Air Fryer Roast Potatoes

Very Important PSA: Yes! It IS possible to make crispy, crunchy roast potatoes in your Clear Mini glass air fryer. 

Want to hear that crackly sound when you drop roasties onto your plate? So did we. So we tested and perfected the recipe. And now we’re sharing the secrets!

We know you could be pained by past disappointments. We feel you. A soggy roast potato is a very, very sad thing. Hiding sorrowfully beneath a blanket of gravy, it’ll probably end up in the food bin. 

And we won’t pretend that we’ve never made a rubbish roast potato. But we think we’ve identified the main areas of risk. If you’ve tried making air fryer roast potatoes without success, it’s probably because you made one of these mistakes:

1. Your potatoes weren’t dry. After par-boiling, it’s important to allow your potatoes to dry out as much as possible. We did this by putting the drained potatoes back into the hot pan with a clean tea-towel and lid on top. Leave them for as long as you can, but at least 15 minutes. 
2. You didn’t add oil. Lots of foods cook beautifully in the air fryer without oil, but potatoes aren’t one of them.  Oil conducts heat, which means you’ll see it sizzling on the potatoes – it increases the Maillard reaction and creates a golden crust. 
3. You crowded the potatoes. Obviously we all want to eat as many roast potatoes as humanly possible. However, air fryer roast potatoes like space. This allows hot air to circulate properly and reach each surface of the potato. (Note: If you want to cook more potatoes, you can do it in batches, and the first batch will still be warm by the time your second batch is ready. Who wants a mouth-searing potato, anyway?)

Ready to make the perfect air fryer roast potatoes?  Let’s do it.

Perfect Air Fryer Roast Potatoes

Serves 1

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5” pieces
1-2 tsp olive oil
Salt

1 – Bring a pan of well-salted water to a rolling boil and add your potato pieces.  

2 – Simmer for 12 minutes, then switch off the heat and drain in a colander.  

3 – Return them to the warm pan and cover with a clean tea-towel and lid. (The tea towel absorbs the steam so that it doesn’t drip back onto the potatoes, helping them to dry.)   

4 – Leave to dry for 15 minutes.

5 – Remove the lid and tea-towel and add 1-2 tsp of olive oil into the pan. Shake vigorously (but watch out for escaping potatoes).

6 – Place the crisper rack in the glass drawer and arrange the potatoes on top. They should be in a single layer with space between each one.

7 – Roast at 200°C for 10 minutes.

8 – Use tongs to turn and rotate the potatoes. Cook for a further 5-8 minutes, then place on kitchen paper while you cook any further batches.   

FURTHER EATING

Now that you’ve mastered air fryer roast potatoes, you may want to eat them with everything. Dribbled with chilli oil or pesto?  Alongside a piece of air fryer salmon or a perfectly cooked steak?  There’s no bad way to do it.

If you want to serve your air fryer roast potatoes as part of a mini roast dinner, you could make the air fryer gammon joint – cook that first and leave to rest underneath foil. For a vegetarian roast option, try mini mushroom and sage wellingtons.

SHARE THE ROASTIE LOVE…

What do you mEAN we’re obsessed with roast potatoes?  OK we admit it. Please feed our passion by sharing your roastie before-and-afters on Instagram. Let’s make your potatoes famous. Tag #ClearMiniAirFryer and follow us @KelenandWillian