13 Ways To Add More Flavor To Roasted Potatoes

It's 6 p.m. on a Monday night, and you don't know what to make for dinner. Time is running out, and your kids are getting hungry. The easiest thing to do is to dice up some potatoes and throw them in the oven. But it doesn't have to be that way — boring, that is. Those diced potatoes might look sad on their own, but if you play your cards right, you can pack such a punch of flavor in them that you'll still be tasting them the next day. And maybe the day after that. And the best part is that it's not even hard.

First of all, potatoes are pretty easy to find. High, glorious piles of them grace the supermarket aisles on any given day, so plentiful that they almost make the entire produce section look like a big, golden ball of sunshine. Second, they're easy as pie. Or easy as potato, if you will. After a few quick prep steps, they can be tossed into the oven. Lastly, they're unfailing people pleasers: They can be prepared in many different ways, paired with meat, fish, or beans, and they're naturally gluten-free.

You have some potatoes on hand, but somehow, that doesn't seem like enough. The good news is that you don't need fancy ingredients to make your potatoes pop — you just need to play around with one or more herbs you might have leftover from a previous recipe.

How many strands of rosemary does one really need? They seem to be sold in bushes when you only need a few leaves to make a simple sauce. Chances are, then, that you have a few extra sprigs of rosemary lying around in your fridge. Don't throw them away. Simply toss them into your dish with your potatoes, olive oil, and salt, and let them work their magic in the oven. The same can be done with thyme, bay leaves, and the dried oregano that has been waiting patiently on the back of your spice rack.

Cheese can make anything taste better, and this is especially true of potatoes. Most varieties will do the trick because cheese is generally amazing, but let's focus on the types that won't compromise that crispiness we worked so hard to achieve. Parmesan definitely fits the bill. Its crumbly, grainy texture devoid of much moisture lends itself well to a crunchy setting. All you have to do is grate it, mix it with some butter, salt, and pepper, and spread it over the bottom of your baking dish. To ensure your potatoes take full advantage of their cheesy companion, gently score them before placing them face down in the dish. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes.

Another great cheese option is pecorino, which looks and acts very much like parmesan but tastes entirely different. As the name suggests ("pecora" translates to "sheep" in Italian), this cheese is made with sheep's milk instead of cow's milk, lending a saltier and more grassy flavor that pairs beautifully with crispy potatoes. To include pecorino in your roasted recipe, mix it with cornstarch and olive oil, coat your potatoes with the combo, and bake for 35 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fat takes to potatoes like ducks to water, so it would be a shame to keep them apart. Next time you prepare a roasted chicken or cut of beef, pour the resulting juice (or drippings) — composed mostly of fat — into a jar and set it aside. That way, when Monday night rolls around and you're looking for a way to upgrade your potatoes, you can just pull out your jar of tricks and pour it on your potatoes before cooking them in the oven as you normally would. Just make sure you give yourself enough time to return the drippings to a liquid state. 

If you stored it in the fridge, as you should, it would have congealed as it cooled. This means you will have to first heat the fat in a separate pan to return it to its melted state before adding it to your potatoes. Adding animal or other types of fats to your potatoes can even give you a health boost. The British Journal of Nutrition reports that adding fat to potatoes can reduce your body's glycemic response to the tuber, keeping blood glucose levels low — where they should be.

There may not be any bona fide truffle oil dug up by hogs (because, yes, truffle hunters sometimes use pigs to help them sniff out this delicacy) in your average store-bought bottle, but the stuff still tastes good, and you can't argue with that. All you have to do is drizzle some on your roasted potatoes after they come out of the oven. And remember, whatever you do, do not put the truffle on before roasting. Truffle oil is beautiful because it is delicate, and the high heat and longish cooking time needed to roast potatoes risks destroying much of the truffle oil's flavor. Think of it more as a finishing oil, something to add at the end to boost flavor. And if you want to really impress your dinner guests, back up your fake truffle oil with the real stuff and shave a bit of actual truffle on top of your potatoes.

Roasted potatoes are a great winter staple. They're warm, comforting, and they make you feel all fuzzy inside. But if you want something lighter and brighter for summer, just add lemon. All you'll need are potatoes, lemons, olive oil, garlic, and dried spices. For extra lightness, swap in some dried or chopped up fresh mint and add it to your mix. Simply chop your potatoes into wedges, and follow this recipe for Lemony Roasted Potatoes. And there's a bonus to adding lemon to your potatoes: You can say goodbye to that grayish-brown color potatoes sometimes get when they've been left out for too long. The starch in the potatoes, which we normally love so much, is the culprit here: starch and oxygen combine to create oxidation, which leads to a change in color, among other things. Meanwhile, acidic substances such as lemon juice counteract the effect, leaving potatoes and other starchy produce looking snowy white!

Before you run for the hills, consider that you don't have to slather it on your potatoes. You can simply add a tasteful amount, and it'll go a long way. And when you remember what's actually in Marmite, it won't sound so bad: It contains yeast extract (which itself consists of barley, wheat, oats, and rye), salt, vegetable juice (from concentrate), vitamins, and celery. Nothing too strange, in other words.

So how does it work? In one iteration of this recipe, you'll want to parboil the potatoes with Marmite in the water. Be sure to adjust the amount you add to the level of love you have for the spread. After that, continue roasting your potatoes as you normally would. Another option is to dab your potatoes with it right before they go in the oven. In both cases, you'll end up with a deep brown color and loads of flavor. And if you've never heard of Marmite until now, consider yourself lucky that you are being introduced to it like this, rather than how most of the world eats it — unceremoniously slapped across dry toast.