You CAN get super crispy roast potatoes without peeling them. These skin-on roast potatoes are gorgeously crispy on the outside, fluffy in the middle, and will save you a fiddly kitchen job. Just chop, parboil, roast, and you’re done. Scatter with lemony rosemary salt to serve and watch them disappear.
Table of Contents
- Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes, at a Glance
- Yes, I’m Leaving the Skins On
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How to Make Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes
- Three Tips to Get Perfectly Crispy Roast Potatoes
- Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes FAQs
- Fives Ways to Serve Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes
- Want more potato inspiration? Here are some of my favorites
- Crispy Skin On Roast Potatoes Recipe
Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes, at a Glance
⏰ Total time: 25 minutes
🍽 Servings: 8 as a side
🛒 Key Ingredients: Potatoes, salt, oil, polenta (or flour), lemon zest, rosemary
🧠 Skill Level: Very easy
🥗 Perfect For: Sunday roasts, Christmas spreads, dinners with friends, any time you need a crunchy side dish
💕 Why You’ll Love: Skip a fiddly kitchen job by not peeling them, and still get the most ridiculously crispy, golden roast potatoes.
Yes, I’m Leaving the Skins On
Who doesn’t love a gorgeously crispy, perfectly seasoned roast potato?! There’s something so comforting about that soft, buttery center and incredibly crispy crust that always keeps me going back for more.
But peeling a big pile of potatoes? No thank you. And contrary to popular belief, you truly do not have to get unreal roast potatoes.
Ever since I realized how well this works, I’ve never peeled them. And it absolutely makes any Sunday roast, Christmas, or Thanksgiving prep day a lot simpler.
Serve them alongside herby roast chicken for a lovely Sunday lunch, or do what I do and enjoy a big platter with plenty of egg-free garlic aioli for dipping!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Potatoes. Yukon gold, Maris Piper, Agria, or any potato labeled as being ‘good for roasting’ is best here. Just stay away from waxy varieties, like new potatoes, Jersey Royals, or Charlotte potatoes, as they won’t have the same fluffy interior we’re after here.
- Oil. The key to getting super crispy roast potatoes is to cook them in very hot oil. That means you’ll heat the oil in the oven, in the dish you’ll cook the potatoes in, before you get the potatoes themselves in the oven. Use light olive oil, rapeseed oil, or similar vegetable-based oil because they hold up to the very hot oven without burning and smoking up your house! Or if you’re going all out (this is what I do at Thanksgiving and Christmas), use duck or goose fat.
- Polenta. This is my secret ingredient. Traditional roast potatoes are tossed with flour before they go in the oven, but I find polenta to be a better option (it’s a tip I picked up from Queen Nigella). It creates a gorgeously crispy, crunchy exterior and clings perfectly to all the craggy crevices on the parboiled potatoes. You can, of course, use flour if you prefer.
- Rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and salt. While you can keep things traditional with just salt to season, I’ve elevated these with a simple mix of rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and salt to bring a lovely fragrant freshness.
How to Make Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes
This is a step-by-step photo overview of how to make the roast potatoes – the full recipe with ingredient quantities and more detail is at the bottom of the page for you.
- I like to chop each potato into three chunks, diagonally, so you have chunky potato wedge shapes. This means more surface area for the polenta to cling to later.
- Add them to a large pot along with salt and enough cold water to cover them, then cook until they can easily be pierced with a fork.
- Drain, then scatter polenta all over and give the pot a big shake. This creates the lovely craggy edges that crisp up beautifully in the oven.
- Once the oven is SUPER hot, carefully remove your tray and tip the potatoes into the hot oil. Cook until super crispy and golden.
- Mix the rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and salt through the potatoes when you take them out of the oven.
- Transfer the potatoes to a serving platter, and serve while gorgeously hot and crispy.
Three Tips to Get Perfectly Crispy Roast Potatoes
Preheat the oil you’re cooking them in. The potatoes should make a very satisfying sizzle when they hit the roasting pan.
Par-boil the potatoes in well-salted water. This helps to season them, and soften the edges for the polenta to cling to.
Fluff them up after par-boiling with polenta to create craggy edges and a light coating that becomes gorgeously crunchy in the oven.
Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes FAQs
If you want super crispy roast potatoes, this step is key. You can, of course, roast potatoes without parboiling, but it’ll be harder to get that super crispy crust and buttery soft inside.
The purpose of boiling the potatoes first is to part-cook them and to soften up that outside layer so that the hot oil clings to it and you get all the lovely, crusty, craggy bits.
No problem at all – there are a couple of things you can use instead of polenta. Plain, all-purpose flour is the one that most people will have in the cupboard, or you could use semolina or almond flour.
You can! I often do this when I’m having people over because it makes things a little easier. Just cook the potatoes for 20 minutes or until they start looking golden. Remove the potatoes from the tray and set them aside to cool, then drain the oil into a container. You can refrigerate both (covered) for a day, and then all you’ll need to do is heat the oil in a tray for 10 minutes at 450°F (220°C), before popping the potatoes back in and cooking for another 25 minutes until golden and crispy all over.
You can also cook the potatoes for 20 minutes earlier in the day you’re going to serve them, remove them, and leave them at room temperature for a couple of hours, then add them back into the oven for another 25 minutes when you’re ready to serve.
Much like the heat of your oil, the potato type is super important if you’re looking for a super crispy result.
I like using Maris Piper or Agria potatoes, but Yukon Gold or King Edward are other varieties you could use. You just want to stay away from new potatoes or waxy potatoes because they won’t get the fluffy center we’re after.
There are a couple of reasons this might be happening – excess moisture in your potatoes, or an overcrowded tray.
Make sure you let the potatoes steam-dry in the empty pan while the oil heats up, and coat them in the oil when you add them to the pan.
You also want to ensure your potates are spread into a single later to roast (use two trays if you need to). This will prevent them steaming and going soggy if they’re on top of eachother.
And if they’re still pale after the suggested cooking time, pop them back into the oven until they’re deeply golden and super crispy. Different ovens behave differently and can be track cooler than you’d think.
Fives Ways to Serve Crispy Skin-On Roast Potatoes
Honestly, I can eat these potatoes by themselves, but of COURSE, many things go perfectly with these crispy delights. I love them as a side to different grilled or roasted meat and fish, with a lovely fresh salad, or loaded up with sauces and herbs for a loaded potato dish. And they’re perfect as part of a Christmas or Thanksgiving spread.
- Enjoy them with this quick miso grilled chicken and courgette and peach salad for a summery al fresco meal.
- Have a Middle Eastern-inspired feast with juicy lamb koftas, creamy oil-free hummus and a chopped green goddess salad.
- Pair with honey and harissa glazed halloumi for a vegetarian spread.
- Dip them into easy vegan garlic aioli, 2-minute gochujang mayo or tahini yogurt sauce for a fabulous snack.
- For for a full Christmas or Thanksgiving spread, serve them with juicy herb roasted chicken, or crispy slow-roasted pork belly, this roasted butternut squash and feta salad, no yeast garlic butter dinner rolls, and a grilled broccoli crunch salad.
Want more potato inspiration? Here are some of my favorites
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
Crispy Skin On Roast Potatoes
Ingredients
Method
- Heat your oil. Pour 4 tablespoons of oil into a large roasting tray or ovenproof dish big enough to hold all the potatoes on one layer. You may need to use two, depending on the size of your tray. Pop into the oven and turn it to 450°F (220°C fan).
- Par-boil the potatoes. Chop your potatoes into rough, large chunks – I normally cut them into three chunks on a diagonal – then pop them in a large pot, add 1 tablespoon of salt, and cover with cold water. Put the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes, until easily pierced with a fork.
- Drain and shake the potatoes. Drain the water out of the pot using a colander, then put the potatoes back into the dry pot. Sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of polenta, then give the pot a very good shake, making sure the polenta coats the potatoes and they get a little roughed up (this will give you the lovely crispy exterior).Leave the potatoes to steam-dry while your oven and the oil get very hot – the oven should be heating for at least 30 minutes.
- Roast the potatoes. Carefully remove the tray from the oven and tip the potatoes into the tray with the hot oil, being careful to avoid any hot oil splatter. Roast for about 45 minutes, turning a couple of times throughout the cooking process.After 45 minutes, the potatoes should be golden and crispy on the outside (you can cut into one to test this). Once they are golden and crispy, remove them from the oven.
- Prepare the garnish.Mix the chopped rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and 1 tablespoon of flaky sea salt in a small bowl.
- Garnish and serve.Add the rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and salt mix to the tray and mix through the potatoes. Transfer them to a serving plate and serve right away (you can also serve them directly from the roasting dish to reduce the washing up).
I just love your polenta idea for coating, it’s so much less messy and sticky than flour – brilliant! I am now compelled to try to coat everything in it haha
Right!! It works so well! I am obsessed, hahaha