Super Crispy Roasted Potatoes
People laugh when I tell them that my husband is a better (way better!) cook than me in certain areas. After all, we spent thousands of dollars on MY culinary education, while he remained at his engineering job.
But there’s certain things, like all forms of breakfast cookery and pizza, where I just let him take the reins. He’s got a real knack for it, so I’ll just relax and come to terms with my sub-par skills in those areas.
Another thing he’s really great at? Roasted potatoes. He has the patience to cook them long enough (and NOT stir them) so that they’ll get all brown and crispy.
Whereas I lose patience after 20 minutes and stir them way too often. Then get all bummed when they turn out mushy and bland and are a disappointing side dish to my amazing orange glazed chicken or Instant Pot short ribs.
When I saw a technique in Bon Appetit that called for roasting small potatoes on a rack set inside a larger baking pan, I knew I needed to give it a try (and maybe beat Jeff at the roasted potatoes game).
Roasting the potatoes on a rack (the kind you would normally use to cool cookies) allows the hot air to circulate all around the potatoes, ensuring that they’ll get crispy on all sides.
Sure, you still have to have 40 minutes of patience. But the end result is totally worth it – they’re super crispy on the outside while remaining nice and soft on the inside.
Truly, the best crispy roasted potatoes I’ve ever made.
In order to make sure that I REALLY beat Jeff at roasted potatoes (I mean, I’m not at all competitive about it or anything), I made a dipping sauce.
Because, is there a single food on earth that doesn’t benefit from a dipping sauce? The answer to that question is NO. I simply stirred minced shallot and chopped rosemary into Greek yogurt.
Psst – if you have extra rosemary (you will!) – try out something new with my rosemary simple syrup, and then make a lemon and bourbon sour rosemary cocktail or a rosemary gin cocktail.
Super Crispy Roasted Potatoes with Shallot-Rosemary Yogurt
Ingredients
For the Potatoes:
- 1-1/2 pound baby Yukon gold potatoes, halved lengthwise
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
For the Shallot-Rosemary Yogurt:
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Make the Potatoes: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a wire rack inside a rimmed baking pan. In large bowl, toss potatoes, oil, salt and pepper until well combined. Spread potatoes on rack, cut side up.
- Transfer to oven and bake 40 to 45 minutes or until potatoes are very crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, turning once (so that cut sides of potatoes face down) halfway through.
- Make the Shallot-Rosemary Yogurt: In small bowl, stir together yogurt, shallot and rosemary. Serve potatoes with yogurt.
This is the holy grail of potato recipes. I adore crispy potatoes but I”m so impatient when I make them on the stove top. Totally trying this method next time.
Thanks Courtney! I hope you do give it a try. You’ll never go back to roasted potatoes any other way!
Love that your motivation for these was kicking your husband’s trash! I’m all about a little competition. Haha!
These look amaaaaaazing, by the way!
Haha, heck yes! Thanks so much, Karly!
Thanks for the potato compliment! I pride myself on my ability to make delicious breakfast – crispy potatoes in particular. I learned to cook good potatoes from my mom. See, my parents loved making breakfast on the weekends. My dad would always grill something (loves it), whether that be bacon, sausage, ham, etc. Well, if you grill a lot, you know that is a big ordeal. It takes time to prep the meat, preheat the grill, cook the delicate breakfast meats low and slow, and then let them cool. My mom managed this by letting her hashbrowns sit on a flattop for the entire time – barely touching them. They’d be perfectly browned and caramelized because they sat there for what seemed like an eternity. Haha.
Ahhhh…THAT explains why you’re so good at it.
My husband also has more patience than me when it comes to roasting potatoes (and making omelettes). Perhaps I too shall give this a try;) I only wish I could get some fresh rosemary…
Awww, I wish I could figure out a way to mail you some fresh rosemary and have it still be fresh! I think just a smidge of finely chopped dried rosemary would be OK here 🙂
I have learned in cooking technique can be EVERYTHING! I have cooked a roast on a rack, gotta try potatoes! I heard that baking breaded chicken like this makes it super crispy as well!
Yeah, I am a total convert to this rack roasting method now! I imagine it would work great for anything that you want crispy on the outside!
And Jeff’s verdict? They sound wonderful to me.
He said they were great, but didn’t go as far to say they were better than his 😉
i think I’m going to try this with sweet potatoes!
Good luck! Let me know how they turn out!
These look wonderful! I especially love that yogurt sauce, what a great idea!
Thanks so much, Mary!
So no stirring at all required? Really? I mean I like to think I make a mean crispy breakfast potato and I only stir/flip them once but it still means to happen because at least half will burn if I don’t. I have to try this, I need my crispy potatoes on the weekend. With the dipping sauce of course.
Well, I did flip these once, halfway through. But really, you don’t *have* to flip them, because I think since they’re on the rack, they would cook pretty evenly anyway. But yeah, before, I would stir my potatoes ALL the time, because I was so paranoid they would stick to the baking pan. And they turned out terrible.