Crispy roast potatoes
Golden and crunchy on the outside, and light and fluffy on the inside. It’s not difficult to achieve, but there are a few little tricks to get it right. I created this recipe using healthy oil so people could serve them all the time without feeling guilty. An important thing to note with roasting potatoes is that they crisp up best without anything else in the oven (like a roast) creating moisture – so I do these potatoes while the meat is resting. You also need to start with the right potato – Agria is my favourite, but you can also use Ilam Hardy, Red Rascal, Fianna, Victoria, Laura, and Marabel…stay away from waxy potatoes!
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4–6
Ingredients
1–1.5kg floury potatoes (such as Agria), chopped into evenish pieces, 4–5cm
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup oil (grapeseed, rice bran or light olive oil)
salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 220c fan bake.
Scrub the potatoes, or peel them (I like the skin on). Add to a large saucepan of salted water over a high heat. Bring to to a gentle simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are about three-quarters cooked – the outsides should be soft.
Drain in a colander then add back to the saucepan and place over a low heat for a few minutes to dry out excess moisture. Shake the pan a few times — you’ll see the steam evaporating. Don’t forget about them and burn them!
Put the lid on and give the pan a good strong shake for 5 seconds. What you want to happen is for the outsides of the potatoes to get nice and roughed up. If some of them look mushy and fall to pieces, don’t worry — this is a good thing. Add the oils and toss briefly, less roughly, just to coat the potatoes.
Tip the potatoes and oil (and all the mushy stuff at the bottom) on to a large roasting tray or dish, and separate them so they aren’t touching one another. Season generously with salt (salt helps them crisp up too).
Bake in the centre of the oven for about 30 minutes — or until golden brown on the bottom and crunchy.
Here’s the important part: Don’t be tempted to turn them over or shake the tray during cooking — just leave them as they are for the whole time. Have a taste and if they need more salt, hit them.
Serve with a lovely roast meal or just with a bowl of homemade aïoli or tomato sauce and get stuck in. Have fun fighting over the little crunchy bits!
Thanks Chelsea the family really loved the road potatoe’s
Oh I’m in love with this recipe Chelsea. Thanks for sharing. It’s amazing. Tried it 3x and each time incredible!
These are absolutely delicious ? Must make more next time as so popular
Mine are 15 mins away from being ready. Added a light sprinkle of braai with the oil. Can’t wait, they are smelling so yum! Thanks for the technique!
Hi Chelsea,
This is my go to recipe every time I have someone over for a roast dinner!!! Everyone always raves about how delish and crunchy the potatoes are! I sometimes use garlic oil for a yummy garlic potato ☺☺☺
This is basically the recipe my Dad has used for decades to make his world famous ( in our family) ‘Pop’s Roasters’. We all love them. He brushes the oil on with a pastry brush rather than tossing the potatoes – uses a bit less oil and so is healthier. They are so yummy!
Hi there. I just wanted you to know that I have followed your recipe for belly pork and your crunchy roast potatoes are just out of the oven. Both are amazing. I have always had negative results with crackling on pork but not anymore. One of the best and easiest recipes to follow. Thank you. Xx
Will this work if i line my tray with baking paper?
Just made this for dinner tonight with the roast chicken. Absolutely wonderful. I made the mistake of putting the kumara in at the same time as the potato, but the burnt bottom was just sliced off.
For your chicken recipe, I chose to not sieve the gravy. Just removed any burned bits of onion or garlic. Used my mums old tip of adding some crème of chicken soup with water. Also, adding the cooking water for the broccoli and beans adds another dimension to it.
Thanks a bunch Chelsea, I tried this for the first time the other night and luuuuved it. I have also cooked a roast chicken with my new fan oven according to your instructions and found it very successful. :)
Chelsea, I need to make about three times that quantity. Would it be ok if some were touching each other? And could I do the first step the night before? I.e. just the final baking on Christmas Day?
Cheers and Merry Christmas
Lesley
Hi there,
I really want to try this but I don’t have a fan-bake oven. Do you think it will still work okay? Maybe 10-20 degrees hotter?
Thanks.
Yep 10c should do it!
These turn out perfect. But my favourite part is the one where I don’t have to try and tip potatoes into hot oil or fat. That always scared me in case I got splattered. This way is so easy it feels like cheating :-D
Hi Chelsea,
I am going to cook this along with kumara and pumpkin as a side dish to your pork belly recipe. Can I leave the Veges to roast in with the pork belly at the same temperature (130 degrees) for say the last two hours of roasting? I don’t want dry veges haha?
They won’t dry out at that temp ;)
Hi Chelsea, best roast potatoes we’ve ever made, great recipe would it be ok to link to your recipe on our family cooking blog, diaryofatm5.wordpress.com.
Kind regards
Linking is fine so long as the recipe isn’t used, and the photo credit is made courtesy of Chelsea Winter :)
hi Chelsea,what do you mean by part-cooked
Hi Chelsea, potatoes and rosemary are a perfect savoury combo…chop up some leaves and toss them in the pan before cooking…if you don’t like the bits just toss a couple of good sprigs in ….. the best potatoes ever