The perfect crispy roasted potatoes? It’s a lot to promise, and this recipe 100% delivers! The secret is to par-boil the potatoes before roasting so they are fluffy and soft inside but have that irresistible crispy seasoned coating on the outside.
Why this Recipe Works
This recipe works like a charm because of the par-boiling. Par-boiling means that you boil your raw potatoes in hot water until they are soft enough to be pierced with a fork. They are therefore partially cooked before you transfer them to be roasted.
Par-boiling the potatoes cuts down on roasting time and ensures that the outside can get crispy without overcooking the interior. The crispy, fluffy combo with every bite is just the best!
I love roasting potatoes when I have something already in the oven. I just throw them in during the last 30 minutes the chicken is cooking and they are ready to go in time for dinner. Just par-boil them, first!
Ingredients & Substitutions
potatoes – you can use any small potato like fingerling, small red potatoes, small Yukon gold potatoes, or small purple potatoes.
onion – optional in this recipe, but adds another delicious flavor. Just don’t cut them too small or they will burn.
How to Make this Recipe
Preheat the oven to 425F. Chop the potatoes so that they are all the same size, ~1 1/2 inch pieces. Just barely cover the potatoes in a pot with water. Add salt, and bring to a boil.
When it comes to a full boil turn the heat to simmer and simmer for 1-2 minutes until fork-tender.
Drain. Add the (optional) onion, cut in 1/4 inch thick half-moons. You don’t want the onion slices to be too small or they will burn. Then coat the potatoes in oil and season with salt. Transfer to a sheet pan.
Bake for a minimum of 35 minutes – however long it takes them to get golden and crispy.
More Potato Recipes
I love using potatoes in my recipes. It’s an inexpensive ingredient that can be dressed up in so many different ways. Here are some favorite ways to serve them!
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Crispy Roasted Potatoes
Print Recipe SaveIngredients
- 2 lbs. small potatoes like red, yukon gold, fingerling
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- Salt
- 1 onion sliced, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Chop the potatoes so they are all the same size, ~1 1/2 inch pieces.
- Just barely cover the potatoes in a pot with water. Add salt, and bring to boil.
- When it comes to a full boil turn the heat to simmer and simmer for 1-2 minutes until fork-tender.
- Drain. Add the (optional) onion, cut in 1/4 inch thick half-moons. You don't want the onion slices to be too small or they will burn. Then coat the potatoes in oil and season with salt.
- Transfer to sheet pan.
- Bake for a minimum of 35 minutes – however long it takes them to get golden and crispy.
These are outstanding! It’s so worth the extra step to parboil as opposed to simply roasting them. The difference is amazing and the result is outstanding.
Hello! I love making large batches of recipes to freeze and make weeknight meals easier. Thinking it would be so wonderful to boil first, freeze, and they’d be ready to pull out the amount needed and just toss on a pan to roast when needed. Have you tried this before? Thanks so much!
I haven’t tried this before (great idea, btw), but I do it when I deep fry fries. So my guess would be that it would work. If you give it a try I’d love to hear if it worked!
Hi Candice! I’m happy to report back that freezing works beautifully and has been such a help during busy weeknights. When I am making roasted potatoes, I’ll just parboil more than needed and lay out the extras on a cookie sheet to pop in the freezer. Once frozen I’ll store in a ziplock bag. There have been some busy days with little time to meal prep, and it’s been so nice to just dump some prepped potatoes on a pan, add some sort of fat, S&P, then pop in the oven. I’ve baked them from a frozen state and have also put them in the oven and set the oven on a delayed start for an hour or so later so the potatoes have begun to defrost – both yield delicious results. I’d highly recommend!
Thank you SO much for coming back and letting us know how it went… glad to hear it worked, and will definitely be trying this great shortcut!