Crispy Roast Potatoes: How to Roast the Best Potatoes of Your Life

Cooking in the kitchen for long hours can be a laborious and exasperating job if you do not have the experience of doing it on a regular basis. But then again, why go through the trouble of cooking your own meal when you can easily order takeout and wait for your food to get delivered within 20 minutes?

Even though ordering food can save you hours, you should know that it won’t always be a healthy option for your diet. One of the many things that you can do to solve this problem is to learn how to make quick easy meals which will save you a lot of time and taste as heavenly as any other food from the fast food restaurants in your area.

The best way to start it off would be to learn how to make the best roasted potatoes at home within a couple of minutes. They are super easy to make and require fewer ingredients than any other dishes that you can think of. Here are a few recipes that you can follow to prepare the crunchiest roasted potatoes at the ease of your home using everyday ingredients from your kitchen.

Salted Crispy Roast Potatoes

This recipe is the easiest one among all the others that you may come across. It includes simple ingredients like salt and pepper and is very easy to make if the instructions are followed accordingly.

Ingredients:

• Medium sized potatoes
• Salt
• Pepper
• Vegetable Oil ( 4-5 tablespoons)

Directions:

• Finding the right potato to roast is probably one of the most difficult tasks of making roasted However, once you have made up your mind about which kind to buy, you will need to spend some time looking for the medium-sized ones. Also, it is easier for the spices to soak into medium sized potatoes than the larger ones.
• The next step is to rinse the potatoes so that it is free of all the dust and dirt.
• For the third step, you will need to remove the skin before chopping it into small fine pieces. You can dice it to any size you want but you have to make sure that all the pieces are evenly shaped. However, the spices will soak in more if you chop it into smaller sizes. Not to mention, it will also be crunchier.
• Simmer the cubed potatoes into a pan or a pot full of chilled water and sprinkle a dash of salt all over it.
• Turn off the stove and strain the potatoes once their outer layer starts to scale off.
• Try to make them more scaly and soft by shaking the pan to and fro. Hold the lid tightly while doing this to prevent the potatoes from falling off.
• Allow the cubes to cool off once you have taken them out from the pan and wait for about 10 – 15 minutes or as long as it takes for the potatoes to completely dehydrate. This is a very important step because if the potatoes still remain damp, they will not give you the sheer crispiness when you set off to roast them.
• Before putting the potatoes inside the oven, preheat the oven with the highest temperature possible. Bring out a tray and brush it off generously with the oil you want to use. You can also use a flavored oil to give it a different and interesting taste.
• After you have brushed off the tray with the oil, place it inside the oven to heat it. Take out the tray when you see the oil starting to sizzle.
• Wear oven gloves and be extra careful while taking out the sizzling hot tray from the oven. Using a spoon or any other kitchen hardware, put the potatoes into the hissing oil. You need to be sure that the oil is still hot, otherwise, you will not get the crisp you want.
• Place each piece apart from each other without overlapping them so that they all get the perfect crisp.
• Dust them off with a pinch of salt and pepper before finally putting the tray inside the oven.
• Keep an eye on the potatoes from time to time. Wait until it turns golden brown in color. Take out the potatoes from the oven and flip the sides before putting them back into the oven again.
• For the final step, take the tray out once all the sides of the diced potatoes are golden brown in color.

The potatoes are finally ready to be tasted and it will only take you 20-30 minutes to make them. You can also serve it as a side to your main course.

Crunchy Cheesy Potatoes

Crunchy Cheesy Potatoes includes one of the main ingredients widely available in your kitchen, flour. You can also serve this with ketchup or a minty flavored chutney to top it off.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1 ¼ kg of diced potatoes
• 4 tablespoons of oil
• A pinch of salt
• Parmesan cheese
• Parsley leaves
• Pepper

Directions:

• Rinse the potatoes to get rid of all the dust and dirt.
• Chop them in even small pieces before simmering them in the water for about 10-20 minutes. The time will vary due to the variety of potato found in supermarkets. Use a fork or a knife and poke into one of the pieces to see if it has become moderately soft.
• Strain away the water once you have boiled the potatoes.
• Get a good grip of the lid of the pan and toss the pan a couple of times to flake up the edges.
• Wait for a couple of minutes to drain off all the excess water from the potatoes.
• Once dried, sprinkle in a pinch of salt, pepper and flour (as mentioned above) and mix it thoroughly. Make sure there are no lumps of flour in it.
• Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and brush it off with oil before putting it inside the oven.
• Wait for that golden brown shine to appear on them. This might take 20-30 minutes approximately. However, it may take longer depending on the kind of potato you have used.
• Once you have taken them out from the oven, spread the parmesan cheese and parsley over each cube and put it in the oven for another 5 minutes. Take the potatoes out once the cheese has melted and you can smell the aroma of the parsley in your kitchen.

Voila! You have yourself a platter of the best cheesy roasted potato of the century.

Roasted Garlic Potatoes (Flavored)

Roasted Garlic Potatoes require a few more ingredients than the two recipes mentioned above. Due to the potato being flavored by beef fat and a few herbs, this recipe stands out among the others.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sized minced garlic
• Black pepper
• Salt
• 2kg of potatoes (Any kind that you like)
• ½ tablespoons of baking soda
• Fresh rosemary
• Parsley leaves
• Olive oil
• Beef fat (You can use any other flavor including duck and goose)

Directions:

• Wash the potatoes and chop them up in small even pieces.
• Place the diced potatoes in a pan full of water and add a pinch of salt and baking soda and boil until it becomes moderately soft. Stir until evenly spread.
• Preheat the oven at 200 degrees or less.
• In the meantime, cook garlic, rosemary, black pepper, olive oil, parsley leaves and beef fat in a pan. Use a spatula to mix the ingredients until you see the golden color of the garlic. Drain off the oil once you can smell the flavors and keep the infused oil aside for later use.
• Once boiled, allow the potatoes to cool off for a couple of minutes. Before placing the slices into the oven, put the potatoes into the oil that you had strained earlier and shake the pan a couple of times to flake up the pieces. You can sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper if you wish at this point.
• Use a baking sheet and place the potatoes with enough space in between to prevent them from getting stuck and overlapping.
• Roast the potatoes for 30-40 minutes until all the pieces are golden brown in color.
• For the final touch, take them out from the oven and add the infused oil that you had created earlier and shake the bowl a couple of times to spread it evenly around the roasted potatoes.

The potatoes are now ready to be served and tasted.

These three recipes are hopefully all you will need to make different kinds of roasted potatoes with a variety of flavors in them. If not, you can always experiment in your kitchen by seasoning your potatoes with new herbs and spices that you like.

Sources:

1. How To Make The Best Roast Potatoes Ever – HuffPost Life
2. Oven-Roasted Potatoes – HowStuffWorks