These Oven Roasted Baby Potatoes are the perfect side dish to practically anything. So quick and easy to make, whilst absolutely bursting with flavour!
This is the perfect recipe for when you’re on the hunt for a quick, easy and delicious side dish to add to your meal. Because who doesn’t love crispy herby roasted potatoes!? Follow me…
Roast Baby Potatoes
Baby potatoes are absolutely perfect for roasting due to the fact they require such little prep. Because really, is there anything worse than peeling and dicing large potatoes? For this recipe, all you need to do is halve the baby potatoes. No peeling is required (baby potato skins actually have a delicious flavour to them, especially when roasted).
Is it necessary to boil baby potatoes before roasting?
For a lot of roast potato recipes I do tend to parboil the potatoes before roasting, for a few different reasons:
- To soften the potatoes, so you can rough them up before roasting. This helps create a crispy texture on the outside, however, because we’re not peeling the baby potatoes, this reason becomes redundant.
- To speed up cooking. However, because baby potatoes are small, they roast pretty quickly anyway.
- To remove starch. Removing starch will help your potatoes go nice and fluffy in the centre as they roast. Because this is a quick and easy recipe, I skip this step. However, if you still want to remove starch you can just soak the baby potatoes in cold water (min 30mins), then thoroughly dry before continuing with the recipe.
In conclusion, it is not necessary to boil baby potatoes before you roast them.
Herb Roasted Potatoes
Potatoes lend themselves so beautifully to herbs, and this recipe is no exception. Sure, roast potatoes are great, but without the herbs, they’re just not complete. For this recipe the baby potatoes are roasted in fresh rosemary and thyme, then garnished with parsley.
Crispy Baby Potatoes
Okay, let’s talk crispiness. As soon as the bowl of roast potatoes is served, all eyes are trying to track down the crispiest potato. We all know it. As such, I’ve comprised a few tips for getting these beauties nice and crispy
Tips for getting Crispy Baby Potatoes
- Half them – A general rule of thumb is the smaller the potato is sliced, whether it’s fried, roasted or deep-fried, the crispier it will be. Whole roasted baby potatoes are much harder to get totally crispy. Also, halved baby potatoes work perfectly for the next tip.
- Don’t let them sit – Once you’ve coated the potatoes in the herbs and seasoning, don’t let them sit too long before you add them to the tray. The longer they sit, the more moisture the salt draws out and the more likely they’re going to steam in the oven, as opposed to roasting in the oven.
- Piping hot oven tray – Getting the oven tray nice and toasty in the oven beforehand will give you a head start. Also, when you place the potatoes cut side down on the oven tray they come out gorgeously crispy!
- Spread them out – Potatoes, like most veg, have high water content. If you cram them all on a tray they are simply going to steam instead of roast. Give the potatoes some room, they’re divas.
How to Roast Baby Potatoes (quick summary)
- Slice baby potatoes in half.
- Add olive oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Mix until evenly combined.
- Space out cut side down on a piping hot oven tray.
- Roast in the oven.
Roasted Baby Potatoes FAQ
If you want to prep them ahead of time I recommend slicing the potatoes and resting them in water overnight. You could also measure out the seasoning/oil, combine it in a small pot then tightly store it in the fridge. Then thoroughly dry potatoes then continue with the recipe.
Roast potatoes are always best made fresh, but certainly don’t waste leftovers. Just let them cool and tightly store in the fridge for up to a few days (or freeze long-term). Then reheat in the oven at 180C/350F until hot and crispy again.
Fresh herbs are definitely more suited for this recipe than dried herbs. I find dried herbs don’t infuse the potatoes quite as well in the short amount of time they’re cooking. It’s not a deal breaker for the rosemary and thyme, but the garnish (parsley) must be fresh.
Feel free to switch up the seasoning if you’re confident in doing so! In terms of herbs, I recommend sticking with woody herbs as they withstand the heat better than leafy herbs.
Serving Roast Baby Potatoes
Once they’re out of the oven they should slide nicely off the pan. From there, sprinkle them with a good helping of fresh parsley. Try not to think of this as just garnish, it adds an extra layer of flavour!
What can I serve roasted baby potatoes with?
- Great as part of a Roast Dinner.
- Awesome as a side for a Steak (Steak & Creamy Mushroom Sauce or Steak & Blue Cheese Sauce).
- As part of a quick & easy Dinner (i.e Pan Fried Cod, Blue Cheese & Apple Pork Chops or Garlic Butter Chicken).
- Serve as finger food with a Homemade Dip!
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these roasted baby potatoes shall we?!
How to make Roasted Baby Potatoes (Full Recipe & Video)
Roasted Baby Potatoes
Equipment
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
- Large Mixing Bowl & Spatula
- Large Greaseproof Baking Tray (see notes)
Ingredients
- 1.6lbs / 750g Baby Potatoes
- 1.5 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Fresh Rosemary, very finely diced
- 1 tsp Fresh Thyme, very finely diced
- 1 tsp Garlic, very finely diced
- 1/2 tsp Salt, or to taste (can adjust this when serving if needed)
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 tsp finely diced Fresh Parsley, to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C and place a suitably sized tray in there to get nice and hot.
- Meanwhile, slice the potatoes in half and combine them in a bowl with olive oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Don't do this ahead of time, the longer they rest the more moisture the salt draws out, and the more they'll steam in the oven.
- When the tray is piping hot, quickly take it out and add the potatoes cut side down. Pop back in the oven for 20-25mins or until fork tender and nice & crispy. Timings will depend on the size of your potatoes, so just be vigilant.
- Enjoy with fresh parsley!
Video
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Baby Potato Recipes
- Boiled Baby Potatoes
- Hasselback Baby Potatoes
- Mini Loaded Potatoes
- Mini Tornado Fries
- Hunters Smashed Potatoes
Delicious – crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. I made exactly as described. Note: I did use olive oil and cooked at 400 degrees F and had no issues with smoking oil. Thanks for a quick and easy recipe!
Awesome! So happy they went down well! 🙂
I used baby blue potatoes and they were amazing. Thanks for this recipe.
Glad to hear they went down well, Mary! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Classic and really good! I cooked mine at a higher temp and for a little longer. having them in a single layer all faced down. Crisped up. beautifully and such a crowd pleaser!
Happy to hear the came out great, Kate! Thanks for popping back and leaving feedback! Chris. 🙂
How long in the oven?
Hey Mick, if you check out the recipe card all the details are there! Easiest to click ‘Jump to recipe’ at the top of the post.
I’ve looked all through the recipe but don’t see any indication of how long to cook them
It’s in the recipe card. If you ever get lost just head to the top of the post and click ‘jump to recipe’
Hi Chris! Thoughts on freezing these babies? With U.S. Thanksgiving coming up, looking for a way to prepare ahead of time many dishes so I can enjoy the company of my guests. Perhaps prepping and and cutting back on the cooking – perhaps for just 10 minutes, then cool, freeze individually? Then let them thaw and cook them up for the entire 20 minutes? Thanks!
Hey Gabrielle! I haven’t made these ahead of time before, but at an educated guess…
I probably wouldn’t split the cooking. The key to these getting crispy on the bottom is the constant uninterrupted contact with the piping hot tray. Disturbing this might not result in the same way.
If you’re making them slightly in advance (say, the morning of). You could dice the spuds and combine with everything but the salt, pop in a zip lock bag (with the air squeezed out), then add salt and pop on the hot tray as stated in the recipe. I imagine the coating of oil would stop them from oxidising/turning brown for a short amount of time. Just don’t rest in salt otherwise it’ll draw out the moisture and you’ll be trying to get wet spuds crispy – not fun.
Or, if you’re going more in advance (say, night before). You could slice the spuds and pop in cold water, then cover in the fridge. You could also dice the herbs and combine with seasoning/oil and place separately in the fridge too. Then whilst you’re heating up the pan, just drain and thoroughly pat dry the spuds and combine with the herbs/oil.
Alternatively you could just do your method, I imagine they’ll come out fine, just two other ideas for you! 🙂
Made these last night with some burgers and my kids said these were the best tasting potatoes they’ve ever had! And for picky eaters, that is a BIG deal!
So glad to hear they were a hit Sara! 🙂
These look perfectly crispy, what a great side dish!
Thanks Amy 🙂
Now this is a perfect side for dinner! So well seasoned. YUM!
Thanks Shanika 🙂
WOW these potatoes looks so crunchy and yummy! I have to try this recipe soon!
Thank you! You totally should! 🙂
Great recipe, made it for date night. Hubby loved them
So glad they were enjoyed! 🙂