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I’ve found the best method for quickly making crispy roasted potatoes! It shaves about 15 minutes off cooking time, so you can have roasted potatoes for dinner any day of the week. These are spiced with italian herbs and a bit of cayenne – my favorite!
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PrintEasy Roasted Potatoes

I’ve found the best method for quickly making crispy roasted potatoes! It shaves about 15 minutes off cooking time, so you can have roasted potatoes for dinner any day of the week. These are spiced with italian herbs and a bit of cayenne – my favorite!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 3 large servings
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs red potatoes
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1/8 – 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp Italian herbs
- 1/8 tsp smoked paprika (omit if you don’t have any / can’t find it)
- 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt (or use 1/4 tsp regular table salt)
- chipotle aioli, for serving
Instructions
- Wash the potatoes and cut into 1-inch chunks.Place in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 12-15 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes or so, until easily pierced with a fork but not falling apart.
- While the potatoes microwave, turn on your oven broiler to heat up. Place an oven rack on the second position below the broiler – not the very top one. In addition, mix together all the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.
- When the potatoes are fork-tender, pour the olive oil, maple syrup, and spice mixture over the microwaved potatoes and gently toss to distribute. Place the potatoes onto a rimmed baking sheet and cook until brown and crispy all over. The length of time this takes will vary by oven – if your broiler is hotter, you’ll need to toss the potatoes more often and cook for less time. If you broiler is cooler you’ll need to cook them longer. The #1 important rule here is to check the potatoes frequently and never leave the kitchen!!
- Serve with some chipotle aioli and call it a day.
Notes
You can make these without a microwave. Preheat your oven to 400ºF, toss the raw potatoes with the oil mixture, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until soft. Then turn on the broiler and cook until crispy. This method takes about 15 minutes longer than the microwave method.
Read more about these easy roasted potatoes…
Raise your hand if you consider potatoes to be a primary food group ? ? ?
Raise your hands if your potatoes are never crispy enough and always take too long to cook ? ? ?
I think we’ve all been there. They sound easy and everybody and their mother on the internet says “These potatoes will be done in 30 minutes!” but every time you go to make them, you’re 50 minutes in, hungry as a beast, and the potatoes are just coming out of the oven. Oh yeah, and all the other dinner food has gone cold already.
Yeah, I’ve been there a few times.
We also like to have potatoes for breakfast, and about 2o minutes after waking up I’m usually famished enough to eat the potatoes raw, so waiting an hour for cooked ones isn’t usually an option. So we (and by we I mostly mean AJ) started experimenting.
After lots of trial and error, we found that the trick to making amazing potatoes that don’t take forever is using the least-sexy appliance in the kitchen: the microwave.
I know. I’m posting a microwave recipe on my blog. [[hides face in shame]] ? Stick with me here.
Here’s what I’m looking for in a perfectly roasted potato:
- The inside must be fully cooked through
- The insides must not have collapsed
- The outside must have crispy corners
- The sides must be browned
This sounds so simple, but it’s amazingly difficult to achieve. If you turn up the heat too much, your potatoes are browned too much before they’re cooked through. If you roast them longer, they take f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to get to that crispy-edged-browned-sides stage, and by that time the insides have started to collapse <<– I’m not sure if this is a technical term, but you fellow roasted potato lovers out there will know what I am talking about.
So basically… there is no way to get perfect potatoes by just using the oven. IMO.
Enter: microwave. The microwave (or microondas in spanish, which is so much more fun to say that I just had to say it – sorry) is amazing in that it cooks the potatoes all the way through without browning them at all. Then, you put them under the broiler for 10-15 minutes to take care of the crisping part, without worrying about them overcooking and collapsing on the inside.
The result is a perfectly cooked, tender potato with crispy corners and browned sides – ready in just 35 minutes. And, like, that’s a real 35 minutes, not the shenanegans you’ll find elsewhere on the internet promising all these things without a micrOOndas. (I know… I did it again.)
So… potatoes + microwave + broiler = roasted potato bliss!
Aren’t they just beautiful? That plate above is honestly what I had for dinner the night I made these. Nothing else, just these quick roasted potatoes. With my fav new sauce – vegan chipotle aioli. It was heavenly.
Almost all the ingredients for this recipe actually were given to me by my favorite grocery store chain, Vons! / Pavilions / Albertsons. I saw the opportunity to do a post for them and I applied immediately because AJ and I are really big fans of our local Vons. It’s across town and we still drive over there every weekend (passing other stores along the way) because Vons has the biggest selection at the best price, and their organic veggies are abundant.
I was so excited that they selected me to do a post for them (little ol’ me!), but even more stoked when a giant box of goods arrived on my doorstep, all from the Signature line of products. The Signature line has sooo many everyday products that we use all the time, and because they’re a house brand they’re super affordable, but with really high quality. You can only get them at the Albertson’s family of stores, so next time you’re driving past one stop for a minute to check out the goods.
As an extra bonus, Vons is giving away a $25 gift card to one of my readers! Enter using the giveaway widget below:
And when you stop in, grab a bag of potatoes because these guys definitely need to grace you table for dinner soon (I bet you even have time tonight).
Nutrition info per serving:
recipe makes 3 large servings
Pinnable image:
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Great post. The roasted potatoes are always crispy and tasty. It’s a simple and perfect dish that is easily available at any restaurant. Thanks.
I just don’t own a microwave oven,but thanks for the recipe .
Hi Johanna, I made a note in the recipe for making these in the oven. They’ll still turn out great, they just take longer to cook. I hope you like them!
You are speaking my microwave loving language and I can’t believe it but I actually made a last minute plan to roast potatoes as a side TONIGHT! Now that I have seen your recipe I will totally be doing this!! ? cheers to easy real people American recipes haha?
Yay! I hope you like them! Also, thanks so much for trying the Chipotle Aioli. You are the best!!