Crispy golden roasted potatoes with the perfect soft interior make an excellent side dish to roasted meat. With a few tricks used by fry cooks, you’ll get perfect results every time.
Sometimes the simplest things are the best. These Rosemary Roasted Potatoes aren’t complicated and have only a few ingredients. It’s just a few extra steps that turn these from humble potatoes into a Sunday dinner worthy dish.
How to make perfectly roasted potatoes
The reason good french fries are so crispy on the outside and soft inside is because they’re blanched. In the fry world that means they’re deep fried first at a lower temperature and left to cool before frying a second time at a higher temperature. This same technique is used here, except the potatoes are pre boiled. Adding a few sprigs of rosemary to the water helps infuse the flavour right into the potatoes. And salt the water. Potatoes like salty water.
Rinse and scrub the potatoes and cut into bite sized pieces. Maybe 8 – 12 pieces per potato depending on the size. Red skinned potatoes look best but any hard potato will do. Russets don’t work well for this recipe. Save them to make Gnocchi. You might think you have too many potatoes when they’re first cut up but they shrink down when roasted. Oh, and did I mention they’re really good? You’ll eat more than you planned.
You only boil the potatoes for 10 minutes so they aren’t completely cooked. You should feel a little resistance if you poke a sharp knife into them. Then after draining, let them sit uncovered so they cool and dry out. This is a pretty important step so make sure you leave yourself enough time. Half an hour is probably enough. You can even put them in the fridge for a while once they’ve cooled but you’ll notice some darkening after a while.
While the potatoes are cooling, shake them around in the pan a few times. Really. What that does is gives the exterior some texture which helps make lots of surface area to brown. You don’t want to literally break them up. But you do want them to look a bit messy. Like this.
Believe it or not, Rosemary Roasted Potatoes need almost an hour in the oven after pre boiling. I know it sounds like a long time but they’re worth the wait. Toss the potato chunks in a good amount of olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Hold off on the rosemary until later, it will burn if you add it at the beginning. Now spread the potatoes out in a large baking dish. It helps if they’re not too crowded so they have the best chance of browning.
Give them a stir after 20 minutes so they get a chance to brown on as many sides as possible. After another 20, stir again and toss in the rosemary. Then add some fresh rosemary right before serving.
I love how the skin gets shiny and wrinkled. That’s how you know they’re done. Serve Rosemary Roasted Potatoes with a rack of lamb, Greek Salad and Roasted Artichokes and Cauliflower.
If you love these, consider leaving a rating below! Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 4 medium red skinned potatoes or any hard potato, not russets
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 5-6 sprigs fresh rosemary
- Generous course salt and cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse potatoes and remove any eyes or marks. Cut in half, then into bite sized pieces. About 8 - 12 per potato depending on size.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and 1 - 2 sprigs rosemary. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until a knife inserted into a potato still has some resistance. Drain well and allow to dry. Shake pot a few times while cooling to give potatoes a rough exterior.
- Add olive oil to potatoes and toss until well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange potatoes in a baking dish large enough that they can be spread out without crowding to ensure maximum browning.
- Roast on the middle rack of an oven at 350° for 20 minutes. Stir and cook another 20 minutes. Remove rosemary leaves from 2 sprigs and toss with potatoes after 40 minutes.
- Roast for about 10 more minutes until potatoes are golden brown and rosemary is crispy.
- Toss with more fresh rosemary before serving.