🥔 SIDE
Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes)
Small boiled potatoes, peeled and chilled, then rolled in a golden caramel of melted sugar and butter until glossy and brown all over, the Christmas Eve side for roast duck and pork.
Danish · medium · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 35 min · plus 2 h hands-off time
~361 cal · 5g protein · 68g carbs · 8g fat · 6g fiber · 27g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Brunede kartofler, browned potatoes, are the one side dish no Danish Christmas Eve table goes without. They sit beside roast duck or flæskesteg, roast pork with crackling, together with plain boiled potatoes, sweet-sour red cabbage and a jug of brown gravy, and they turn up again at Mortensaften, St Martin's Eve in November, when Danes roast a duck or goose.
They look like a trick but the method is simple. Small, waxy new potatoes are boiled until just tender, peeled and left to go completely cold, often the day before. On the day, sugar is melted in a dry pan until it turns a light golden caramel, a knob of butter is swirled in, and the cold potatoes go in and are shaken and turned until every one is coated in a shiny brown glaze.
Danish cooks are firm about the details: the potatoes must be cold and dry, the sugar must not be stirred while it melts, and burnt caramel cannot be rescued, only thrown away.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 1 kg small waxy new potatoes, all about the same size
- 1 tsp salt (for the cooking water)
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 40 g butter
Instructions
- 1Boil the potatoes in their skins in lightly salted water for 12 to 15 minutes, until only just tender. Drain and drop them into cold water.✎ Chef’s noteUndercook them slightly. They warm through in the caramel, and soft potatoes break up when you shake the pan.
- 2Peel the potatoes while they are still warm, then leave them to cool and chill them for at least 2 hours, until completely cold. Pat them dry with kitchen paper.
- 3Spread the sugar evenly in a large, wide pan and set it over medium heat. Let it melt into a light golden caramel without stirring, tilting the pan gently if it colours unevenly.
- 4Add the butter and let it bubble up, then swirl or stir it into the caramel until smooth.
- 5Tip in the cold potatoes, taking care as the caramel spits. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat, shaking the pan and turning them gently, until they are hot through and evenly glazed brown all over. Serve at once with roast duck or pork, red cabbage and gravy.✎ Chef’s noteIf the caramel sets hard when the cold potatoes go in, just keep heating and shaking; it will melt again.
Danish Christmas tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Zealand (Copenhagen). The New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto was written in Copenhagen in November 2004 by a group of Nordic chefs including Claus Meyer and Rene Redzepi, and what it argued for was already sitting in the local larder: seasonality, purity, and the region's own ingredients in place of imported luxury.
🗺️
Denmark. What Danes call wienerbrod, Vienna bread, is what everyone else calls Danish pastry, and the name is the accurate one: the laminated technique arrived with Austrian bakers in the nineteenth century. The other Danish export is dated too. The New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto was written in Copenhagen in November 2004, by named authors, and is a movement rather than a tradition.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Denmark
Smørrebrød (Three Classics)Denmark’s open-faced rye sandwiches, built in proper order: egg & tomato, potato & chive, and beet & apple.
WienerbrødThe original "Danish": flaky laminated pastry with custard or jam, glazed and eaten with coffee.
FrikadellerPan-fried pork-and-veal meatballs, flattened and golden, the everyday staple at the heart of Danish home cooking.
Browse all Denmark recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Denmark meal
Hyldeblomstsaft (Danish Elderflower Cordial)Drink
RisalamandeDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes)?
Small boiled potatoes, peeled and chilled, then rolled in a golden caramel of melted sugar and butter until glossy and brown all over, the Christmas Eve side for roast duck and pork.
Where does Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes) come from?
Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes) is a Danish dish from Zealand (Copenhagen), Denmark.
Can Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelised Potatoes) take to make?
About 2 h 50 min in all: 15 minutes prep and 35 minutes cooking, plus 2 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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