Skip Regular Butter And Oil: Roasted Potatoes Are 10x Crispier With This Ingredient

A mistake everyone makes with crispy roasted potatoes is using the wrong cooking fat, which tends to burn under the high heat required for great texture. Regular butter and oil each have their strengths, but neither gets quite the same result as ghee, a type of clarified butter with Indian origins.

High-smoke-point oil is great for roasted potatoes because it lets you use high heat to crisp the exteriors. However, it doesn't add much in the way of flavor, so you're missing out on an opportunity to layer on more depth. On the other hand, butter is great at making a hearty side dish, but the milk solids tend to burn at temperatures above 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Ghee, however, has virtually no milk solids and very little moisture, making it the perfect middle ground. With a smoke point of around 450 degrees Fahrenheit and a rich flavor, it's the perfect way to achieve great texture without sacrificing taste.

The biggest difference between ghee and clarified butter is taste and color. The former comes "pre-toasted," giving it a deep golden hue and an intense nuttiness that essentially kick-starts the roasted flavor of your tubers. Even if you don't use the various tricks to increase surface area, your potatoes will taste like they have more crispy outsides than usual. A small amount helps them develop the perfect color, giving you a showstopping presentation that tastes great, looks amazing, and still lets you use your existing favorite recipe with only one ingredient substitution.

Ghee's flavor is more pronounced than butter's or oil's, but it's still just as versatile. Rather than switching up seasoning, it's best to focus on how to increase the "roasted" factor of your potatoes. Increasing their surface area, ensuring they have as little surface moisture as possible, and using the correct type of pan are easy ways to improve their flavor.

There's an easy British trick for roasted potatoes that makes them exponentially crispier: roughing up the exterior. By parboiling them, then shaking them in a colander, you transform the smooth outside into one covered in tiny little ridges and bumps. These have a far greater surface area, which means your ghee has more room to help brown the exteriors, so you end up with more crispiness than normal. Not only does this improve the flavor, but it also speeds up the roasting time since you aren't cooking a raw vegetable.

Moisture is the enemy of crispiness and can prevent even ghee from creating a great texture. If you parboiled your potatoes, letting them steam-dry for a bit makes them easier to work with and removes excess water. If cooking them raw, it may help to pat the pieces dry first to remove excess surface moisture. Either way, a heavy-bottomed pan, preferably cast iron or stainless steel, holds more heat and can develop far better color and flavor than something that is thin, flimsy, or nonstick.