Crispy Roast Potatoes – Clean Eating, Vegan, Gluten-free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free!

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A British Sunday roast classic, these timeless nuggets of potato are incredibly easy to make and yields a bite that that is SO crispy on the outside while being soft and creamy on the inside that it is guaranteed to rival your favorite French fry! If you know us here at Kitrusy, you’ll know how much we love the humble potato, so much so that we joke that “potato is number one”. So this recipe is long overdue. Let’s get right into it…

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Here’s Why You’ll LOVE This Recipe 💕

• It’s so easy to make!
• It uses just 5 clean and simple ingredients.
• It pairs well with any protein or veggie.
• This recipe isn’t just clean eating, it’s also vegan-friendly, gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.
• It makes a great side dish or snack.
• This recipe scales beautifully to make as much or as little as you like.
• You can crisp your potatoes up either in the oven or in the airfryer.

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Ingredients Needed

I love it when ingredient lists are simple but the yield is a spectacular dish. This is exactly that. To make this recipe you’ll need:

• Potatoes: Opt to use a starchy potato for this recipe. Today I’m using Russets.
• Baking Soda: An absolute must. Adding the baking soda changes the pH of the water which is what gives out that amazing crisp exterior and creamy soft inside. Trust me, the magic cannot happen without it!
• Salt: Use any salt of your choosing. We’ll need to divide it into two, one to season the water and the other to season the potatoes with after boiling. I’m using a Himalayan pink salt but a sea salt also works great.
• Black Pepper: This is entirely optional but who doesn’t like a well-seasoned spud? I’m using regular coarse ground black pepper.
• Oil: Opt to use a neutral-flavored clean eating oil with a high smoke point. Today I’m using peanut oil.

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Here’s How Easy It Is To Make This Recipe

We’ll start off this recipe by placing a large pot of water to boil and preheating our ovens to 425F.

While our water is heating up, we’ll prep our potatoes by peeling, washing and cutting them into chunks. The easiest way to do this is to cut them down the middle of the long side and then cut the half into as even as possible 2″-3″ chunks.

To your boiling water, add your salt and baking soda. The baking soda is an absolute must here as it changes the pH of the water and draws out the potato’s natural starches (why starchy potatoes are best for this recipe!) to the surface, as well as breaks down the pectin, the end result is a creamy exterior that roasts up to be insanely crispy and crunchy.

Boil your potato chunks until they’re fork tender. This should take about 15-20 minutes.

Once done, strain your potatoes and leave them in the pot. Set the pot aside for a few minutes to allow the steam to dissipate.

If you’re planning to use your airfryer, you’ll want to preheat it to 400F now.

You can see how the chunks are able to “dry out” after a few minutes. The steam helps any excess moisture to dissipate from the potato’s surface. This removal of moisture allows our potatoes to roast beautifully and attain that great crispy exterior. #potatogoals 🥔

Now we’ll oil and season our chunks.

Drizzle your oil over the chunks and then using a spatula or just tossing it, gently turn your chunks to coat all the pieces in the oil, you’ll notice as you do this the surface of your potatoes start to get rough and it will look like they’re just falling apart and there may even be a film of what looks like mashed potatoes in the pot, this is normal and it’s actually what we want, just be careful to not be too rough and break your chunks up too much.

Next, season your potatoes with a touch more salt and some ground black pepper.

Place your potato chunks onto a lightly oiled baking tray or into the basket of your pr-heated air fryer. Be sure you space them out in a single layer and don’t overcrowd them and don’t forget to scrape out the film of mashed potatoes from the pot and put them over the chunks, they will adhere to the chunks and brown AMAZINGLY, trust me!

If using the airfryer you will most likely need to fry them in two (or even three, depending on your airfryer’s size capacity) batches so be sure you account for that time.

The final step is to roast your potatoes at 425F in the oven or 400F in the airfryer. I recommend roasting them for 20 minutes and then gently flipping them and roasting another 10-20 minutes until they’re as browned and as crispy as you’d like.

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What Else Can I Add To These Potatoes?

While a classic salted potato is king in my book, sometimes you want that little extra flavor bomb, I totally get it! Here are three great methods:

1. Sprinkle the Tops: One very simple way is to sprinkle your roasted potatoes with any seasoning of your choice as soon as they come out the oven. Whether it’s fresh herbs like chives or fine thyme or a blend of seasonings such as powdered garlic, powdered onion, smoked paprika, etc., you can customize and season your potato however you’d like!
2. Flavored Oil: Take it a step further by flavoring the oil you toss them in! To do this you can use basically any herb of your choice but popular options include garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, dill, sage, basil, chives, cilantro, mint, marjoram, savory, tarragon, or a combination of herbs. To do this: Heat the oil you’re going to toss your potatoes in on med heat until it reaches about 200-250F, add in your fresh or dried herbs and allow it them to fry until fragrant and they are just beginning to turn brown. Immediately strain the oil/remove the herbs from the oil and then you can use that oil to toss your potatoes in! Or use a pre-seasoned oil such as a truffle oil.
3. Make a seasoned oil or butter dip: Keep your potatoes classic and opt instead to flavor them by making a flavor bomb combination of fresh or dried herbs and spices that you add to warmed oil or melted butter that gets served in a dish on the side so you can add as much as as little as you’d like.

In case you’re wondering why we’d season after we roast them, the main reason is that we don’t want our herbs and spices to burn and give the potatoes a bitter taste. Since we’re roasting at a high temperature, most herbs dried and especially fresh, will not stand up to the heat so to get the most out of any seasoning beyond salt and pepper, add it after.

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5 Tricks to Guarantee Crispy Roasted Potatoes Every Time

Just look at the gorgeous browning, you can see the crispy texture and how the roughened exterior creates the perfect crust for maximum crunch while the inside is perfectly tender and creamy. But to recap, here’s how you can guarantee the perfect roasted potato bite:

1. Even Cut: Cut all your potato chunks into the same size to ensure even cooking
2. Salt and Baking Soda: Add the salt and baking soda to the boiling water – do not skip this step!
3. Evaporate: Once you drain your potatoes allow them to sit in the pot so that some of the steam can evaporate off the surface of them – less moisture = more crisp!
4. Coat and Toss: Ensure your potato chunks are all coated in oil and don’t be afraid to toss them to coat. This will create a rough textured surface which is what you want, don’t forget to scrape out any bits of potato in the pot and add it to the tops of the chunks before roasting.
5. Don’t Overcrowd Don’t Forget to Flip! Space your potatoes evenly and in a single layer, do not over crowd them, this allows them to have the space to roast and crisp up on all sides. Roast your potatoes for as long as you’d like, to get them to evenly brown, don’t forget to flip them to ensure the undersides get a great color as well.