Roast potatoes will be crispy and ‘crunchy’ if you ditch olive oil for better ingredient

Roast potatoes are the cornerstone of any Sunday roast dinner, but it can be tricky to achieve a crispy, crunchy shell and soft, fluffy centre. No one wants a limp, soggy roast potato.

The key lies in finding the best fat to help create the crispy shell. Normally, the first thing people reach for is olive oil, as many home cooks already have a bottle in their kitchen cupboard. However, one professional chef claims there’s a better oil that can achieve much better roasting results.

Lauryn Bodden, food writer, and owner of the snack brand S’NOODS, shared her go-to oil for the job with Simply Recipes. Forget olive oil, choose avocado oil instead.

This oil can help potatoes be “crispy, almost crunchy with a creamy interior”. She said: “It’s also neutral, so it lets the potato taste like a potato rather than the fat you cooked it in.”

The chef explained that using olive oil could compromise the roasties’ flavour. When the potatoes are roasted covered in olive oil at high temperatures, the flavour can turn “acrid” and “bitter”.

Olive oil has a low smoke point which means it cannot get hot enough to crisp the potatoes properly without them beginning to burn. After a long time in the oven, you may be met with a smoky kitchen while some of the spuds will become charred, bitter and potentially unpleasant to eat.

Avocado oil has a higher smoke point than olive oil (Image: Getty)

Instead, the chef recommends switching out olive oil for avocado oil, which has a higher smoke point. It has a smoke points of up to 260.

This means you can roast the potatoes at a higher temperature to achieve the perfect crispiness. Bodden said: “It’s also neutral, so it lets the potato taste like a potato rather than the fat you cooked it in.”

How to cook roast potatoes with avocado oil

The chefs recommended using three to four tablespoons of avocado oil per two pounds (approximately 900 grams) of potatoes. It’s best to generously coat all the potatoes in oil evenly so they crisp up nicely.

For the best roast potatoes with a crispy exterior and fluffy inside, make sure you parboil the potatoes until they’re tender. For craggy edges that crisp when roasted, chuffing the potatoes in a colander.