If you're looking for really crispy roast potatoes with a fluffy middle, you've found them! My roast potatoes are parboiled, roughed up and coated in flour before being roasted with garlic and thyme for an extra-crispy, golden coating.
The flour is my secret to getting that thick, crunchy layer around the outside, while the inside stays lovely and fluffy. They're perfect for a Sunday roast, Christmas dinner or any time you're serving up a traditional roast.
Even better, you can prepare these roast potatoes ahead of time, including freezing them, which makes them particularly handy for Christmas Day when you've got plenty of other things to cook.
I also love to amp up the flavour so I always add in a few split cloves of garlic, some sprigs of thyme or rosemary and a sprinkling of sea salt.
See how to adapt this recipe if you are eating with a baby or toddler here>
HOW MANY ROAST POTATOES PER PERSON
For a roast dinner, I usually allow around 250-300g of raw potatoes per adult, depending on how many other sides you're serving.
For a big Christmas dinner with lots of vegetables and other sides, you can allow slightly less. If your family loves roasties, though, I'd always make extra - leftover crispy roast potatoes are too good to waste!
You could also add a simple table:
2 people - 500-600g potatoes
4 people - 1-1.2kg potatoes
6 people - 1.5-1.8kg potatoes
8 people - 2-2.4kg potatoes
10 people - 2.5-3kg potatoes
I'd just double-check these quantities against your recipe serving size before publishing, as your current recipe allows up to 1.2kg of potatoes for 4 servings.
Perfect Christmas Roast Potatoes
These crispy roast potatoes are perfect for Christmas dinner because you can do so much of the preparation ahead of time.
Prepare the day or two days before
Option 1: Peel and chop the potatoes. Put them in a large bowl of cold water with a lid or cover with clingfilm.
Option 2: Refrigerate, parboil, fluff and coat the potatoes, then refrigerate until you're about an hour before you are ready to roast. Bear in mind that you may need to cook them for an extra 5 minutes as they will be colder than as if you'd just parboiled them that day.
Prepare well ahead
Parboil, fluff and flour the potatoes, cool completely and freeze. Defrost in the fridge before Christmas Day. Again, bring them out of the fridge about an hour before you're ready to cook them andthey may need an extra 5 minutes cooking time.
This means there's one less job to do on Christmas Day, when you've already got the roast meat and all the trimmings to think about!
How to Prepare Roast Potatoes in Flour ahead of time
There are two ways you can prepare these potatoes in advance for roasting. I ALWAYS prep my root veg the day before when I'm doing roast for lunch, and at Christmas taking one more step into the cooking process is even better. You can either do this days in advance and chill or weeks or even months in advance and freeze.
You can prep the potatoes up to 3 days before roasting. Once peeled and cut add them to a large bowl of cold water, cover and transfer to the fridge or even the garage (in winter) to chill. The water will keep them lovely and fresh and stop them going brown. If you are cooking other root vegetables like parsnips and carrots, these can also be prepared ready for roasting and added to cold water and chilled. It's best to take them out the fridge about an hour before roasting to bring them up to room temp. Then drain right before cooking.
Parboiling the Potatoes in Advance
You can go a step further ahead of Christmas Day or your usual roast day and prep and parboil the potatoes. To do this, peel and cut the potatoes and then parboil, drain, fluff up and coat in flour as per the recipe. Then leave to cool completely before transferring to resealable food bags and chilling for 1-2 days, or freezing for up to 3 months. If you freeze them, defrost for 24 hours in the fridge. Take them out of the fridge one hour before roasting time to come up to room temp.
What to Serve with Crispy Roast Potatoes
These crispy roast potatoes are perfect alongside:
- Roast vegetables
- Roast chicken
- Roast beef
- Roast turkey
- Roast pork
- Sausages and gravy
- Pastry topped pies
- Yorkshire puddings
- Christmas dinner
Here are some of our favourite recipes to pair with roast potatoes:
Roast Potatoes to Feed a Crowd
Need to roast more potatoes? No problem! I usually allow 300g per adult. Just remember you'll need to increase the amount of flour you toss the potatoes in and for every 200g / 7oz of additional potatoes, add an additional tablespoon of oil to the pan. Plus, if your roasting pan is crowded, you'll need to add an extra 5-15 minutes to the cook time. When I cook roast for a family gathering of around 10 people, I would do 2.5kg + a 1.5kg bag of potatoes and roast for an extra 15 minutes. I couldn't do it without my extra large roasting pan though!
Storing My Cooked Roast Potatoes
You can store leftovers in an air-tight container or resealable food bag in the fridge for up to 3 days (2 + day of cook). You can also freeze them, just defrost for 24 hours in the fridge and reheat until steaming hot all the way through. If you reheat in the microwave, bear in mind they will lose all crispiness. Best way to reheat them is to cook them in the oven on 180ºc / 160ºc fan / 350ºf / gas 4 for 10 minutes.
For more on safe food storage and reheating read here >
Diet Details
My Crispy Roast Potatoes are diary, egg and nut-free.
FAQ's for my Roast Potatoes in Flour
Potatoes. I always use Maris Piper potatoes to ensure that fluffiness on the inside we all love. King Edward potatoes are another option you can use in the UK and in the US, the best type of potato to go for is Russett.
Plain Flour (all-purpose US). The key is to add the flour a little at a time, I recommend adding it in three goes, tossing the potatoes in between to achieve a more even coating. If you are doubling the quantity of potatoes to feed more people, you'll have more flour and so you'll want to add it in 5 or 6 goes.
Oil/Fat. I almost always use olive oil to cook my Roast Potatoes. Occasionally I splurge on duck fat which is lovely and gives the potatoes a slightly meaty flavour. You'll want to turn each piece of potato around in the oil until it is completely coated in it for the crispiest potatoes. If you use duck or goose fat, you will need to pop the oven tray in the oven first to melt the fat for 5 minutes then remove and very carefully turn the potatoes around in the fat until completely coated.
Garlic. Adding in a few cloves of garlic will give your Roast Potatoes a flavour boost. And before you add the cloves in, use the back of a spoon to split them open a little to allow the flavour to infuse the oil and in turn coat the potatoes.
Herbs. Much like the garlic, nestling in some sprigs of thyme or rosemary is going to add more flavour to the roast potatoes as they flavour the oil they are cooking in. I usually use thyme because it's my absolute favourite, but rosemary will compliments your roast and the potatoes well too.
Sea salt. You can of course use regular table salt, but if you have it, go for sea salt for that extra flavour and minerals.
Adding flour gives the potatoes an extra layer of coating which becomes really crispy and crunchy as they roast. It also helps create those delicious rough edges while keeping the inside fluffy.
For really crispy roast potatoes with a fluffy middle, I recommend floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edward. Russet potatoes are a good choice in the US.
You can peel and cut the potatoes up to 3 days ahead and keep them covered in cold water in the fridge. Alternatively, you can parboil, fluff and flour them up to 2 days ahead and keep them refrigerated, or freeze them for longer-term preparation. Bear in mind that you may need to cook them for an extra 5 minutes as they will be colder than as if you'd just parboiled them that day.
Yes. For the best results, parboil the potatoes, drain and rough them up, coat them in flour and allow them to cool completely before freezing. Defrost them in the fridge before roasting and take them out off the fridge about an hour before you're ready to cook roast. They may also take an extra five minutes to Cook.
Absolutely. Goose or duck fat gives roast potatoes a lovely rich flavour. You'll need to heat the fat in the roasting tray first so it melts before coating the potatoes.
The most common reasons are overcrowding the roasting pan, not allowing the potatoes to steam dry, not coating them thoroughly in oil or fat, or not giving them enough time in the oven. If the potatoes are touching each other, they will steam rather than roast and crisp. You should leave them to cook until deep deep golden or with light brown edges even.
Yes, but they won't have the same thick, crunchy coating that makes this recipe different. If you want a traditional roast potato without flour, simply leave it out.
For the best texture, reheat them in the oven rather than the microwave. Cook at 180ºC/160ºC fan for around 10 minutes, or until piping hot all the way through. They will lose their crispness if reheated in the microwave.
Keep leftover roast potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.
Making my Roast Potatoes Baby & Toddler Friendly
Eating together is beneficial for families of all ages and stages, for a multitude of reasons; nutritional, behavioural, psychological and for healthy family functioning. This section will show you how to tweak this Crispy Roast Potatoes recipe for sharing with a weaning baby, toddler or a fussy eater, to help make it easier for you to eat together as a family.
Baby-Led Weaning
You can either cut larger roast potato pieces into wedges or you can slice open a roast potato and fork out the fluffy inside for them to grab handfuls of it. If you decide on wedges, ensure they are cut just under ½ inch wide.
Spoon-Fed Weaning
6-12 months
Slice the roast potato open and then using a fork, pull out all the fluffy soft potato from inside. You can add the potato to the rest of their meal in your stick blender pot or food chopper and whizz or pulse until you reach the desired constitency for your little one.
1 year +
Choose the least crispy potatoes and use a sharp knife and a fork to chop up into bitesize pieces for your little one.
I've also added these notes to the bottom of the recipe so you have them to hand when you come to cook. For more info on how I keep my family meals baby & toddler friendly, read here >
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ROAST POTATOES IN FLOUR
Special Equipment
- Large sieve or colander
- Small tongs, optional
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons olive oil or duck / goose fat see note 1, more if needed
- Up to 1.2 kg fluffy potatoes like Maris Piper, King Edward or Russett (US) peeled & quartered (small ones halved) see note 2 for increasing quantity
- 90 g plain flour
- 3 thyme or rosemary sprigs
- 3 garlic cloves
- Sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Add the peeled potatoes to a large pan and fill with boiling kettle water. Bring to boil over a high heat with the lid on. Once boiling, remove the lid and reduce the heat to medium, continuing to cook on a rolling boil for 6 minutes, or until a fork can scrap off a little of the outside of a piece of potato.
- Then drain the using a large colander. Toss the potatoes carefully in the colander to fluff up their outsides. Leaving the potatoes in the colander, rest it on top of the pan and leave to steam dry and cool for at least 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200ºc/180ºc fan/400ºf/gas 6 - ideally cook in a fan oven.
- In the meantime, using the back of a spoon, apply pressure to one side of each garlic clove to split it open (only needs to be split in one place). Set aside with your thyme / rosemary sprigs.
- Add the potatoes to a large mixing bowl and add in about ½ of the flour (you can eyeball the flour instead of measuring if you like). Toss through the potatoes with your hands gently. Then add the final ½ flour and give the potatoes a final toss.
- Add the oil to your largest roasting pan. Add in the potatoes and turn them in the oil until fully coated. Then space them out so there is a gap around each piece and nestle in the garlic cloves and the thyme sprigs. Sprinkle over your sea salt.
- Transfer to the top of the oven and cook for 35 minutes, then turn them over using tongs, sprinkle again with salt and return to the oven. Roast for another 20 minutes. They should be crispy and golden-brown when done. If you need to roast more potatoes and the roasting pan is crowded, with little to no gap around each piece, they will need the extra time to go golden and crispy so add on an additional 15-20 minutes cooking time.
Notes
MAKING IN ADVANCE
Can be prepped and parboiled up to 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container or resealable food bag in the fridge. Wait until the potatoes have cooled completely before you chill them. To make them weeks or months in advance, freeze in resealable food bags. Alternatively, they can be peeled, chopped and chilled in a large lidded bowl filled with cold water for up to 3 days in the fridge.Baby & Toddler
BABY LED WEANING
You can either serve larger potato pieces cut into wedges a little less than ½ inch wide, or cut open the potatoes and fork out the fluffy inside.SPOON FEEDING
6-12 MONTHS slice the roast potato open and then using a fork, pull out all the fluffy soft potato from inside. You can add the potato to the rest of their meal in your stick blender pot or food chopper and whizz or pulse until you reach the desired constitency for your little one. 1 YEAR + choose the least crispy potatoes and use a sharp knife and a fork to chop up into bitesize pieces for your little one.Nutrition - per serving
Elizabeth says
These roasties were extra crunchy! And love the flavour from the garlic and thyme. Everyone commented on them, thank you!
togethertoeat says
So pleased everyone loved them! Thanks so much for the review 😊