DESCRIPTION
Learn the tricks to make roasted potatoes that are soft and fluffy inside but brown and crunchy outside.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 tsp. table salt
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- 1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper
Instructions
- Get out your potatoes and wash them. Use a waxy potato like Yukon gold. You want one medium potato per person, or about 1/3 of a pound per person. Cut smaller potatoes in half and then in half again. Cut larger one in half and then each half into 4-6 pieces.
- Put potatoes in a pot that is just bigger than what they need. You don’t want it too small since that’s hard to stir them in. And not too big since that will increase cooking time. Add table salt and stir. And add enough water just to cover the potatoes. Partially cover the pot and put it over high heat until it reaches a simmer. Don’t go far away since potatoes have a tendency to boil over and make a big mess.
- When it reaches a simmer, uncover the pot. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain potatoes. Put the potatoes back into the pot you cooked them in.
- Put a nice layer of oil into a rimmed pan that is big enough to fit the potatoes in a single layer. Put the pan into the preheated oven until the oil is smoking hot, 5 minutes does the trick. While the oil heats, put the lid on the potato pot and give the pot one good shake. That shake breaks up the edges of the potatoes a bit making them brown better (because tiny bits and edges brown more than flat smooth pieces).
- Take the pan of oil out of the oven and add the potatoes. Give them a stir to coat them in oil. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the kosher salt and the coarse black pepper. Put them in the oven until undersides are well-browned, about 30 minutes.
- Use tongs to flip potatoes so that an unbrowned side of each potato is in contact with the pan. Return to the oven until new undersides are brown, about 15 minutes.
- Line a large plate with kitchen towel and transfer the potatoes onto it. This is to blot off any excess oil. You can shimmy the plate around a bit so that the potatoes get blotted on all sides. Add a bit of kosher salt at this point.
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