Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, these tasty oven roasted garlic mini potatoes are the perfect go-to side dish for any get-together! The addition of lemon zest and parsley leaves to this recipe adds so much freshness.
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS RECIPE
How to boil your potatoes: You should boil potatoes from cold water as opposed to bringing the water to a boil before adding your potatoes. Why is that? Because if you were to add raw potatoes into boiling water, they will not cook evenly. Therefore, fill a pot of water with cold water and add your halved baby potatoes as you cut them. At the same time, it will soak the potatoes which will remove the excess starch and will give extra crispiness once roasted.
What are baby potatoes? Baby potatoes are also called new potatoes. They are removed from the soil before the full potatoes come to maturity. Because they contain less starch, baby potatoes are the perfect kind of potatoes to use if you like full crispiness without having to fry them. I also love to use baby potatoes in my recipes because they taste slightly sweeter.
Can I use other types of potatoes? Absolutely! The types of potatoes best for roasting are the Yukon gold or Red potatoes because they contain less starch and therefore, will make your potatoes crispier. You can also use fingerling potatoes in this recipe; they make a great alternative to baby potatoes.
Can I use lemon juice instead of lemon zest? Yes you can. However, your roasted garlic mini potatoes will not be as crispy due to the water of the lemon juice. I suggest to go the extra mile and zest that lemon…it will make a difference!
Needs ideas for a main dish to pair the oven roasted garlic mini potatoes with? You can try my amazing and healthy Syrian mujadara recipe HERE!
Bon appétit!
Equipment
- Baking sheet with parchment paper
- Medium-sized pot
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 1 lb baby potatoes cut in half
- ¼ extra virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves pressed
- ½ cup parsley finely chopped
- Zest of one lemon
- Salt & pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. In a medium-sized pot, add baby potato halves to water and bring to a boil. Cook potato halves until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes or until a fork pierces easily through the potato.
- Drain the cooked potato halves and add them to a mixing bowl. Add 2 TBSP (half of the ¼ cup) of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well until all the potatoes are coated with olive oil.
- On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, add the baby potatoes mixture and bake for 20 minutes. Decrease temperature to 350°F, toss them around and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, the remaining olive oil (2 TBSP), pressed garlic cloves, parsley and lemon zest. Mix until all combined.
- At the 35th minute cooking mark, take out the baking sheet, add the garlic and olive oil mixture to the potatoes. Toss well and put the baking sheet back into the oven to cook for the last 5 minutes.
The roasted garlic potatoes are absolutely delicious! And yes, it’s worth to go the extra mile and use lemon zest instead of lemon juice: the potatoes were nice and crispy, and had a subtle taste of lemon.
Tip for cooking the potatoes ahead of time: I took them out of the oven after 27 minutes and when it was time to serve them to my guests with the main course, I put them back in the oven for 8 minutes as I was cooking meat on the BBQ. So everything became ready at the same time – potatoes included!