For Crispier Roasted Potatoes, Use This Simple Pan Trick

Mashed, fried, sliced. No matter how you eat your potatoes, there's a method to cooking them perfectly every time. This is true for oven-roasting potatoes — while the oven makes them super soft and tender, it's hard to reach that irresistible level of crispiness you'd achieve from frying them. One potato roasting hack we wish we knew sooner? Preheating the pan before baking them. 

That's right: Popping your baking pan into the oven first gets it nice and hot and keeps the potatoes from eventually sticking to the bottom. This kickstarts a phenomenon known as the Maillard reaction, aka when cooking evaporates the outer moisture of foods, giving them a golden brown crust. Some chefs have discovered that pan-roasting potato chunks in a cast-iron skillet is a way to achieve this, too. Simply add oil to the pan and let it sit on medium heat until warm, then add your seasoned potatoes until they sizzle and brown.

Whether you opt for the oven or stove route, taking the extra few minutes to preheat your skillet or pan will ensure your potato chunks get that layer of crunch on the exterior while remaining fluffy on the interior, which we'd refer to as the perfect bite. Preheating the pan is a great trick for roasting other veggies, too, but the results just aren't as impressive as with starchy spuds.

Simply heating up your pan will work, but there are steps to making this hack work even more. Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. While you're waiting, drizzle olive oil at the bottom of your baking pan, then place it in the oven for 10 minutes until the oil begins to sizzle and the pan is extra warm. Take it out, spread your potato chunks evenly on the pan, and pop it back in for 40 to 45 minutes until they're golden brown.

If you decide to roast them on the stove, make sure your skillet is properly greased and sits on the stove on medium heat until the oil gets hot and shiny. Cook a layer of potatoes in the pan for 10 minutes until they've slightly browned. Then, add more oil and seasonings of your choice and cook them covered for 15 more minutes. Covering traps moisture to help them soften.

Another tip you can try? Cut and parboil your potatoes first so they're already soft, and then add them to the baking pan. This ensures the spuds are cooked all the way through and develop a fluffy interior texture. Next time, try this hack with our crispy accordion potatoes recipe, or add some truffle oil and parmesan cheese before baking — two of our favorite ways to add more flavor to roasted potatoes.