These Crispy Roasted Potatoes are about to become your new favorite side dish! With a few additional steps, you can transform a simple recipe such as roasted potatoes into a decadent and over-the-top delicious side that will seriously impress. By adding some extra TLC to the preparation, the final potatoes become golden brown, super crispy and savory while also having a fluffy and tender interior that’s absolutely divine. To finish, I love adding fresh herbs and lemon juice right before serving to brighten everything up. Perfect to add to a weeknight meal and decadent enough to add to your holiday table, these potatoes pair seamlessly with any meal. Once you start roasting potatoes like this, you may never go back!
HOW TO MAKE CRISPY ROASTED POTATOES
This recipe may contain one or two more steps than the average roasted potato, but I promise they’re worth it! The bulk of the cooking time is spent boiling the potatoes in seasoned water until perfectly tender and fluffy. Then you give them a really good shake in the pot to rough up the outsides. This creates a thin layer of starch that closely mimics a batter or flour coating you’d use to fry something. That way you get the crispy golden exterior of a fried potato without all the extra oil and effort. For added flavor, I like to season the potatoes before shaking. This allows the herbs and spices to become a part of the coating.
PREPARING THE POTATOES
For these crispy roasted potatoes, I really prefer Russet potatoes for their starchy, fluffy texture. When preparing them, they absolutely need to be peeled. This will allow the potatoes to achieve that beautiful crispy texture we are looking for. (I really like this peeler. ) Once peeled, simply cut the potatoes into large bite-sized chunks, and you are ready to boil.
THE FIRST KEY TO CRISPY ROASTED POTATOES
It’s time to talk about boiling these potatoes. My secret here is adding salt, baking soda, red wine vinegar, and bay leaves to the water. These ingredients soak into the potatoes as they cook, seasoning them all the way through. The baking soda is a tip I got from my friends over at Crowded Kitchen. It helps break down the potato’s surface and draws out its starch. Paired with the cooking technique, this is a great way to achieve the texture we’re after: creamy and soft on the inside and crunchy and crisp on the outside.
I recommend starting the potatoes in cold water to help them cook evenly. Simply add cold water and the poatoes to a large pot, along with the other seasonings, mix, cover, and bring to a boil. You want the potatoes to cook just until fork tender but still with some structure since they will continue to cook in the oven. Keep an eye on them and taste one if you think they’re close. A fork should go in with just a bit of resistance and they should keep their shape but taste fully cooked. Once there, you’re ready to season and shake.
QUICK TIP FOR STRAINING
Now it’s time to strain the potatoes. My favorite way is to crack the lid over the top and use oven mitts to keep the lid in place as I strain the water out into the sink through the small slit, while the potatoes stay in the pot. I use a large Dutch oven for this, so if you think that may be too unwieldy, you can use a colander and return them to the pot afterwards. I just like this as a quick shortcut to reduce the number of dishes! Either way, carefully strain the potatoes fully and transfer them back to the pot.
SEASONING THE POTATOES
The next step is to give these potatoes some flavor. Simply drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle over garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, oregano, red pepper flakes, sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and lemon zest. The addition of oregano calls back to my original inspiration for this recipe, which is a delicious, roasted, Greek-style potato. Fragrant with the sweet earthiness of oregano and finished with bright lemon juice. The result is a perfectly-balanced dish that’s flavorful and incredibly satisfying.
THE SECOND KEY TO CRISPY ROASTED POTATOES
Now we’ve arrived at the second crucial step to the perfect crispy roasted potatoes. After adding the seasonings and oil, cover with the lid and shake or swirl the potatoes around. If you’ve used a colander and think it may be too heavy to shake the covered pot, you can also shake the potatoes around in the colander or a lidded container. The point is to create a full layer of starch all over each potato. So use your judgement and keep shaking and moving until you can see a kind of mushy layer around each chunk. When you have that beautiful layer of coating (see image above), you’re ready to roast!
ROASTING THE POTATOES
After you’ve seasoned and shaken your potatoes, you’re ready to roast. Simply transfer the seasoned potatoes onto a large, lightly oiled baking sheet. They’ll need a bit of space to get fully crisp, so I use this extra-large sheet pan, but if your baking sheet isn’t big enough, you can use two. Just switch their positions in the oven and rotate each tray halfway through baking for even cooking. You’ll bake for 20 minutes, then flip the potatoes before roasting for another 15 minutes, until deeply golden brown and crispy around the edges. The little tidbits on the pan are also outrageously delicious, so please eat those! They work beautifully as a garnish over top.
WHAT TO PAIR WITH THESE CRISPY ROASTED POTATOES
While the potatoes bake, you can prepare the fresh herbs and/or the rest of the meal. I love serving this with Red Beans and Rice and a simple salad. They would also be perfect on a holiday table with some of my other festive recipes such as my Roasted Delicata Squash, Firecracker Green Beans, or White Truffle Macaroni and Cheese. These potatoes are truly a perfect addition to any meal, so have fun menu-planning.
SERVING THE POTATOES
Once they’re done roasting, I love to toss them in some tangy lemon juice, as well as a few chopped herbs for a pop of color and freshness. A sprinkling of flaky salt is also optional, but always encouraged. Eating these straight out of the oven is my favorite way to enjoy maximum crispiness but they also reheat nicely.
ENJOY!
I hope that you enjoy these crispy roasted potatoes! If you do try this recipe, please leave a comment and rating below. It greatly helps the health of my site and makes me oh so happy to read. Thank you for being here and happy cooking, y’all.
-Timothy
P.S. If you are looking for some other delicious recipes to try, check out my cookbook and these other blog recipes:
Mushroom Gravy
Roasted Delicata Squash
Incredible Gluten Free Dinner Rolls
3 lbs russet potatoes (about 1400 g or 6 medium potatoes), rinsed, peeled, and cut into large, bite-sized chunks Prepare the oven: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 400°F (204°C). Boil and strain the potatoes: In a medium pot, add the potatoes and cover with water. Add the salt, baking soda, red wine vinegar, and bay leaves, and mix well. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are just fork tender. (They should hold their shape while also being able to pierce them with a fork. You do not want them too soft and falling apart, so be careful.) Strain and season: Wearing oven mitts, slightly crack the lid so you can drain the hot water into the sink through the slit while leaving the potatoes in the pot. Add the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and lemon zest. Cover the pot with the lid and shake or swirl the potatoes around to agitate them and get a nice, mushy layer of starch on the outside. (This makes them extra crispy!) Give the potatoes a stir to make sure they’re coated evenly, then give them a taste, and add more salt or pepper, if desired. Roast the potatoes: Drizzle a bit of olive oil over a large baking sheet and spread evenly. Then add the potatoes in an even layer, leaving space between each piece (see picture). Place the seasoned potatoes in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Use a thin metal spatula to individually flip each potato piece. Return to the oven and continue baking for another 15 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown all over. (Feel free to push them further until they are super crispy!) Serve: After 15 minutes, remove the potatoes from the oven, and while still on the sheet tray, drizzle over the lemon juice, starting with just half the lemon, giving it a taste, and adding the rest if you’d like. Then sprinkle over the parsley, chives, and/or green onion, and toss well. Transfer to a serving dish, including the crispy tidbits on the baking sheet, and top with an optional sprinkling of flaky salt. Enjoy! You could easily halve this recipe and roast the potatoes in a cast iron skillet if that floats your boat.
Ingredients
1 heaping tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2-4 fresh (or dried) bay leaves
½ cup olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon garlic powder
1 heaping tablespoon onion powder
1 heaping tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 heaping tablespoon dried oregano
Big pinch crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
Few cracks black pepper
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Fresh chopped parsley, chives, and/or green onion, to garnish
Flaky salt, to garnishInstructions
notes
Food styling, photography, and recipe by Timothy Pakron
Text by Hannah Kearing and Timothy Pakron
2 comments
I have been using this boil, shake and bake (or air fry) technique for potatoes the last few months after years of frustration trying to get pan fried crispy or oven roasted potatoes that I usually ended up burning. I LOVE the addition of the flavor enhancers to the boiling water! Can’t wait to add that to my game the next time. Should be soon! I’ve been on a potato bender of late.
Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi Heather! Definitely try this method of seasoning the water a bit, it really takes the potatoes to the next level. Also, I adore how crispy these become, so I hope that you love them, too. Thank you for being here!