Waitrose chef Stephen Parkins-Knight shares how adding baking soda to boiling water creates crispy roast potatoes with golden exteriors
This technique creates jagged, uneven edges that transform into crispy perfection in the oven.(Image: Getty)
Spuds steal the show at Sunday dinner, but mess them up and you’ve got a kitchen catastrophe on your hands. The ultimate roasted potato boasts a gorgeous golden crust with an airy, tender center.
Yet nailing this consistently can feel like an uphill battle. Enter Stephen Parkins-Knight, Waitrose’s senior brand innovation chef, who’s dropped his foolproof secret for flawless potatoes every single time.
Master this technique, and you’ll have everyone raving about your spuds. While countless cooks swear by salt for their potatoes, Parkins-Knight insists that baking soda delivers superior results. He suggests tossing half a teaspoon of baking soda into the water when par-boiling your potatoes.
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Cook them normally until they’re easily pierced with a fork, then drain and cover the pan with a lid. With the lid secured, give that saucepan a vigorous shake to roughen up the potato surfaces, reports the Express.
This method makes perfect crispy potatoes(Image: Getty)
This technique creates jagged, uneven edges that transform into crispy perfection in the oven.
Once they’ve achieved that stunning golden exterior that makes potatoes irresistible, serve them without delay.
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Parkins-Knight maintains that baking soda outperforms salt when crafting the ideal potato.
He explained:
“The alkaline environment breaks down the pectin in the potato surfaces more aggressively than salt alone.
“This super-charges the “roughing up” process after boiling.
“The surfaces become much more ragged and starchy, which, when shaken, creates an even more extensive exterior for the fat to cling to.
“So you get a crust that is not just crispy, but flaky and you then get deep golden brown, with an almost malted, savoury flavour.”
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Dining and Cooking