This Viral TikTok Trick Will Change the Way You Roast Potatoes
This Viral TikTok Trick Will Change the Way You Roast Potatoes
For potatoes that are perfectly tender on the inside with a crispy-crunchy exterior, follow along.
From Dalgona whipped coffee and mini pancake cereal to cloud bread, hot chocolate bombs, and Reindeer Crack, TikTok has provided us with a seemingly endless stream of esoteric cooking content in the last year. And while we love an over-the-top indulgent, borderline absurd dessert idea just as much as the next person, sometimes TikTok surprises us with a humbler recipe hack; one that doesn't involve a mountain of edible glitter, hot pink food coloring, and six cans of sweetened condensed milk.
Take, for example, TikTok user Jeremy Scheck's viral recipe for perfect roasted potatoes. The 20-year-old's video clip has already garnered over 4.1 million views and nearly 650,000 likes (one of which came from Kylie Jenner), so you know there's something to TikTok content that features regular food.
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Scheck's method is smart, scientifically informed, and incredibly delicious—and this is coming from a food editor that feels so passionate about the technique involved in roasting potatoes that she once made her own video about the maillard reaction. I'll break down his recipe instructions, step-by-step.
Use waxy potatoes.
They’re fluffy on the inside but their exterior crisps up perfectly in the oven with a drizzle of oil. Yukon golds are definitely my favorite option here, but red potatoes are another great type of potato that can hold their shape after they've been boiled.
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Start boiling them in cold water.
Dropping chunks of raw spuds in already-boiling water means their outsides will get mushy before their insides are cooked through. Starting with cold water prevents this from happening, because it helps the potatoes cook evenly.
Add a generous amount of kosher salt to the water.
According to Scheck, you should use what looks like “an obscene amount” of salt so the potatoes get infused with flavor as they boil. “You’re not actually going to eat all that salt, but you need the water to be super salty for the potatoes to absorb some and get the flavor,” he says.
“Rough them up” with a spoon.
Boil your potato pieces until they’re just fork tender, drain them and dry well, then smush each one ever-so-slightly to increase the surface area that will be exposed to the hot, dry heat of the oven. This way, as Scheck explains, you introduce “more craggly places to get crispy.”
Preheat your oil and baking sheet.
Not a requirement, but this is one of our favorite roasting hacks. Starting your potatoes on an already-hot pan increases their browning potential (and may cut down on your baking time a teensy bit). You can go healthy and use avocado oil, or indulge yourself with a drizzle of delicious duck fat.
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Add herbs and seasonings.
“I like to add fresh rosemary, Old Bay, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, thyme, and a little bit of Maldon sea salt,” Scheck says. That’s a lot of seasoning, but you do you.
Roast until golden brown, then leave them another 10 minutes.
Cook at 450°F until your potatoes are crisp and light golden brown on the outside. When they look “90 percent done,” Scheck recommends turning off your oven and letting the potatoes sit in there for an extra 10 minutes to get them extra crispy.
