Perfectly Crispy Oven Baked Potato Wedges
Potato wedges that are fluffy on the inside and perfectly golden with a shatter-crisp coating on the outside. This amount will make 3 large or 4 medium-sized portions.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
Method
Peel the potatoes and and cut into quarters (if small) and eighths (if larger) to create the wedge shape (see notes below)
Add potato wedges to a large saucepan, cover with cold water and salt the water generously with table salt. Turn onto a high heat.
Tip: you can place a wooden spoon over the top of the pan to help stop the water from boiling over
When the water gets to a rolling boil, cook the wedges for a further 2 minutes then drain in a colander and give the wedges a good shake to fluff them up.
Heat the oven to 220C/430F, pour the oil on a large baking tray/sheet and place in the oven for 5 minutes to get the oil really hot.
Remove the tray from the oven and carefully spread the wedges out on the baking tray ensuring that they are coated in the oil. Season with a little sea salt and place in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Once the wedges begin to brown, remove from the oven and turn them, then turn down the heat to 180C/350F and cook for a further 20-25 minutes until beautifully golden and crispy.
This step is just to help prevent them from going too dark while you prepare the rest of your dish, and is useful if you need to use your oven on a lower heat for cooking other parts of your meal. If you're cooking the wedges on their own or are confident in your timings you can keep the heat high and remove the wedges once they are golden brown and crispy
Remove from the oven, sprinkle over a little more sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper.
About Crispy Perfectly Crispy Potato Wedges
While store bought wedges and fries are great for an easy midweek meal, nothing beats making your own wedges and baking them to crispy perfection. I like to sprinkle mine with a little sea salt at the end, for that extra bit of crunchiness.
I make these in pretty much the same way I make my roast potatoes, so once you've mastered these you'll also be able to nail the perfect roast potatoes for your next family roast!
These super crispy wedges go great with my Homemade Barbecue Sauce
Tips for the Perfect Crispy Wedges
Par boil first
- Par boil the wedges, but don't let them boil for too long otherwise they will become mushy; once the water reaches a rolling boil, 2 minutes is enough!
- Always par boil from cold otherwise the potatoes will cook unevenly.
Fluff them Up
Once you've drained the wedges give them a shake in the colander to fluff up the outsides, the rough starch coating that comes loose sticks to the outside of the wedges, creating more surface area which helps them go beautifully crunchy! It also helps the wedges absorb more of the fat which results in a more even cook.
Use enough vegetable oil
Don't be afraid of the oil, the wedges don't need to be swimming in oil but they do need enough to properly coat them so you don’t end up with patchy, brown, dry spots. If you do use too much you can always pat them with a paper towel once they are cooked.
Get the oil hot first
Wedges placed in cold oil will absorb the oil making them go greasy, sizzling hot oil will begin to crisp and seal the outside straight away and will quickly boil away any water on the surface creating a golden crust. This is exactly the same principle as deep fat frying.
Peel the Potatoes
I know a lot of people like to leave the skin on wedges but if you want the shatter-crisp coating on these wedges you should remove it, this has a few benefits:
- Maximum fluff - the fluffy coating is the part that crisps in the oven, leaving the skin on can act as a barrier that prevents some of this fluffing from happening.
- Better oil absorption - Skins don’t absorb oil the same way as the flesh, since they are tougher.
- More even cooking - skins don't cook at the same rate as the flesh so they can end up leathery or papery.
However, if you like them feel free to ignore this advice as they are high in fibre, add a more rustic feel and still taste great, just don't expect the same crispiness.
Don't crowd the pan
This is pretty much the death of a crispy wedge, when crowded the steam can't properly escape into the oven so you're essentially steaming the potatoes! It also affects contact with the oil which is required to keep everything crisp. So:
- Leave a gap - Leave a gap between each wedge on the baking tray / sheet
- Use multiple trays - If the wedges don't fit on one layer spread out across multiple baking trays/sheets
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