Not meaning this to sound all “but bacon” but is there such thing as a good vegetarian roast potatoe? I can’t imagine how all the seasoning in the world would compensate for the lack of pork/beef/goose/chicken fat. Hmm… <stares into oven wishing dinner would hurry up>

Olive Oil, plenty of salt and pepper, loads of fresh Rosemary sprigs.

Personally, although I’m not a veggie I’m also not a fan of my spuds tasting of animal.

I’m not vegetarian, but I can’t imagine there is not another way to get ‘extra’ flavour in to a roast potato.

That said, if the outside is crispy and the inside is ‘smooth’ I just enjoy them anyway, I don’t need extra flavour 🙂

EDIT Kinda like wot he said above

Veg oil, potatoes, salt. No need for anything else.

Dripping? Boak.

Olive oil, salt, pepper, done, as colournoise says.

I’m with Simon on this. Oil and salt is all that’s needed.

It’s only a baked potato without proper fat.
For even more flavour, use stock for the parboiling.

Bit of soy sauce mixed in with the oil, instead of salt.

Like colournoise said and give the pan a shake when you’ve drained them before they go in the oil (roughs the outside up a bit for added crisp).

Melt some butter and rapeseed or olive oil (not extra virgin) in a roasting tray in an oven. Pop in a few cloves of peeled garlic to flavour the fat.

5 mins later…

Toss the parboiled and roughed up potatoes in the roasting tin.

Take the garlic out.

Season with loads of s&p.

Roast for about an hour giving them a toss (stop it!) And a bit more oil every 15 mins until golden.

Done.

Errrr! Vegetable oil and seasoning. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ve literally just had roasted new tatties. Parboiled then roasted in veg oil with a little salt. Yumyumyum.

I can’t imagine how all the seasoning in the world would compensate for the lack of pork/beef/goose/chicken fat.

You have a terrible imagination 👍

Try rapeseed oil rather than olive oil, you can get it hotter before it burns and starts to smoke. Make sure you have a good quality spud which is quite floury, King Edwards or Maris Pipers are great.

Par boil them whilst the oil is in the oven around 200°C, drain them just as they’re beginning to soften. Drain them and bash them around in the pan to fluff the edges up. Put them in the oil, baste them, cover in salt and black pepper to taste. Roast them until theyre going golden, take them out, turn them and baste again. Tip the excesses oil away before putting them back in the oven. Roast them until they’re golden brown.

Tip, if you bash them around and there’s bit of spun in the sauce pan, you can scrape it out in to the corner of the pan and make crispy bits which are just for the chef. 🙂

Rather fond of roasted sweet potatoes in our house… olive oil here.

I use rapeseed oil for mine.
Unless I have a jar of goose fat in the cupboard.

Marmite 😁

Half olive oil half vegetable oil. Flavour and crispiness. I haven’t cooked spuds any other way in decades, and I’m an apex predator.

Oh and when parboiled let them go cold no need to bash them that way as the cold tatties hitting the searing fat makes them extra crispy.

same trick as used for chips part fry them lift them out and let them cool then back in the chip pan.

Oh and when our when our oven broke I used the deep fat fryer for the roast tatties, amazing but not exactly healthy.

Been using veg oil for roast spuds for years and I eat meat. Parboiling and adding to oiled pre-heated hot pan is key in my opinion. Needs less time to roast and if boiled until slightly flaking they come out nice and crispy.

Make sure the boiling water has salt in.
Salt, golden.
No salt, paid.
Light oil, high smoking point.
I’ve made lots and lots. If you really want to make an impression, toss in a little liquid duck fat prior to serving.

Oh and when our when our broke I used the deep fat fryer for the roast tatties, amazing but not exactly healthy.

Not sure what that means other than your ipad is broke.

Rosemary & garlic if you want something a bit different.  Plain salt & pepper if you don’t – although I only add salt post-roasting.

As said above – you can drain fat after they are golden and continue to cook in the oven to brown.  If you do that you can add flavour without the same risk of burning.

Adding chilli, and freshly ground cumin at that point can be excellent if you are having something Indian-influenced maybe tandoori-marinated chicken/lamb.  Grind cumin seeds with a little salt and add some chilli flakes. Then scatter some fresh coriander over the top when you serve.

Lemon zest and garlic can be a really nice flavouring – very good indeed with some grilled white fish.  You could add thyme at the same point if you like – if dried, grind with salt first.

This

Olive Oil, plenty of salt and pepper, loads of fresh Rosemary sprigs.

and this

Drain them and bash them around in the pan to fluff the edges up.

See, I’m all for the par boiling etc I just think that with only vegetable oil they tend to be a bit chop like. Marmite might be worth a go.

For the garlic, rosemary & salt suggestions, to be fair that would be nice.

Parboil, drain then whilst still in the pan add a glug of oil, a big glug of red wine vinegar, thyme or rosemary and if you want some cloves of garlic – then shake the pan with he lid on before putting them into the roasting tin

Or for something a bit different check our Thug Kitchens ‘Roast Potato Salad’ – they intend it as a dressed potato salad but with pots that have been roast first. However I use it for a dressing for hot roast potatoes. For this you don’t need to do anything with the pots other than fluff them up bit before you roast then but you can shake a bit off paprika in when doing the shakey thing

Then in time for them being ready to serve mix up a generous handful of fresh parsley, some finely chopped spring onion, a crushed clove of garlic, some olive oil, red wine vinegar and lemon juice (and a slash of water if it needs loosening) – toss the piping hot roasties in the dressing just before you serve

Olive oil works fine but I agree, animal fat is better (like chips).

Not sure what that means other than your ipad is broke.

No sorry my brain is broke.

My special ‘recipe’ is no parboil, a mix of normal olive oil and garlic infused olive oil. Don’t see the point in adding salt or seasoning at the roasting stage as you can add it later. Might chuck in a few garlic cloves in too – they come out lovely and sweet when roasted.

Of course the real trick is to choose the right variety of spud.

Edit: forgot to mention preheat oven to max so its nice and hot when you first put them in the oven (so 230 degrees for my oven) and after a few minutes turn the heat down to normal roasting temperature. You get a really nice crispy shell.

Olive oil
Crushed garlic
Rosemary
Thyme
Heat pan and the above in oven
Add potatoes and turn in oil
Sprinkle with salt
Roast and turn

Don’t see the point in adding salt

It help draw moisture.

Of course – roasties need a good gravy – if the whole meal is veggie rather than just the potatoes then this one

made with chestnut mushrooms and coffee is an absolute corker.

Been making tasty roasties for decades without animal fat, even before I laid off the stuff.

Easy:

Halve. Parboil. Then place in bag or pyrex dish/cover and marinade* overnight. Try to turn once so the juice gets in them.

*Marinade: a bulb of crushed garlic, some olive oil, sea salt, and the juice of fresh lemon or two.

Then next day roast in oven as normal, include all the marinade and garlic.

Flipping delicious.

Aunt Bessie, if I’m playing chef, with a bit of paprika and chilli.

Parboil then toss in a mix of cornflour, salt and pepper for a crispy coating.

Easy-peasy

What’s the advantage to parboiling? I’ve always just heated the oil in the oven, put in tatties and seasoning.

Well, for starters, if you boil the pots for 5-10 mins the outside of them will go soft – you can then give then a shake in the saucepan before adding them to the roasting pan.
The outside bits then go nice and crispy.

The best roasties in the world DO NOT use goose fat, badger grease, olive oil, old engine oil or any other kind of lubrication you care to mention, as popularised by bloody celebrity cooks.

What’s the advantage to parboiling?

THIS…

The outside bits then go nice and crispy.

BTW, I toss mine in a colander after par-boiling to roughen the edges more.

I should start this by saying that I DO NOT like Marmite and wouldn’t normally touch the stuff (and I’m only really a veggie by marriage). However, our technique is:

Parboil and then give the spuds a little shake to fluff up.
Meanwhile pre-heat the olive oil.
Add spuds to oil with about a teaspoon of marmite.
Mix it all around.

They come up great. And with some Tesco Vegetarian gravy are perfect.