Your New Favorite Side Dish
Today I’m sharing the absolute perfect pairing to my smash burgers! These crispy baked potato wedges are a simple side dish that tastes restaurant-quality. They are so easy to make with just the right amount of seasoning and texture (they’ll be extra crispy if you follow all my tips!). We love dipping these in ketchup, ranch, or even homemade BBQ sauce. The sauce from my fried pickles would also be tasty. Or, get creative and make loaded potato wedges with cheese, bacon, sour cream, and scallions–YUM!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Actually crispy! I provide lots of tips for this, like soaking the potatoes, drying them, and spacing them properly on the baking sheet. No frying needed. In fact, we are using a very minimal amount of oil here today. Takes just 10 minutes to prep before going in the oven. They are one of my go-to quick sides; I prep them first so they can cook while I prepare the rest of our meal. Can also be served as a standalone snack or appetizer like you would mozzarella sticks or jalapeño poppers.
What You Need
We’re using just a few ingredients today to keep things as simple (but still flavorful) as possible.
Potatoes. Russet potatoes are my top choice because they brown best and have the fluffiest interiors. Gold potatoes or even red potatoes could work in a pinch though. Oil. Lately I’ve been using avocado oil for pretty much everything (even frying, like I did with my old-fashioned chocolate donuts), but any cooking oil will work here. Spices. Including paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper. When combined with the salt, we are essentially making our own seasoned salt. This blend is similar to what you’ll find on seasoned fries at a restaurant (and is similar to what I use for my roasted potatoes, too)–yum! Fresh parsley. This is optional, but I like that it adds some freshness and color to the dish. You can certainly skip it though!
SAM’S TIP: If you want your potatoes extra crispy, add 1-2 Tablespoons of cornstarch with the spices. This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Them
Prep the potatoes
Scrub and slice (no need to peel) your potatoes into 1″ thick wedges, then place in a bowl of cold water. I recommend soaking them for at least 10-15 minutes, but you can always pop them in your fridge for a few hours or even overnight. This step helps draw out the starches in the potatoes, making them crispier. Note: do not soak the potatoes longer than 24 hours.
Dry & season
Drain and rinse the wedges, then pat them dry with a paper towel. Make sure you absorb as much of the water as you can; this ensures the crispiest results (if the potatoes are wet, you end up steaming them rather than crisping them)! Add the potatoes to a large bowl and pour your oil and spices overtop.
Coat in oil & spices
Toss everything together until the potatoes are well-coated in the spices and oil. SAM’S TIP: Don’t add more oil! It may seem like not quite enough oil, but it is! If you use too much oil, or your wedges won’t be as crisp.
Prep for the oven
Arrange the wedges on a parchment lined baking sheet, cut side down. Space them apart so they have a little room to breathe on the sheet.
Bake
Bake for 25 minutes, carefully flip each wedge, and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until crispy and deep golden brown. The centers should be soft when you pierce them with a fork. Add fresh parsley if desired, and serve!
Helpful Tips
Don’t skip the soak. Soaking the potatoes helps remove some of their starch, ultimately yielding the crispiest results. It also promotes even baking and avoids that sticky residue cooked potatoes can sometimes have. Dry VERY well. Use paper towels and soak as much water from each wedge as you can, this will make the wedges as crisp as possible. Russets are best! These will give you the crispiest exteriors and fluffiest interiors. Gold potatoes will work, but will be softer/not as crisp. For extra-crisp results, bake directly on the pan and preheat it. Parchment paper makes for easy cleanup, but to make the potato wedges even crispier, let the baking sheet preheat in the oven for at least 10 minutes then place the wedges (cut-side down) on the hot pan (be careful, don’t burn yourself!). Don’t over-crowd the pan. The wedges need some space between them to get nice, crisp exteriors, so give them room to breathe. Use a large baking pan or multiple baking sheets if you have to (though I always can just make it work with a single sheet)–don’t crowd them! When in a rush, ignore these tips. Sometimes we just need to get dinner on the table. Sometimes I’ll sacrifice perfectly crisp and beautiful wedges for quick and easy ones that may not be crisp but are still delicious. Just don’t come back and comment that your potatoes aren’t as crisp as you expected if you skip the soak, use Yukon golds, and toss them on the pan willy-nilly 😉
Enjoy! Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
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