Crispy Roasted Fingerling Potatoes Recipe - Savory Nothings (2024)

FAQs

Why aren't my oven roasted potatoes crispy? ›

If you over-crowded the pan so that there isn't enough space for the potatoes to rest on the pan without touching each other, it will prevent the water from evaporating and making the potatoes crispy. You can always try to broil the potatoes for 1-2 minutes to crisp them up at the end of baking if necessary.

Directions. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed pot. Add the whole potatoes, salt, and pepper, and toss well. Cover the pot tightly and cook over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender when tested with a small knife.

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

Keep potatoes crisp in a warm oven if you're serving them in 1-2 hours. If there is a slight wait before everyone eats, don't cover the crispy potatoes—this traps steam which will make the potatoes soggy. Just keep them in the oven, but turn the temperature to the lowest setting.

A: This sure sounds a lot like potatoes that have been stored too long, in too cold of an environment before cooking. When potatoes are held below 41°F for too long a period, the starches convert to sugar and it changes the cooking chemistry.

In most potato recipes, I recommend starting potatoes in cold water and bringing them up to a boil. This helps ensure that the exteriors don't turn to mush before the insides have a chance to cook through.

Fingerling Potatoes - Fingerling potatoes have a small, tubular shape and have a variety of skin and flesh characteristics. New Potatoes - New potatoes are young potatoes that have been harvested early. They have thin, delicate skin and creamy flesh. Also called baby potatoes, they come in a variety of colors.

Fingerlings are excellent for fast meals, because they are quick and easy to prep. Fingerling potatoes do not need to be peeled prior to roasting, a BIG BENEFIT over regular potatoes like the ones used to make Baked French Fries. Their thin skins almost taste sweet and are key to a golden, crisp exterior.

In a video online, Gordon explained: “For crispy roast potatoes, you can depend on them, my tip is to parboil them, leave them to steam dry, then sprinkle them with semolina or flour, and then give them a good roughing up.”

Yes! Soak the potatoes in cold water to remove the excess starch from the outside of the potato. There are a few reasons why you want to remove that starch (it makes the potatoes burn, it keeps them from crisping up, it turns to sugar) but all you really need to remember is to soak them at least one hour.

What happens if you don't soak potatoes in water? ›

First let's talk about why cut potatoes need to be immersed in water to begin with. The reason is to prevent the potatoes exposure to air, which causes dehydration, oxidation, and discoloration. Immersing cut potatoes will also help rinse off excess starch.

When the corn starch comes into contact with the hot oil, it forms a barrier that traps moisture within the potato while also developing a crunchy crust. This results in fries that are both tender on the inside and crispy on the outside, mimicking the texture of fries you might find in restaurants.

To have a truly marvellous roast potato, one must simply let the potato dry completely after parboiling, before roasting in extremely hot fat.

Baking Soda: Do not skip the step of boiling your potatoes with baking soda. Baking soda will help your potatoes get crispy in the oven. This is the trick! Thyme: I used fresh thyme for these crispy potatoes but you can also use dried thyme or swap out the thyme for a different herb like rosemary.

Carrots, parsnips, broccoli, onion rings, squash cubes, and even chickpeas all develop a crispy coating when treated with a combination of cornstarch, oil, and heat. But a greater amount of starch does not translate into better crunch.

Roasted potatoes can become soggy if the water content in the potato isn't fully cooked. Different potatoes have different water content percentages. Also, be mindful of the oil. Potatoes can react like sponges; too much oil can make your potatoes appear to be soggy.

Parboil the Potatoes First

Parboiling helps soften the potato insides before the roasting begins, so you won't be tempted to burn the outsides in exchange for less undercooked insides.

Check the heating element

An oven that isn't heating properly may have a damaged heating element that needs to be repaired or replaced. If your oven has any exposed bake or broil elements, check for visible breaks or blisters. You can also visually check to make sure all oven elements are turning on.

They just need to be coated with oil. The oily coat is needed to actually roast the potato. If you would put them into a hot oven without any oil, they would dry out rather than roast because the temperature of the outside of the potato would be limited to 100C/212F until all water had evaporated.