Crispy Roasted Potatoes

How to make crispy oven roasted potatoes with garlic and herbs. This can easily become one of your favorite side dishes to serve on festive occasions.

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About This Delectable Potatoes Recipe

Roasted garlicky potatoes are cooked to perfect crispness and further flavored with finely chopped fresh herbs. We use a couple of culinary tricks to create a tender interior and a delectable extra crispy skin. You can serve these alongside steak or roasts instead of a vegetable side dish with great success.

Tips for Easy Roasted Potatoes with Crispy Skin

Before we go over the workflow let me summarize Chris’ tried and true chef tips – you can follow all of them or skip a few – we explain the reasoning further below.

• Choose the right type of potato – see suggestions below.
• Cut the potatoes in uniform pieces.
• Soak them in cold water before cooking (optional).
• Toss in a mixture of starch (optional) and seasonings.
• Use a roasting pan or baking sheet that is large relative to the quantity of potatoes and line it with parchment paper (optional). 

Ingredients for Crispy Roasted Potatoes

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Round up the following few ingredients and kitchen items.

Potatoes. Choose thin skinned potatoes that are neither too waxy nor too starchy such as fingerling potatoes, gold or red potatoes, purple potatoes or go with the all purpose Yukon Golds. These varieties are best for roasting – they can hold their shape well and their exteriors will caramelize nicely while their inside holds just enough starch to turn soft and creamy. Plus – you do not need to peel them (since we are after crispy skins). Avoid Russet potatoes. 

Olive oil. We like to use extra-virgin olive oil because it is more flavorful, but second pressing olive oil is just fine.

Garlic. Fresh garlic cloves – minced, and a bit of garlic powder (optional).

Salt and pepper. Use coarse salt – kosher salt or sea salt if you have it, and finely ground black pepper.

Corn starch. Not mandatory, but if you toss the potatoes in it it will create a coating that directly contributes to that extra crispy outside.

Herbs. You can add dried herbs (we used oregano) to the corn starch, but to finish the roasted potatoes we recommend that you go with fresh herbs such as rosemary (chop it very fine), chives or garlic chives, oregano, parsley. 

Large bowl, colander, clean kitchen towel. You will need them if you choose to soak the cut potatoes. 

Roasting pan (or baking sheet). Go with a larger one to be sure there is plenty of room. 

Parchment paper. Not only will it help you achieve crispy skin without any of the potatoes getting stuck to the surface of the roasting pan, but it will make clean up a breeze.

How to Make Crispy Roasted Potatoes

The workflow begins with preparing the potatoes for the oven.

Step 1. Clean and cut them in uniform chunks – about bite size. This will ensure that there is more outer surface to become crispy (as opposed to larger pieces), even cooking and faster cooking (smaller pieces will cook faster plus the minced fresh garlic will not burn).

Step 2. Place them in a bowl and top with cold water until fully submerged. Soak for 30-60 mins or even up to overnight, refrigerated. The cold water draws out excess starch and prevents the potatoes from sticking together during roasting. Optional step.

Step 3. After soaking, rinse the potatoes then pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel.

Step 4. Mince the garlic and mix it with the olive oil in a small bowl. Fully coat the potatoes with the mixture. 

Step 5. In another small bowl mix the corn starch, salt, pepper, garlic powder (if using) and any other dry seasoning or herb, sprinkle over the potatoes and mix well to coat evenly. 

Step 6. Transfer the potatoes to an oversized parchment paper lined roasting pan and spread them around in a single layer so that some space remains between individual potatoes. This will help the skins get crispy. Place the pan in the oven and after about 20-25 minutes turn the potatoes around thoroughly. 

We roasted the garlicky, crispy potatoes to go with these Braised Lamb Shanks. Other meat dishes they’d make a great side for:

Baked Chicken Leg Quarters
Pork Shoulder Steaks
Lamb Chops in Oven (psst – you can use the same oven, at the same temperature)
Lamb Shoulder Chops
Beer Braised Short Ribs

Oven Roasted Potatoes with Garlic & Herbs

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

How to roast garlicky potatoes with extra crispy skins and nice, soft insides. Toss them with finely chopped fresh herbs to impart even more flavor.

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Ingredients

• 2 lbs potatoes (thin skinned such as Yukon Gold or red potatoes)
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground balck pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
• 1 tbsp corn starch (optional, for extra crispy skin)
• fresh herbs, finely chopped, to taste (such as rosemary, oregano, chives, parsley)

Instructions

Clean and cut the potatoes. Aim for uniform bite-sized pieces.

Place in a bowl and top with cold water. Let soak completely submerged for 30-60 mins or up to overnight (in fridge).*

When ready to roast, turn on the oven to 400 F.**

Rinse the potatoes and pat dry with clean kitchen towel.

Mince garlic, mix with olive oil and nicely coat the dried potatoes.

Mix salt and pepper, garlic powder (if using), dried oregano and corn starch (if using) and sprinkle over the potatoes. Mix well to ensure they are nicely coated.

Transfer to a parchment paper lined roasting pan or baking sheet that is just large enough so that the potatoes are not crowded.

Roast for about 55 mins and be sure to turn them around about half way through so they can get crispy on all sides. If they are browning too fast, lower the oven temp slightly ***

Finely chop the fresh herbs. When done roasting let the potatoes sit for a couple of minutes before combining them with the herbs and serving.

Notes

*Optional step. Soaking in cold water helps get rid of excess starch and prevents the potatoes from sticking together while they roast.

**If your oven is too strong consider 375 F.

***You want the potatoes to be cooked through and the garlic not to burn.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 352Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 606mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 6gSugar: 3gProtein: 7g

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