Roasted potatoes are staples on dinner plates across the UK during this time of year. Whether it’s for a roast dinner on a Sunday afternoon or a mid-week meal after work, it’s important to cook the potatoes perfectly right.
The best roasted potatoes have a crispy and golden exterior as well as a fluffy and creamy interior. However, they can sometimes be tricky to get exactly right without the correct method. The good news is that one home chef has shared a secret ingredient that will easily take your roasted potatoes to the next level. Molly Adams shared the advice on website Simply Recipes and said the ingredient makes roasted potatoes as tasty as French fries.
She said: “I start with baby potatoes so I don’t have to bother peeling them, and I parboil them as the oven preheats so that the inside stays fluffy and the outside gets crispy.”
While this is a common and well-known beginning to any roasted potato recipe, Molly said the addition of cornstarch is what transforms her spuds. She was inspired by a label on a bag of frozen French fries.
Molly explained: “Now, as many of you probably know, my kids are super picky. Even though they would eat French fries every night if I let them, roasted potatoes were a hard no for them.
“I’m unsure if you’ve ever tried reasoning with a six-year-old and a three-year-old… I could never convince my kids that roasted potatoes were basically the same as French fries.”
She added: “After closely inspecting the brand of frozen French fries I often buy, I realized that they are coated in a blend of starches to help crisp them up.
“So, I decided to give the method a shot with roasted potatoes. And it turns out, coating the potatoes with cornstarch is the secret to super crispy roasted potatoes!”
She recommends coating the potatoes in salt, black pepper, dried herbs, spices (such as oregano and paprika), and cornstarch. She said she uses “about a tablespoon of cornstarch for every 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes”.
Molly recommends seasoning the potatoes generously as the starch dulls the flavours. After applying all of the seasoning, including the cornstarch, she advises tossing the potatoes to make sure they’re coated evenly.
Home chefs should then add them to an oiled baking tray before tossing again. The potatoes then go into the oven at around 220C for between 20 and 25 minutes.
Molly concluded: “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.”
