Easy roast potato trick that promises perfectly crisp tatties every time

are one of the most versatile side dishes for any meal, and there's a simple trick to get them crisp every time. Crispy and golden with a fluffy inside is what everyone wants, but sometimes you can be left with a soggy mess.

So to ensure everyone gets their roasties perfect every single time, 's head chef Jamie Robinson is here to help. The expert has shared his best-kept tattie secrets - and you will be sure to impress your guests.

While Jamie's top tips were for , you can copy his method any time of the year - and it's all thanks to some advice from his mum.

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"I've got a proper hack that we do, but I actually learned it from my mum," says Jamie. "My mum always does the roast potatoes, and she blanches them for a week before to get them really crispy. She'll blanch them in boiling water, take them out and let them cook on a wire rack.

"Then, she bags them up with beef dripping and freezes them before taking them out on Christmas Eve. This process of freezing will mean the starch will really set in place.

"Then, when you take them out of the freezer and cook them, they are the crispiest, fluffiest roast potatoes. It saves messing about on Christmas morning."

Jamie recommends taking all items out of the freezer on Christmas Eve, so they are ready to cook on Christmas Day. "I really maximise my freezer in the lead up to Christmas", he says.

"There's certain things I won’t freeze, like carrots, because I like honey roasting them, so I’ll do these fresh on the day." For those wanting to save space, Jamie recommends using an air fryer to roast up potatoes on the day.

"I think the key thing for me is if I'm cooking for a few people up to four, you've probably got enough space in the air fry for the roast potatoes," he says. "It's brilliant and saves a lot of time.

"You can even roast some parsnips in there. Put them in boiling water first, cool them down and then put them in the air fryer with some honey or maple syrup. That can save a lot of oven space."

Jamie's ultimate roast potato recipe

Ingredients:

1kg of Tesco Maris Piper or Tesco Finest Red Skin Potatoes

2 heads of garlic

1 bunch of thyme

4 bay leaves

100ml Tesco pure vegetable oil or dripping

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

Peel the potatoes and chop into quarters, then gently boil in unsalted water until tender. Remove from the water and place on a large baking tray - move them around a bit to ruffle the sides and then leave to cool completely. Once cool, pop in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Once chille,d remove and add to a bowl.

While the potatoes are in the fridge, finely chop half the thyme and garlic and add to the bowl of chilled potatoes along with the vegetable oil or dripping. Coat them gently in the bowl and then either add to freezer bags and freeze until needed or add to the roasting tray. Season with salt and pepper and bake in the oven.

Roast at 220ºC for around 30-40 mins, giving them a shuffle every 10-15 mins. Finely chop the remaining garlic and thyme and add to the roasties at 30-40 minutes in, then continue cooking at 220ºC until they are even and crispy.

An earlier version of this story was published in November 2024

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