So, What’s the Best Roasted Potato Recipe?
Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever made delicious roasted potatoes that hit the textural trifecta of crunchy, fluffy, and creamy using a classic method with a few unique twists.
When all else fails, and I’m not sure what’s for dinner, I turn on the oven and get a tray of roasted potatoes started while I figure out the rest. Potatoes are affordable, versatile, and the ultimate comfort food. Not to mention, they last for months when stored properly — so I always have some around. I like knowing that depending on what else I unearth from the fridge or freezer, I can tweak the seasoning on the potatoes or combine them with other ingredients, like bacon and Brussels sprouts, and always end up with a delicious side dish.
Even though I make roasted potatoes all the time, they don’t always come out perfectly because all those small factors that go into making good roasted potatoes (ratio of oil to potato, oven temperature, preheated or cold baking sheet) end up being make-or-break details. My ideal roasted potato is crisp and well-browned on all sides for a deep, toasty potato flavor. There needs to be enough oil to prevent the potatoes from becoming dry or leathery and promote a creamy, very soft, rich interior without tasting the oil itself. When you shake a tray of perfectly roasted potatoes, they should glide freely and bump into each other with the same soft click as rolling dice.
With that said, I gathered six popular roasted potato recipes to see if I could find the best one, which would take the guesswork out of my usual hurried, slap-it-together process. With so many recipes available, we had to streamline the selection process. We did not include recipes like salt-roasted potatoes, air-fryer roasted potatoes, or roasted sweet potatoes, because as much as I love them, they are too different to include here.
Meet Our 6 Roasted Potato Contenders
For this showdown, I cooked through six roasted potato recipes that offered a range of methods, potatoes, roasting times, and oven temperatures. I skipped any suggested dipping sauces to keep the focus on the potatoes themselves. It was surprising to see how many variables there were between the recipes, even ones that initially read very similarly, and I truly did not know how they would stack up and which would land on top.
- Ina Garten: This recipe, from Ina’s cookbook Modern Comfort Food, is named after the actress Emily Blunt and her family’s recipe for roasted potatoes. Large chunks of peeled Yukon Gold potatoes are boiled, shaken up to rough the edges, and transferred to a wire rack to dry out slightly. Vegetable oil is heated on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven at 425°F, and then the potatoes are added, tossed, and roasted at 350°F until crisp, turning occasionally.
- Jacques Pepin: Jacques Pepin’s recipe stands apart from the others in two ways: the potatoes are skillet roasted, so they cook only on the stovetop in a combination of water, olive oil, and butter, and the small red-skinned potatoes are unpeeled and left whole. I knew this would result in a different, less intensely crunchy potato than some of the other versions, but I was curious to see how it compared in flavor to the potatoes with much longer cook times and a heavier dose of oil.
- J. Kenji López-Alt: Although I’ve never made this recipe, its popularity preceded it, and I was familiar with it. The potatoes get the same boil, shake, and roast treatment as others in this showdown, but a few details set it apart. A specific amount of water is brought to a boil, and then salt and baking soda are added along with big chunks of peeled potatoes (we used russets) that simmer until tender. Baking soda makes the water alkaline, which promotes a soft, starchy exterior on the potatoes that gets exceptionally crisp once roasted. Rather than using plain olive oil, it is infused with garlic and rosemary and then strained so the bits don’t burn during roasting. The potatoes roast at 450°F for about one hour (the highest oven temperature in the showdown), and are stirred and flipped occasionally after the first 20 minutes to help them cook evenly. The garlic and rosemary bits are tossed with the potatoes before serving, along with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.
- RecipeTin Eats: These roasted potatoes were inspired by a Nigella Lawson recipe that uses a ton of goose fat. This version reduces the amount of fat significantly (spoiler alert: It still calls for a lot) and switches to a neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as sunflower oil. You crank the oven as high as it goes, which was 500°F for me, with the oil-filled pan inside so everything preheats together. While this happens, you boil large chunks of peeled potatoes (we used russets), drain, and shake until the edges are roughed up. However, before you shake the potatoes, you sprinkle them with salt and a few tablespoons of semolina. After carefully tossing them into the hot oil, the potatoes are roasted until crisp at 425°F for around one hour.
- Spend with Pennies: This recipe was the most straightforward of the showdown. Unpeeled, diced Yukon Gold potatoes are soaked in cold water; drained; dried; tossed with olive oil, spices, and herbs; and roasted at 425°F on a baking sheet until browned. The recipe says you can skip the soaking step if short on time, but because it’s written into the recipe, I included it. I opted for fresh herbs and used a combination of thyme, rosemary, and parsley for a classic flavor profile.
- Feel Good Foodie: In a departure from the other recipes, these roasted potatoes are crisped over a bed of grated Parmesan mixed with melted butter, dried oregano, and spices. To help the flavors infuse into the spuds, small potatoes (I used golden potatoes) are halved, and the cut side is scored in a cross-hatch pattern. They are nestled in a baking dish over the paste-like cheese mixture and roasted at 425°F until browned without flipping.
How I Tested the Roasted Potato Recipes
- I bought large bags of potatoes at the same store. When working with produce, you have to expect a degree of natural variation because no two vegetables are the same. Still, I figured my best bet was to purchase all the potatoes from my local supermarket, opting for large bags when possible, so the recipes that used the same variety came from the same bags.
- I used thermometers and scales for accuracy. I added two thermometers to my oven to ensure I was roasting at the correct temperature. I also roasted one recipe at a time. The potatoes were all weighed on my kitchen scale, and if a number of potatoes were listed along with the weight, I did my best to align the two to ensure I was using the correct size potato.
- I used the same baking sheet or the specific pan or dish called for. When specified, I used the type of pot or pan called for in the recipe, and if it only required a rimmed baking sheet, I used the same light-finished pan with a decent heft to eliminate the impact different thicknesses can have on the finished product.
- I used timers but deferred to visual cues. Perhaps most importantly, I used the timing of the recipe as a guide and defaulted to visual cues to mimic the intended color and texture in each recipe.
Why You Should Trust Me as a Tester
It’s hard not to play favorites when it comes to potato recipes, but if you made me choose, roasted potatoes would top the list of my favorite ways to cook potatoes, as well as the preparation I turn to the most. Their versatility (what can’t you serve them with?), quick prep time, and crispy, creamy, and fluffy textures make them irresistible to me.
Through my 20 years of experience working in restaurants and test kitchens, I have prepared roasted potatoes in almost any way you can imagine, with almost any potato you can imagine. From smashed potatoes to fan-like hasselback potatoes and russets to fingerling potatoes, I have cooked and eaten more than I can count. What I have learned is that although making roasted potatoes is an inherently straightforward process, it’s easy to turn out subpar spuds that lack a deeply browned exterior, are squidgy with excessive oil, or are criminally under-seasoned. Armed with this knowledge and experience, I was prepared to tackle these six recipes.
1. The Least Crispy Roasted Potatoes: Feel Good Foodie’s Roasted Parmesan Potatoes
Overall rating: 6/10
Get the recipe: Feel Good Foodie’s Roasted Parmesan Potatoes
The halved potatoes are nestled tightly into a baking dish over the Parmesan and butter paste, minimizing space and airflow between the pieces. As they roasted, the potatoes around the edge of the pan got brown very quickly, verging on burnt by the end. The ones in the middle stayed pale, with a steamed flavor and chewy, tough skins. Although the cheese melted, it was not crisped enough to release from the bottom of the baking dish, making it difficult to remove the potatoes without tearing them. Several potatoes had no cheese crust at all, leaving them plain-looking and tasting. The ones with a browned, cheesy bottom had some texture, but they also had a heavy dairy flavor from the combination of butter and Parmesan, so it was a tradeoff, and one I didn’t particularly enjoy.
These were still some tasty potatoes, and adding a Parmesan crust was fun and different. While they weren’t bad, they didn’t hold up well against the other recipes in the showdown. Crunch is not the only factor when judging roasted potatoes, but it is an important one, and if they aren’t going to be crunchy, they need to be superior in other aspects. Unfortunately, these were not super successful across the board, with little to no crunch and inconsistent cooking.
2. The Easiest Roasted Potatoes: Spend with Pennies’ Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes
Overall rating: 7/10
Get the recipe: Spend with Pennies’ Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes
True to the title, these were the easiest potatoes to roast, but the result was just OK. One of my frustrations with this recipe is that it calls for salt and pepper to taste. Pepper is more of a seasoning, so I can let that go. But salt transforms the flavor as potatoes brown and crisp, and you can’t make up for a bland interior with a generous sprinkle at the end, so not offering guidance is a disservice to the potatoes.
After soaking, draining, and patting cubed potatoes dry, I tossed them with oil, fresh herbs, and seasonings and roasted until browned at 425°F. At this point, the potatoes were cooked through, browned, and looked like the photo, so I called them done, especially because some of the paprika was starting to burn on the baking sheet.
The potatoes were tender and fully cooked, and the herbs added a boost of flavor. But even though they were browned, they were not crisp, which, between the relatively short roasting time of 35 minutes and moderate amount of oil (2 tablespoons for 2 pounds of potatoes), didn’t surprise me much. Overall, these were fine, but not particularly special.
3. The Most Disappointing Roasted Potatoes: Ina Garten’s Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes
Overall rating: 7/10
Get the recipe: Ina Garten’s Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes
When Ina first shared this recipe online, it was so popular her website crashed, and it’s easy to see why between the short ingredient list and accompanying photo of perfectly browned potato nuggets. I wanted to love these, but my potatoes did not live up to expectations. It wasn’t really about the texture, but I found the flavor to be lacking and a little unpleasant.
Because the oven temperature is reduced to 350°F for roasting, the initial sizzle of the potato chunks on the preheated baking sheet quickly slowed, and my potatoes didn’t brown or appear to do much at all for the first 45 minutes except slowly bake in a generous swath of oil. However, after the full hour, they had deepened in color and taken on a crisp texture.
Although they looked beautiful, it was hard to get past the heavy taste of the vegetable oil that permeated through the potatoes. This was something noted in a previous review of Ina’s viral roasted potato recipe, and I agree. The greasy taste, coupled with more dishes than one needs for potatoes (I was picking starchy potato bits out of the grids of my wire rack with a toothpick for a while), left me disappointed and not feeling like these were truly worth the time and effort.
4. The Quickest Roasted Potatoes: Jacques Pepin’s Skillet Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary
Overall rating: 8/10
Get the recipe: Jacques Pepin’s Skillet Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary
When I read this recipe, I instantly thought back to when I found the best way to make glazed carrots. Granted, there is no sugar in this potato recipe, but simmering whole small potatoes with water, olive oil, butter, and salt created a similarly delicious result with little work. These are very different from an oven-roasted potato. The whole, browned potatoes have more of a snappy bite than chip-like crunch, and the interiors taste buttery, earthy, and super creamy. I kept coming back to them for just one more bite, over and over. With just salt and a sprinkle of fresh rosemary for flavor, I appreciated that the potatoes were not overshadowed by oil or other seasonings.
What kept these from rating higher is that the timing of the recipe was pretty inaccurate. The recipe instructs you to cook the potatoes over high heat and then low heat, covered the whole time, for a total of 18 minutes. Instead of being browned and ready to go, there was still water in my skillet, something other reviewers experienced as well, and my potatoes looked steamed rather than crisped. I continued to simmer until the water was gone, about 5 minutes more, and then added rosemary for the final few minutes, stirring and turning so the potatoes could brown on all sides and to prevent the rosemary from burning. Even with the extended time, these were ready in about 30 minutes, the fastest in the showdown, and most of that time was hands-off. This proved to be a great way to make roasted potatoes fast without needing an oven, although I did miss some of the classic browned crunch you achieve from oven roasting.
5. The Crunchiest Roasted Potato: RecipeTin Eats’ Truly Crunchy Roast Potatoes
Overall rating: 9/10
Get the recipe: RecipeTin Eats’ Truly Crunchy Roast Potatoes
I wasn’t sure what, if anything, semolina would contribute to this roasted potato recipe. When you shake the boiled potatoes with salt and semolina, the seasoning embeds into the potatoes and doesn’t feel like a separate coating. The potatoes are roasted in 2/3 cup of very hot oil, the most in this showdown, so they aren’t just lightly covered but are sitting in a measurable amount that comes up their sides. Even though you only flip them once while cooking, they come out evenly browned and crisp. The recipe states the potatoes will be more golden than dark, but I achieved a classic brown color.
After tasting these potatoes, I actually exclaimed out loud. Not only were they very crunchy, but they were also perfectly seasoned — silky, fluffy, and very rich. The semolina wasn’t gritty or hard and didn’t flake off when I was eating the potatoes. Even as they cooled they remained crisp, which made it very hard for me to stop eating them. Truthfully, these were my favorite potatoes of the showdown, but I had to rank them second because they were pushing the line between a roasted and a fried potato. Their texture hinged on cooking in a thick layer of oil, versus the hot, dry heat of the oven, which is the technical definition of roasting. But there is no hard-and-fast rule about just how much oil you can use when roasting, so I gave these some leeway — especially in light of the outstanding result.
6. The Best Overall Roasted Potato: J. Kenji López-Alt’s The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever
Overall rating: 9.1/10
Get the recipe: J. Kenji López-Alt’s The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever
I had a bit of a journey with this potato recipe, and made it twice. The first time my potato chunks fell apart after boiling, and the quasi-mashed potato mixture was messy and all wrong. I honestly don’t know what happened, as I had a timer going and kept a close watch on the pot because the baking soda creates a thick, foamy layer over the potatoes that threatened to boil over. Regardless, I started over and had a much better experience.
I let the potatoes roast for the full amount of time listed in the recipe, and although they were not quite as browned as the photos, they were close enough and nicely crunchy. The recipe notes this can happen because the starch and sugar content vary between potatoes, and even between seasons.
The insides were soft and fluffy, and the roughed-up exteriors had a textural contrast that almost felt like a crisp shell. They were not greasy, and the flavored oil was subtle — not overshadowing the potato itself, but still present. These are great roasted potatoes. Are they perfect? No. The crisped garlic bits didn’t stick to the potatoes but fell to the bottom of the bowl, bouncing off the sturdy exteriors. Although the potatoes were not dry, I would have liked a touch more oil for richness or a slightly thinner crust for a more ideal balance of texture and flavor. These are minor nitpicks, but the reason they did not score a perfect 10.