Crispy Roasted Fingerling Potatoes Recipe - Savory Nothings (2024)

FAQs

Why do you soak potatoes before roasting? ›

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.

Do I have to boil potatoes before roasting? Not necessary but this can help get the perfect consistency and crispiness. Make sure you boil them but leave them a bit al dente and they will crisp up perfectly in the oven.

“You'll never get a crisp result if they are full of water.” In fact, Joe White, head chef at 10 Tib Lane in Manchester, even goes so far as to say “For the perfect roasties make sure to steam or boil them the day before and let them air dry overnight in the fridge.

A: 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.

I wouldn't bother doing potatoes from the raw state, without soaking. It will take about a half an hour and the texture won't be nearly as rewarding. They just don't get very crispy without that cold soak.

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.

The acid in the vinegar can also help to slightly break down the surface of the potatoes, aiding in the development of a crispier texture during frying. Additionally, the vinegar can contribute to a golden-brown color on the exterior of the fries.

If you like your roasted potatoes extra crispy, you may want to have a bowl of ice water on standby during the cooking process. Soaking your sliced potatoes in the ice water before roasting them in the oven can draw out extra starch, allowing the spuds to cook up extra crunchy on the outside.

You'll end up with toasty outsides and raw insides. The par steam / boil is to make sure they're cooked well, then roasted. If your potatoes are small enough the straight roast works.

Should potatoes be salted before or after roasting? ›

While most people would salt the spuds at this stage, the group's expert explained why this is actually counter-productive. "Salt your potatoes at the end of the cooking process - not the start," they wrote on the post.

Yes, when preparing roast potatoes in advance, you can cut them ahead of time. Ensure you do not cut them earlier than 12 hours before cooking them.

Neutral, low-cost oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, corn oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc., work well for roasting. These oils have a high smoke point, allowing the potatoes to get very hot to achieve maximum crispiness.

Arrange cooked potatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer (if desired, line with parchment paper). Cover pan with aluminum foil and place in hot oven. Cook for 20 minutes, and then remove foil and let them go for another 5-10 minutes or until they are the crispy potatoes you are looking for.

"Placing [peeled and cut] potatoes in water helps prevent oxidation, which turns their exposed flesh brown," says Ronna Welsh, the author of The Nimble Cook and the owner and chef instructor at Purple Kale Kitchenworks in Brooklyn, N.Y. While oxidation won't make the potatoes unsafe to eat, it does change their flavor.

If you're pressed for time, the slightly sticky, cut potatoes should be soaked for a minimum of 15 minutes. However, a longer soak time may allow more starch to be removed. So, if you can prep the fries ahead of time, a few hours of soaking can help make them even crispier.

There's moisture naturally found in potatoes, and moisture is drawn to higher concentrations of salt. (This is a process called osmosis.) So, if you put the potatoes in a salt water bath, that will help draw out some of their moisture, resulting in crispier fries.

But the new research by the UK team led by Dr Rachel Burch from Leatherhead Food International found that a simple measure of pre-soaking potatoes before frying can dramatically reduce the formation of acrylamide and may therefore reduce any subsequent risk it may pose.