--it was awesome!! I overcooked the potatoes and it still tasted like heaven!! This will definitely be a regular in our household! (BTW, my husband just asked me for some of it for breakfast......:D)
Carol at Wild Goose Tea
I crave this dish!!!! I am such a potato eater to start with. The egg is cooked to absolute perfection. Wonderful way to jazzed up the potatoes too. I love this dish.
I pinned it.
Hill
This looks fabulous. The egg is perfect! Have you ever tried Red Flannel Hash -- looks and tastes like it has meat in it, but is entirely vegetarian? I think there's a recipe for it in the Shelburne Farms cookbook. (Best cooked over a campfire!)
Kathy
Sounds amazing.. Can you halve the recipe?
Lisa Goldfinger
Yes, definitely. I would suggest cooking it in a slightly smaller casserole dish if you have one. If not, you might want to cut the initial cooking time by 5 minutes. Enjoy!
pete goldfinger
That looks insane. I'm in town for 2.5 weeks. How hard do I have to beg...