Oven-roasted baby potatoes
Boil them first, halve them, then 12 minutes in a very hot oven cut-side down. The method that gives you a charred outside and a fluffy inside every time.
Baby potatoes roasted straight from raw take a long time and the inside stays dense. Boil them first, halve them, then finish in a very hot oven and the inside is fluffy, the cut side gets properly charred, and the whole thing takes about 35 minutes start to finish. It's a better result for less oven time.
These work as a side for almost anything. Steak, chicken, salmon, or a cooked chicken from the supermarket with a couple of sides is a perfectly good dinner.
Ingredients (serves 2 as a side)
- 400g baby potatoes, washed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (or a few fresh sprigs)
- Salt and pepper
How to make it
Put the potatoes whole into a pot of cold salted water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes until you can push a fork through them without resistance. Drain and leave them to steam dry for a minute.
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Halve the potatoes and put them in a roasting dish. Drizzle with olive oil, add the rosemary, season generously with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Spread them cut-side down in a single layer.
Roast for 12 to 15 minutes until the cut sides are dark and charred. Don't move them while they roast. The char on the cut side is the whole point.
Serve immediately.
Why you boil them first
Starting in water cooks the potato all the way through before it goes near the oven. If you skip this and roast from raw, you'd need 40 to 45 minutes at high heat and the outside dries out before the inside is done. Boiling first means the oven is only doing one job: creating colour and crust on the outside. 12 minutes is enough.
The cut side down position matters too. It's the largest flat surface and the one that makes contact with the hot pan. Leave it face down and it crisps properly. Toss them around halfway through and you lose that.
On the rosemary: Fresh is better here than dried if you have it, but dried works fine. Add it before roasting rather than after so it toasts slightly with the potatoes.
On sizing: Baby potatoes cook evenly because they're all roughly the same size. If you're using larger potatoes, cut them into similar-sized chunks before boiling so they're done at the same time.