Who doesn’t love crispy oven roasted potatoes? I’ll bet you that even those who swear by the paleo diet probably think, “I miss me some crispy potatoes.” Even though I’m far from paleo (I love my legumes and dairy way too much), potatoes rarely make it into my meals. Diabetes runs in my family, and over the last 2 years I’ve changed my diet significantly to keep it at bay. This unfortunately means fewer potatoes.
Luckily a recent pang of nostalgia for Maryland and potatoes (weird, huh?) hit me just as I discovered an easier way to roast vegetables from Cook’s Illustrated. I could pull out the Old Bay, and I had an excuse to satisfy my spud craving for the sake of “work research.”
Before my roasted potatoes technique actually involved first parboiling them, “scuffing” them, and then finally roasting with olive oil in the oven. However, this involved more work than I some times wanted to do. This new method of roasting vegetables which I’ve adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated brussels sprouts recipe replaces the parboiling step by steaming the vegetable (the potatoes in this case) in a sheet pan at 500 degrees first. The vegetables then get roasted on the same sheet pan at 500 degrees. One pan to get messy and wash? Sold!
The recipe below flavors these crispy oven roasted potatoes with Old Bay seasoning, one of my favorite spice blends. If you’re from Maryland like I am, then Old Bay needs no introduction. If you’re not, you’ll find a container of this at every table of every crab shack along the Chesapeake Bay. It’s phenomenal sprinkled onto a blue crab, but since I’m quite far from blue crabs these days, you’ll find me putting it on my popcorn (my favorite snack) and sprinkling it on vegetables, especially crispy potatoes.
What are your favorite flavorings for roasted potatoes? Tell us in the comment section below!
To see a video of this technique, click here.
Helpful tools: 1) Sheet pan
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Hi I came across your recipe today as I keep trying to roast potatoes and wonder why I'm not successful. I used gas mark 6 and was wondering when you say 500 degrees, is that in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit? Thanks. Can't wait for real crispy roast pots!