Classic Crispy Roasted Potatoes

This is a classic, no-fuss recipe for perfectly crispy roasted potatoes that are beautifully crispy on the outside and wonderfully fluffy on the inside. Ready in under an hour and cooked in the most delicious rosemary, thyme, lemon, and garlic dressing, these roast potatoes are, in my opinion, the only way to cook them!

These are pretty hard to resist straight from the baking tray, and make an amazing side dish for Sunday roasts or your Christmas dinner served alongside other classic sides like veggie pigs in blankets, honey garlic carrots, balsamic roasted brussel sprouts, and this cauliflower cheese recipe.

a black oven tray with crispy golden roasted potatoes on top with a few sprigs of rosemary

For more potato goodness, make sure you've taken a look at my viral Greek roasted potatoes recipe, this amazing spicy potato tacos recipe, mixed things up with these homemade cajun fries, or tried this pesto crushed potatoes recipe for summer snacking!

To modernise this recipe slightly, you could even use these roasties in place of fries for these dirty fries!

How to Cook the Perfect Roast Potatoes

Parboiling

Parboiling your potatoes before roasting them is an absolute must. This step is what enables you to fluff up the potatoes and create a starchy slurry of almost-mashed potato around each potato chunk, delivering those oh-so delectable crispy crusts.

To parboil:

Peel your potatoes
Chop into good-sized chunks
Place in a large saucepan
Pour over cold water, add a dash of salt and baking soda, and parboil for 15 minutes until you can just pierce the potatoes all the way with a knife
Drain the water, and then give the potatoes a good shake in the pan to rough them up. This is what fluffs the potatoes so there's plenty of surface area to crisp up.
Leave your potatoes to steam-dry for 5 minutes.

How To Cook Perfectly Crispy Roasted Potatoes

The second step is, of course, roasting your potatoes. You'll want a decent-sized baking tray so you don't over-crowd your potatoes - or even use two if you need to.

Next, add a good few glugs of oil to your tray. I use vegetable oil for this recipe, but you could also use olive oil, rapeseed oil, or sesame oil. Avoid any oils with a low smoking point.

Put your tray with the oil in the oven for 5 - 10 minutes while the potatoes are still boiling so it gets nice and hot before you add the potatoes. This, again, is a key step for getting those super crunchy outsides.

Once you've removed the tray from the oven, gently tip the potatoes onto the tray, then sprinkle over your seasoning (more on this below). We'll roast the potatoes for 25 minutes before removing from the oven and adding the garlic and rosemary sauce.

Garlic, Rosemary, Lemon Additions

While the potatoes are cooking, mix up your blend of garlic cloves, fresh rosemary, lemon zest, salt, black pepper, and a glug more good quality olive oil.

Remove the potatoes from the oven after 25 minutes and pour over the garlic/rosemary mix, flipping the potatoes to ensure they're evenly coated.

Return your roasted potatoes back to the oven for another 20 minutes or until perfectly golden and crispy. The garlic and rosemary additions are what take this roasted potato recipe from good to great.

Seasonings

The seasonings for these potatoes are what really makes them superior. I use:

Plain flour
Semolina
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dried rosemary
Dried thyme

Conveniently, these are the key ingredients (minus the plain flour) in several roast potato seasonings you can pick up from the supermarket.

Personally, I don't see why you'd avoid using a shop-bought variety if it makes life easier, so pick yourself up some roast potato seasoning when you next see it.

Storing Your Roast Potatoes

Nothing beats a roast potato that is hot straight from the oven, with that perfectly crispy exterior and hot, fluffy inside.

However, if you're lucky enough to have leftover potatoes, they will keep for between 3-4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can enjoy the roast potatoes cold, or reheat them either by popping them in a hot oven for 20 minutes, or microwaving for 2-3 minutes (although I would highly recommend reheating them via the oven for optimal crispiness!).

A close up of a perfectly crispy roasted potato on top of a pile of other roast potatoes

Serving Your Roast Potatoes

In the UK, a roast potato is a mandatory side for any roast dinner or Christmas dinner. I think these roast potatoes are best served alongside all your classic roast dinner or Christmas sides, like roasted green beans, Yorkshire puddings, braised red cabbage, cauliflower cheese, and whatever main you prefer. You might also like these roasted green beans and carrots with this recipe.