Roast potatoes are the cornerstone of any Sunday roast, with their perfectly crispy skin and fluffy insides. However, if you’re struggling to achieve that delightfully crunchy exterior, one food expert revealed there’s one ingredient you need to do so.
Simply Recipes’ Molly Adams explained that the only way she gets her children to eat potatoes is if they’re “super crisp” like French fries. To achieve the crispy coating, you’ll need to turn your attention to your store cupboard for the answer. This addition won’t add any extra time or effort.
To help give your roasties an extra crisp and crunch, Molly recommended coating the spuds in cornflour. This works best with floury potatoes.
Cornflour makes roast potatoes crispy by creating a dry, porous coating that absorbs moisture and allows for faster evaporation, which promotes browning and a crunchy texture. The starch granules swell with the moisture in the potato, and as this moisture evaporates, they form a rigid coating that locks in the crispiness.
So how do you achieve an extra crispy skin? Firstly, par-boil the potatoes in a saucepan with salted water.
Once boiled, allow the spuds to steam dry in a colander. Molly also suggested placing them in the freezer if you’re short on time.
When the potatoes are dry to the touch and there’s no steam coming off of them, coat them in salt, pepper, and any seasonings like dried herbs and spices. Then follow with the cornflour.
You’ll need about a tablespoon of cornstarch for every pound and a half of potatoes. The experts explained that adding any type of starch will dull the seasoning on the potatoes, so if you’re adding any seasoning to the spuds, you’ll need to be extra generous.
Toss the potatoes to make sure they’re all coated evenly. Then add them to a well-oiled rimmed tray or roasting tin and toss again so the potatoes are fully coated with oil.
Roast the potatoes in the oven at 450℉/230℃ for 20 to 25 minutes. Molly wrote: “The resulting potatoes are incredibly crisp on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside, and hold their shape well. I can’t say my kids prefer them to French fries, but they will eat them, which is a big win in my book.”