Hello friends!
Today, I’m here with a quick tutorial on how to make The Best Roasted Potatoes Ever.
The Quick and Dirty Summary
To start, let me say that this is a very efficient way to make roasted potatoes. We’re going to boil the potatoes while the oven is heating up. By the time the oven is hot, the potatoes are already cooked! They just need to go into the oven to brown and crisp up. This reduces baking time from the usual 40 minutes to an hour, to about 20 minutes. Not too shabby.
We’re baking at high heat – 475 degrees. If you have a convection setting, now’s the time to use it! The circulating air speeds up process and results in a crispier exterior. (This is basically what air fryers do.) If you don’t have a convection setting, no worries. Regular baking is just fine.
Now the longer, nutrition focused, nerd-out version of why this is a great way to make potatoes.
Following this method, we’re only using one tablespoon of oil. The result? Potatoes that are delicious AND nutritionally dense. Nutritional density can be thought of as the amount of nutrition you get per calorie of a given food. Fried foods, and foods that are very high in oil, can quickly slide into the not-so-nutrient dense category. Why? Simply because the nutritional content (think vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, fibre…) gets outweighed by the highly caloric oil. You end up with a lot of calories, not so much nutrition. When eating high calorie, low nutrient food, it’s really easy eat past your caloric needs.
Thinking about nutrient density, in my opinion, beats the crap out of counting calories or macros in an attempt to stay in energy balance. One element of this approach, is reducing added oils. If I can cook something with less oil, I do it! I’m not saying oil is bad, but reducing excess oil can be a helpful tool for keeping yourself in energy balance.
As someone with a nasty history of dieting and trying to manipulate my weight through restriction, I had to find a way to eat that could support my physical health AND (perhaps more importantly) MY SANITY. For me, this has meant completely letting go of calorie counting, macro counting, and weighing my damn body. I focus on eating nutritionally dense foods (most of the time), moving my body in ways that are enjoyable, and letting my super smart body take care of the rest. This approach is not my original idea 🙂 If you’re interested in reading up on it, check out End of Dieting or Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Furhman. For me, it has been a game changer.
Best Ever (low oil) Roasted Potatoes
INGREDIENTS
- Potatoes, any variety, as many as you want to make
- 1 tablespoon olive oil per 2 pounds of potatoes
- salt to taste
- seasoning to taste (garlic powder, cumin, cayenne… whatever you like)
METHOD
- For maximum efficiency, turn the oven on to preheat to 475 and fill a pot that will accommodate your potatoes about half full with water. If your oven has a convection setting, us it. Put the water on the stove to boil.
- Wash and chop the potatoes however you like. Add them to the water pot as you’re chopping them. We’re moving fast here people! Just chop those taters and get ’em in the pot. You don’t gotta be fancy.
- Boil the potatoes until fork tender, then drain. To save on dishes, return the drained potatoes to the cooking pot. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil (per 2 pounds of potatoes, ish.) Stir to distribute the oil.
- Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, fresh cracked pepper, and seasonings of your choice. (I usually just go with a bit of garlic powder)
- Bake until browned and crispy, approximately 25 minutes. Salt to taste and enjoy!These roasted potatoes are great with Lentil Mushroom Burgers or a Tofu Scramble.