sately
Crispy roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic, the whole dishCrispy roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic, close up

Crispy roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic

80 min · 4 g protein · 187 cals / serving

Proper roast potatoes: parboiled, shaken in the pan with the oil until the edges go fluffy, ragged and coated, then roasted hot until they are deep golden and crunchy outside and soft as mash inside. Whole garlic cloves turn sweet and squashy in the tray, and rosemary and flaky salt finish them. The crunch comes from the method, not from a deep pool of fat.

Servings6

Ingredients

Steps

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F with a large, empty roasting tin inside (two if the potatoes will not fit in one layer with space between them). Put the potatoes in a pan of cold, well-salted water with 1/2 tsp baking soda, bring to a boil and simmer 8–10 minutes, until the outsides are soft and a knife meets resistance only in the middle. Drain, and leave them in the colander 3 minutes to steam dry.
  2. Tip the potatoes back into the dry pan, pour over the oil, put the lid on and shake hard a few times, until the edges turn fluffy and rough and every surface is coated in the starchy, oily paste. Spread them on the preheated tin, scraping in every bit of the paste, with space between them; use the second tin if they are crowded, or they steam instead of crisping.Step 2, what it should look like
  3. Roast 25 minutes, turn them, add the garlic and rosemary sprigs, and roast another 20–25 minutes, turning once more, until deep golden and crisp all over.Step 3, what it should look like
  4. Season with the remaining salt and the pepper, scatter over the parsley if using, and serve at once. Squeeze the soft garlic out of its skin onto your potatoes.

Good to know

Why baking soda?

A little in the boiling water breaks down the surface of the potatoes, so they rough up into a thicker, craggier coat when you shake them, and that coat is what crunches. Half a teaspoon is enough; more tastes soapy.

Which potatoes?

Yukon Gold, or a floury potato such as Russet, Maris Piper or King Edward. They break up on the outside when you shake them, which is what makes the craggy crust. Waxy salad potatoes stay smooth and roast up chewy.

Only 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil?

Shaken in the pan with the potatoes, it coats every rough edge instead of pooling in the tin, and the hot tin and the space between them do the rest. More oil does not make them crisper; it pools and fries the bottoms while the tops stay pale. Use a big tin, or two, and turn them twice.

Can I do them ahead for a roast dinner?

Parboil and rough them up in the morning and keep them uncovered in the fridge; the cold, dry surface crisps even better. Roast when the meat comes out to rest.

Per

Calories
125
Protein
(9%)
3 g
Fat
(21%)
3 g
Carbohydrates
(70%)
22 g
of which sugar
1 g
Fiber
2 g
Sodium
262 mg

More side dishes

Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How

As written, 1121 kcal goes into the pot and 1261 g of ingredients comes out as about 900 g of food: 125 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.