Here in the UK a roast is traditional to have on Sundays, complete with crispy potatoes, but the most epic roast of the season is Christmas dinner! I'm not going to lie though, I sometimes make these vegan roasted potatoes just to have with gravy. (My husband truly believes I make the best roast potatoes. Go ahead and try my recipe and you can too!)
You might want to check out some other vegan roast dinner ideas. And if you're making roasties, then you'll need a great Vegan Gravy Plus don't forget the other important sides, like this Vegan Cauliflower Cheese or these Brussels Sprouts with Sticky Balsamic Marinade!
Jump to:
🥔Ingredients
Here are the simple ingredients you'll need for the perfect roast potatoes:
- Potatoes: Floury potatoes such as king edwards, maris piper, russet potatoes are best for the perfect fluffy texture inside and crispy exterior. Avoid waxy potatoes as you won't get the right kind of texture.
- Olive Oil: Good olive oil is essential for making these roasties. Because these are vegan, we're not using animal fats, so the olive oil helps not only to cook and crisp, but adds flavor. You could also use cold pressed rapeseed oil or sunflower oil.
- Semolina OR polenta: This is my secret weapon for super crispy exteriors. Just a sprinkle of semolina or polenta adds superior crunch to the outer edges of the potatoes.
- Fresh Rosemary: A few sprigs is all you'll need. Fresh is best however you can use dried rosemary if you need to.
- Fresh Garlic Cloves: A few good cloves of garlic help to infuse the olive oil and add an extra tasty delicious layer of flavor. Honestly you could also use garlic powder if you choose to, however I prefer fresh!
- Flaky Sea Salt and a shake of black pepper.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
Follow along with these instructions for the perfect crispy roast potatoes.
1.First peel the potatoes and par boil them starting them off in cold water. *Don't cut them up yet!
2. Drain and let them completely dry out. This ensures you get a fluffy interior and crispy outer.
3. Cut any larger potatoes into thirds (Take a look at my 'potato cutting science section below for the best way)
4. Shake the potatoes around in a colander with the polenta or semolina to rough up the edges of the spuds.
5. Get the potatoes nice and roughed up.
6. In a large roasting tin, preheat a layer of olive oil (About 2 tablespoon per tray) . Once the oil is hot add the potatoes in a single layer and toss them the oil, before putting them into the oven to roast.
7. Once the potatoes are golden brown and crispy, add chopped garlic and rosemary. Return to the oven for 5 minutes and toss around well. Let the oil infuse with rosemary and garlic and serve.
All the steps are designed to create a really lovely perfect crispy roasted potatoes!
Hint: How you cut your roasties is important! Use the diagram below to help you cut your potatoes for maximum crispy surface area to fluffy interior ratio. Cutting on a diagaonal increases the 'flat' side, which makes for more crispy potential!
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
There are so many ways you could switch up your potatoes to add interest to your Sunday roasts!
- Spicy - a sprinkle of cayenne pepper or chili powder is delicious.
- Masala - add a generous amount of garam masala to the oil at the end of roasting for a lovely heat and spice.
- Marmite- for the ultimate roasties, add a spoonful of marmite and toss the roasties in it before the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- Gluten Free- choose polenta or omit the polenta/semolina all together.
- Other Fresh Herbs: chopped sage, thyme or parsley are all delicious with potatoes.
- Other seasonings: Choose Italian Seasoning or your favourite
🔪Equipment
You'll need a large sauce pan to par- boil the potatoes, as well as a baking tray to roast them in. You'll also need a good knife and a potato peeler.
🫙Storage
You can prepare the potatoes a day early by par boiling them or even roasting to the point you add the herbs. Reheat and add the herbs once the potatoes are crispy.
The potatoes keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container if they last that long. Also there's nothing wrong with sneaking a roastie out of the fridge at midnight. I won't tell on you!
Top tip
Don't crowd the potatoes in their roasting tray. You want to leave room around each one so they get super crispy from the hot oven.
❓FAQ
You need a floury potato such as yukon gold, red potatoes, maris piper or king edwards.
Christmas Dinner
Here are some great Ideas for a vegan Christmas dinner:
More sides!
You'll want to serve these crispy vegan roast potatoes with some other yummy sides.
📖 Recipe
Crispy Vegan Roast Potatoes with Rosemary & Garlic
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and leave them whole.
- Parboil the potatoes in salted water until you can just stick a knife in but it's not super easy to do. Don't cook all the way through as they might disintegrate. Around 5-10 minutes.1 kg potatoes
- Get a large roasting dish ready with a decent layer of oil in the tray. Put into a moderate oven (200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6) to heat the oil.3-5 tablespoon olive oil
- Drain the potatoes and return them to the hot pan very briefly to steam off any of the water.
- Cut the potatoes into 2 or 3, depending on how large the potatoes are. You want the potato chunks to be roughly similar sizes (check out the diagram for the optimal cutting pattern).
- Bash the potatoes around in the pan (put the lid on and shake the pan up and down). Then sprinkle with the semolina (if using), and do some more bashing around. This gives that nice rough edge. Then sprinkle with salt to taste.1 tablespoon semolina
- Carefully add the potatoes to the prepared hot oil in the baking tin. Toss them a little to cover them in the oil, and put in the oven for at least 20 minutes.
- Check on the potatoes, giving them another good shake around in their pan to ensure even cooking. Cook for another 20 minutes.
- About 5 minutes before you think the potatoes are ready, add the herbs and garlic and return to the oven. Let cook until they soften but don't burn.1-2 teaspoon fresh rosemary or thyme, 2 cloves garlic, Salt
- Sprinkle over the rest of the herbs while the potatoes are still in the baking tray, and add extra salt and pepper to taste if needed. Serve now, or leave in a low temperature oven to serve later.
Notes
Nutrition
The best bit about any vegan roast dinner is obviously those perfect Crispy Roast Potatoes. If you're like me and love them a bit extra, you'll add rosemary and garlic to really elevate the crispy roasties experience.
Here in the UK a roast is traditional to have on Sundays, complete with crispy potatoes, but the most epic roast of the season is Christmas dinner! I'm not going to lie though, I sometimes make these vegan roasted potatoes just to have with gravy. (My husband truly believes I make the best roast potatoes. Go ahead and try my recipe and you can too!)
You might want to check out some other vegan roast dinner ideas. And if you're making roasties, then you'll need a great Vegan Gravy Plus don't forget the other important sides, like this Vegan Cauliflower Cheese or these Brussels Sprouts with Sticky Balsamic Marinade!
Jump to:
🥔Ingredients
Here are the simple ingredients you'll need for the perfect roast potatoes:
- Potatoes: Floury potatoes such as king edwards, maris piper, russet potatoes are best for the perfect fluffy texture inside and crispy exterior. Avoid waxy potatoes as you won't get the right kind of texture.
- Olive Oil: Good olive oil is essential for making these roasties. Because these are vegan, we're not using animal fats, so the olive oil helps not only to cook and crisp, but adds flavor. You could also use cold pressed rapeseed oil or sunflower oil.
- Semolina OR polenta: This is my secret weapon for super crispy exteriors. Just a sprinkle of semolina or polenta adds superior crunch to the outer edges of the potatoes.
- Fresh Rosemary: A few sprigs is all you'll need. Fresh is best however you can use dried rosemary if you need to.
- Fresh Garlic Cloves: A few good cloves of garlic help to infuse the olive oil and add an extra tasty delicious layer of flavor. Honestly you could also use garlic powder if you choose to, however I prefer fresh!
- Flaky Sea Salt and a shake of black pepper.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
Follow along with these instructions for the perfect crispy roast potatoes.
1.First peel the potatoes and par boil them starting them off in cold water. *Don't cut them up yet!
2. Drain and let them completely dry out. This ensures you get a fluffy interior and crispy outer.
3. Cut any larger potatoes into thirds (Take a look at my 'potato cutting science section below for the best way)
4. Shake the potatoes around in a colander with the polenta or semolina to rough up the edges of the spuds.
5. Get the potatoes nice and roughed up.
6. In a large roasting tin, preheat a layer of olive oil (About 2 tablespoon per tray) . Once the oil is hot add the potatoes in a single layer and toss them the oil, before putting them into the oven to roast.
7. Once the potatoes are golden brown and crispy, add chopped garlic and rosemary. Return to the oven for 5 minutes and toss around well. Let the oil infuse with rosemary and garlic and serve.
All the steps are designed to create a really lovely perfect crispy roasted potatoes!
Hint: How you cut your roasties is important! Use the diagram below to help you cut your potatoes for maximum crispy surface area to fluffy interior ratio. Cutting on a diagaonal increases the 'flat' side, which makes for more crispy potential!
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
There are so many ways you could switch up your potatoes to add interest to your Sunday roasts!
- Spicy - a sprinkle of cayenne pepper or chili powder is delicious.
- Masala - add a generous amount of garam masala to the oil at the end of roasting for a lovely heat and spice.
- Marmite- for the ultimate roasties, add a spoonful of marmite and toss the roasties in it before the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- Gluten Free- choose polenta or omit the polenta/semolina all together.
- Other Fresh Herbs: chopped sage, thyme or parsley are all delicious with potatoes.
- Other seasonings: Choose Italian Seasoning or your favourite
🔪Equipment
You'll need a large sauce pan to par- boil the potatoes, as well as a baking tray to roast them in. You'll also need a good knife and a potato peeler.
🫙Storage
You can prepare the potatoes a day early by par boiling them or even roasting to the point you add the herbs. Reheat and add the herbs once the potatoes are crispy.
The potatoes keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container if they last that long. Also there's nothing wrong with sneaking a roastie out of the fridge at midnight. I won't tell on you!
Top tip
Don't crowd the potatoes in their roasting tray. You want to leave room around each one so they get super crispy from the hot oven.
❓FAQ
You need a floury potato such as yukon gold, red potatoes, maris piper or king edwards.
Christmas Dinner
Here are some great Ideas for a vegan Christmas dinner:
More sides!
You'll want to serve these crispy vegan roast potatoes with some other yummy sides.
📖 Recipe
Crispy Vegan Roast Potatoes with Rosemary & Garlic
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and leave them whole.
- Parboil the potatoes in salted water until you can just stick a knife in but it's not super easy to do. Don't cook all the way through as they might disintegrate. Around 5-10 minutes.1 kg potatoes
- Get a large roasting dish ready with a decent layer of oil in the tray. Put into a moderate oven (200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6) to heat the oil.3-5 tablespoon olive oil
- Drain the potatoes and return them to the hot pan very briefly to steam off any of the water.
- Cut the potatoes into 2 or 3, depending on how large the potatoes are. You want the potato chunks to be roughly similar sizes (check out the diagram for the optimal cutting pattern).
- Bash the potatoes around in the pan (put the lid on and shake the pan up and down). Then sprinkle with the semolina (if using), and do some more bashing around. This gives that nice rough edge. Then sprinkle with salt to taste.1 tablespoon semolina
- Carefully add the potatoes to the prepared hot oil in the baking tin. Toss them a little to cover them in the oil, and put in the oven for at least 20 minutes.
- Check on the potatoes, giving them another good shake around in their pan to ensure even cooking. Cook for another 20 minutes.
- About 5 minutes before you think the potatoes are ready, add the herbs and garlic and return to the oven. Let cook until they soften but don't burn.1-2 teaspoon fresh rosemary or thyme, 2 cloves garlic, Salt
- Sprinkle over the rest of the herbs while the potatoes are still in the baking tray, and add extra salt and pepper to taste if needed. Serve now, or leave in a low temperature oven to serve later.
Vida says
My last comment wasn't with a rating. Sorry!
Vida says
Innever comment on recipes but these are the VERY best!!! My partner was so impressed when i made these with maple carrots and a mushroom wellington. Yum. I hope to memorise this recipe and method and use for the rest of my life. 🙂
Thank you for all the details. I feel like I'm perfecting the art of roast potatoes whilst making these.
Now just need to learn how to make vegan gravy myself...!
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
I'm so so happy you loved these potatoes! They're our favourite forever too! We have a gravy recipe here Gravy that is easy and perfect with the roasties! xx