Oven-Roasted Potatoes

These oven-roasted potatoes come out crispy and golden on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle, and I’ll walk you through exactly how to get them right. I’ve made roast potatoes more Sundays than I can count, and the difference between a good tray and a great one comes down to two things most recipes rush past: how you rough up the edges before roasting, and how hot the oil is when the potatoes hit it.

The secret I lean on here is a spoonful of semolina. You shake it over the parboiled potatoes before they go into the hot oil, and it gives you that shatteringly crisp shell you usually only get at a restaurant. It’s a small step, and it’s the one I’d never skip.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• The semolina coating is what wins me over every time. Shaken onto the roughed-up potatoes, it gives you a crisp, craggy shell rather than just a browned one, and parboiling first keeps the insides fluffy and cooked through instead of chalky.
• There’s nothing special to shop for either, just potatoes, olive oil, a spoonful of semolina, and two woody herbs.
• It scales up for a crowd without any extra fuss, so it earns its place at Sunday dinner and holiday meals, and since it’s made with olive oil rather than any animal fat, it stays vegetarian and vegan so nobody at the table gets left out.

Ingredients You’ll Need

You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below.

Potatoes. You want a variety that fluffs up on the inside while crisping outside. Yukon gold, red potatoes, King Edward, and Maris Piper all work well. Charlotte potatoes roast well too, so if that’s what you have, they’re a good choice here. Charlottes are a firm, waxy potato, and they hold their shape while still taking on color and crunch at the edges, so they suit roasting well. Whichever you pick, cut them into even chunks, so they cook at the same rate. I halve them and then halve again.

Olive oil. This is what carries the crisping, so don’t be shy with it, and get it properly hot in the tray before the potatoes go in. Skip the duck or goose fat you’ll see in some recipes. Olive oil keeps this suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and it crisps beautifully.

Semolina. One tablespoon is all it takes. Shaken over the roughed-up potatoes, it clings to the fluffy edges and turns into a crisp crust in the hot oil. If you’ve never tried it, this is the step that changes the tray.

Rosemary and thyme. Fresh sprigs, leaves stripped from the woody stems. These two hold up to the long roast without turning bitter, and they’re the seasoning backbone alongside salt and pepper.

How to Make Oven-Roasted Potatoes

A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.

Heat the Tray and Parboil

Get your oven to 200°C/400°F and slide the empty roasting tin in to heat up while you work. Peel and chop the potatoes into even chunks, cover them with water in a large pan, add salt, and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, drop to a vigorous simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, just until the edges soften slightly. This partial cook is what gives you a fluffy interior later.

Get the Oil Really Hot

Pull the hot tray out, add the olive oil, and put it straight back in the oven. You want the oil close to smoking before the potatoes go in, because that first contact is what starts the crust. Cold oil is the single most common reason roast potatoes come out soft.

Rough Up, Coat, and Roast

Drain the potatoes and give the colander a firm shake so the outsides go fluffy and ragged. Tip them back into the pot, sprinkle over the semolina, rosemary, and thyme, and shake again so everything coats evenly.

Carefully lay the potatoes into the hot oil so they aren’t touching, turn to coat, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes.

Turn, Baste, and Finish

Take the tray out, turn and baste the potatoes in the oil, and return them for a further 15 to 20 minutes until they’re golden brown and crisp all over. Serve them straight away, while the shell is at its crunchiest.

Recipe Notes and Expert Tips

• Heat the tray before the oil, and the oil before the potatoes. Two rounds of preheating sounds fussy, but it’s the whole game. Potatoes going into hot oil in a hot tray crisp; potatoes going into warm oil steam.
• Shake harder than feels right. Those roughed-up, fluffy edges are the surface area that turns crisp. A gentle drain gives you smooth potatoes, and a smooth potato won’t crunch.
• Give them room. Lay the chunks so they don’t touch. Crowded potatoes trap steam between them and go soft where they meet.
• Use an oven thermometer if yours runs cool. If your potatoes aren’t crisping, the oven often isn’t as hot as the dial claims. It’s worth checking.

Recipe Variations

• Toss a few lightly crushed garlic cloves into the oil for the final 15 minutes so they soften and sweeten without burning. This is a supported addition that doesn’t change the timing or the method.
• For a little heat, a pinch of chili flakes shaken on with the semolina carries through the roast. It’s a small tweak I like, though I haven’t tested exact amounts here, so start light.
• Swapping the rosemary and thyme for sage and oregano gives a different, earthier finish. It’s supported as a straight herb-for-herb change since it doesn’t affect how the potatoes cook.

How to Store Leftovers

Roast potatoes are best fresh, but leftovers keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Get them cooled and refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking rather than leaving them sitting out. Reheat on a hot tray in a 200°C/400°F oven for about 10 minutes to bring back the crisp.

The microwave will warm them through, but you’ll lose the crunch, so the oven is worth it. I wouldn’t freeze these, as the texture that makes them worth eating doesn’t survive it.

What to Serve With Oven-Roasted Potatoes

These are a natural alongside a big Sunday spread, and I’ll often round out the potato side of the table with a tray of easy Hasselback potatoes when I’m feeding a crowd, since they share the same rosemary and thyme profile and crisp up in the same hot oven.

If someone wants something creamy to balance all that crunch, a bowl of smooth and creamy mashed potatoes is the classic partner, soft where these are crisp. For a fresher note on the plate, I’ll add a crunchy green goddess salad to cut through the richness.

More Potato Sides to Put on Your Table

If roast potatoes have you in a potato mood, here are a few more of mine worth making.

• My mashed sweet potatoes with rosemary butter are the soft, slightly sweet side I bring out for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
• When I want maximum crunch, I make my crispy smashed potatoes, which get parboiled, flattened, and roasted until the edges shatter.
• My easy potato casserole is the one I assemble the night before, so it goes in bubbling and cheesy when the oven’s already busy at the holidays.
• For a lazy brunch, I turn to my cheesy hashbrown casserole, which feeds a crowd with almost no fuss.