Ina Garten's Garlic Roasted Potatoes - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep garlic from burning when roasting potatoes? ›

How do you not burn garlic when roasting potatoes? By leaving garlic cloves in their skin they don't burn but instead roast and become super soft and buttery.

Boil chunks of potato until they're just tender, toss them none-too-gently with fat (ideally beef drippings) to rough up their surface, then roast them until they're crisp and crackling. The boiling and roughing-up steps are the real keys.

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

Just as overcrowding bacon or mushrooms in a saucepan causes disappointingly mushy results, placing potatoes too close to each other on a baking sheet will prevent them from crisping while they roast. Ovens are like saunas, blasting potatoes with dry, hot air.

The same goes for roasting garlic, by the way. A whole head of garlic that's been halved, rubbed with oil, and wrapped in foil then baked in an oven turns sweet, creamy, and spreadable. But keep the temperature no higher than 375˚F, or the outer edges will burn before it has time to soften.

Do I have to boil potatoes before roasting? Not necessary but this can help get the perfect consistency and crispiness. Make sure you boil them but leave them a bit al dente and they will crisp up perfectly in the oven.

Roast for 1hr until golden and crisp, and don't forget to turn them occasionally to ensure they cook evenly. Here's a few tricks to try to make them even more delicious. Sprinkle your parboiled potatoes with flour. This gives potatoes extra crunch.

Yes! Soak the potatoes in cold water to remove the excess starch from the outside of the potato. There are a few reasons why you want to remove that starch (it makes the potatoes burn, it keeps them from crisping up, it turns to sugar) but all you really need to remember is to soak them at least one hour.

"Placing [peeled and cut] potatoes in water helps prevent oxidation, which turns their exposed flesh brown," says Ronna Welsh, the author of The Nimble Cook and the owner and chef instructor at Purple Kale Kitchenworks in Brooklyn, N.Y. While oxidation won't make the potatoes unsafe to eat, it does change their flavor.

Is it better to roast potatoes on parchment paper or aluminum foil? ›

TIP: parchment paper is better to prevent sticking, but aluminum foil yields crispier results. If you use foil, you'll want to lightly grease it to prevent the potatoes from sticking. Note that even if you do that, they may still stick.

Also, be mindful of the oil. Potatoes can react like sponges; too much oil can make your potatoes appear to be soggy. Try placing oil in a spray bottle or using an aerosol to apply the oil to the potatoes. Lastly, ensure that the potatoes are dry before you add the oil.

To have a truly marvellous roast potato, one must simply let the potato dry completely after parboiling, before roasting in extremely hot fat. If you have two ovens you can cook them separately to your roast at a different temperature.

A baked potato needs to be cooked for at least 45 minutes to an hour at a high temperature (around 400-425 degrees Fahrenheit) to become crispy on the outside. You might not be using enough oil. If you're not using enough oil to coat the potato, it won't get crispy as it bakes.

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Higher oven temperatures can cause the outer edges of the exposed garlic cloves to burn before the middles have time to soften, leaving you with a roast of uneven cloves, where the outsides are crispy and overcooked but the middle is still raw.

Never store potatoes with fruit, onions, or garlic. Fresh fruit can give off ethylene gas, a natural substance that causes the fruit to ripen. The ethylene gas will cause the potato to sprout.

Garlic tends to burn in dry, high heat, so we want to provide an environment that keeps it evenly heated and protected from the elements. Most recipes suggest wrapping it in foil. I place the heads of garlic in a stainless steel saucepan or skillet and cover it with an oven-safe lid.