Last Updated on 5th May 2023 by
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While many people will parboil potatoes before roasting them to ensure they come out tender, it’s not necessary. You can roast potatoes without boiling ahead of time, and I’ll show you exactly how to do that.
The reason people will parboil potatoes before roasting them is to speed up the cooking process. It can take a very long time to roast potatoes from raw to make them tender enough to eat easily without much resistance.
Parboiling can be quick and simple and drastically cut down on the roasting time, but it’s a step you can skip, if you want.
Roasted potatoes should be tender on the inside, soft enough that they can be poked with a fork without any resistance. They should also have a crispy outer layer when roasted properly. You can make crispy roast potatoes without boiling, if you know the correct method.
Roasted potatoes make an excellent side dish to a larger meal, pairing well with boiled corn, garlic bread, and a meat, just to give you one dinner idea. Because they are starchy food, I wouldn’t normally pair them with rice or pasta.
Roasted potatoes can be topped with ketchup to keep things simple, or you can try topping them with the same things you put on a loaded potato, like shredded cheese, sour cream, bacon bits come and chives.
How Do You Soften Potatoes without Boiling Them?
There are actually several different methods you could use. One of the quickest and simplest is to heat them up in the microwave. Let me walk you through how to do this.
Microwaving diced potato pieces is one of the easiest and quickest ways to soften them. You can put them into a microwave safe dish after they’ve been sliced into pieces that are about an inch to an inch and a half in size. Cover the dish with a lid or plastic wrap and then microwave for about 10 minutes on high.
This will soften the potatoes completely, making them tender all the way through. It can help to give them a little stir at about the 5-minute mark so that they cook more evenly.
From there, you can easily roast potatoes without boiling time being needed at all. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes of roasting to start giving them a brown, slightly crispy outer layer.
If you soften the potatoes for so long in the microwave before roasting, you can overcook them and make them a little too mushy inside, perhaps a bit softer than you would like. You may want to just soften them for about 5 minutes in the microwave and then roast in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
This ensures that they’re tender on the inside but crispy on the outside, giving you a really good texture.
How Long to Cook Roast Potatoes without Boiling?
If you’re not parboiling the potatoes before roasting them, the roasting time will take a lot longer, but you can still cook them this way and get the texture just right.
Despite the longer cooking time, there is a big advantage to making roast potatoes without parboiling- it’s super simple. It really couldn’t be easier, and you’ll see that as I walk you through the process for oven roasting potato pieces.
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Clean off and scrub the potatoes, and then cut them into 1-inch cubes. There’s no need to peel them. Keeping the peel on helps them retain their fiber and nutrients.
- You can soak the potatoes at this point if you want, allowing them to soak for up to an hour. Dry them off before seasoning and roasting them, though.
- Season your potatoes, if you like, drizzling them with olive oil and adding salt, pepper, parsley, and other herbs of your choosing.
- Put the potatoes onto a baking sheet and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. You know they’re done cooking when the outer skin is brown and crispy and the interior is tender and can easily be pierced with a fork.
Can You Soften Potatoes by Soaking Them?
There’s an optional step for roasting without parboiling that I want to call your attention to, and that’s to soak the potatoes in water for about 15 to 20 minutes before you roast them.
You don’t have to do this, but it can make your potatoes taste better, and ensure that the potatoes have the right texture. It removes a lot of the starch from the potatoes so that they don’t come out gummy.
If you find that your potatoes have a gummy food texture to them rather than being dry on the outside, then you may want to try removing the starch by soaking them in water first. This won’t always be an issue, so you can try them without soaking and see how it goes for you.
When soaking your potatoes in water, make sure you use cold water. This draws out the starch, while hot water would activate it and make the potatoes and gummy.
Should You Roast Potatoes Without Boiling First?
It’s up to you whether you want to parboil your potatoes or not. That means dirtying other dishes and going through more steps to cook the potatoes, but it also speeds up the overall cooking process.
You won’t have to cook your potatoes for as long if you parboil them first. You’ll also ensure that they get really soft and tender on the inside this way.
Keep in mind that if you’re cooking a lot of potatoes at once, it may take longer to cook them than the cooking times I’ve given you in this article. If you’d prefer not to parboil, though, you don’t have to. Your potatoes can come out perfectly without going through this additional step.
Just make sure to check your potatoes when they come out of the oven to ensure that they are cooked all the way through.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
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Friday 24th of November 2023
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