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.
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!).
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.
Other potato recipes you’ll love:
- Herby Tofu Dip with Air Fryer Potatoes
- Basil Whipped Feta & Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Potatoes
- Crispy Mexican Potatoes (With Avocado Dip)
- Paprika Smashed Potatoes with Lemon and Garlic Dip
- Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
Roast Potatoes
An easy, no-fuss roast potatoes recipe that results in beautifully crispy outsides and fluffy insides every time.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg Maris Piper Potatoes
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp roast potato seasoning (semolina, salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried rosemary, onion powder, garlic powder)
Garlic & Rosemary Dressing
- 3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 lemon, zest
- 2 tbsp EVOO
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220C.
- Peel your potatoes and chop them into large chunks.
- Place the potatoes in a large saucepan, and pour over just-boiled water so that the potatoes are fully submerged. Add the baking soda.
- Parboil the potatoes until you can just pierce them with a knife (about 10 minutes).
- In the meantime, add your oil to a large baking tray (two, if needed - you want to avoid over-crowding the potatoes) and pop in the oven for 5 minutes so the oil can heat up.
- Mix your potato seasonings.
- Drain the potatoes and give the saucepan a shake (lid on!) to rough them up, creating lots of fluffy edges that will get crispy in the oven. Leave to steam-dry for 5 minutes.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and carefully tip the potatoes into the tray - tip away from you to avoid the hot oil splashing up and burning you.
- Sprinkle the flour and seasoning over the potatoes, carefully flipping each one, ensuring every potato is coated.
- Roast the potatoes in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Mince your garlic and chop the fresh rosemary finely, then combine in a bowl with the lemon zest and extra-virgin olive oil.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and coat them in the garlic and rosemary dressing, flipping halfway to ensure they're evenly coated.
- Roast them for another 20 minutes or until beautifully golden and crispy.
- To make them really extra, top them with chopped fresh rosemary, oregano, and parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice at the end.
Notes
These roast potatoes are best served immediately, but can also be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container, and are great enjoyed hot or cold!
Fluffing up the potatoes after par-boiling and adding the par-boiled potatoes to a hot pan with hot oil are two key parts of getting perfectly crispy potatoes, so don't skip these! Keep in mind that the bigger your potatoes are cut, the longer they may take to roast (equally, if you like small roasties then your cooking time may be less!).
If you prefer, you can use a store-bought roast potato seasoning plus a little plain flour instead of making your own seasoning.
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