Roasted Red Potatoes Recipe {Oven Baked with Crispy Skin} (2024)

FAQs

Why won't my potatoes crisp in the oven? ›

Preheat the fat. While the potatoes parboil, add the oil or butter to the roasting pan, transfer it to the warm oven, and heat it for about 5 minutes before adding the potatoes. This allows the outside of the potatoes to crisp up nicely and not just absorb the cold fat when you put them in the oven.

If you want to make this roast potatoes day before recipe and keep the potatoes crispy, ensure you put them in hot oil before baking them. This will help the potatoes stay crispy. If you're preparing roast potatoes in advance and find they have gone soggy in the fridge.

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch.

Prepping the Red Potatoes for Roasting

The potatoes are easy to prep; just a few quick steps: Scrub the potatoes or wash them well with water – There is no need to peel them – the skin is thin and waxy and provides a lot of flavor, so be sure to leave it on!

Cooking potatoes twice—once in water, and a second time in hot oil—is hands-down the best way to achieve extra-crispy potatoes at home.

Wrapping potatoes in foil does not hasten baking. On the contrary, since the foil itself has to be heated before the potato begins to bake, cooking times increase slightly. Not only do you get better baked potatoes when you bake them unwrapped, you also save money.

Roast for 1hr until golden and crisp, and don't forget to turn them occasionally to ensure they cook evenly. Here's a few tricks to try to make them even more delicious. Sprinkle your parboiled potatoes with flour. This gives potatoes extra crunch.

Also, be mindful of the oil. Potatoes can react like sponges; too much oil can make your potatoes appear to be soggy. Try placing oil in a spray bottle or using an aerosol to apply the oil to the potatoes. Lastly, ensure that the potatoes are dry before you add the oil.

Neutral, low-cost oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, corn oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc., work well for roasting. These oils have a high smoke point, allowing the potatoes to get very hot to achieve maximum crispiness.

There are a few reasons why you want to remove that starch (it makes the potatoes burn, it keeps them from crisping up, it turns to sugar) but all you really need to remember is to soak them at least one hour. Which oil is best for roasting? Most oils are fine.

What happens if you don't soak potatoes? ›

First let's talk about why cut potatoes need to be immersed in water to begin with. The reason is to prevent the potatoes exposure to air, which causes dehydration, oxidation, and discoloration. Immersing cut potatoes will also help rinse off excess starch.

"In addition to good and bad bacterias, pesticides can linger in the soil and those need to go." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a minimum, potatoes should be rinsed with water before cutting for cooking. Since potatoes are firm, use a clean brush to scrub them.

Red potatoes tend to be smaller and waxy. Their higher moisture and lower starch content are great for boiling or roasting, and they manage to hold their shape well. These properties tend to make them less desirable for a baked potato, which should be a little larger in size and easy to fluff up on the interior.

Red potatoes are great for roasting, cooking in soups, or boiling or steaming for potato salad. The waxy nature of the flesh means they'll maintain their shape, but it also means they will get gluey when overworked, so you'll want to choose a different potato for mashing.

After 10 minutes, check the potatoes for doneness by piercing one piece with a fork. If the fork easily pierces the center of the potato, they are done. If it meets resistance, boil for another 2 minutes, and check again.

We suspect that the pan may have dried out a little too quickly, meaning that there was not enough liquid for the potatoes to cook in and this may have caused them to become hard. Pan dimensions and materials vary a lot and a larger pan, or one with a very shallow lip, could cause the liquid to evaporate more quickly.

If the potato is hard, bake it a little longer. Don't exceed the recommended cooking time because potatoes will continue to cook after they're removed from the oven and the skin will get dry. "Another common mistake is letting the potato rest or cool before cutting.

Roasted potatoes can become soggy if the water content in the potato isn't fully cooked. Different potatoes have different water content percentages. Also, be mindful of the oil. Potatoes can react like sponges; too much oil can make your potatoes appear to be soggy.

If you're talking about a conventional oven, they take a long time because most people don't use enough heat. People often bake potatoes at 35–375 degrees, which increases the cooking time. I always cook my potatoes at 450–475, and it takes between 45 min and an hour.