Roast potatoes are a beloved British dish, eagerly anticipated with every Sunday roast, but it does require some skill to make sure they become crispy instead of soggy. Potatoes naturally contain a lot of water, and when they heat up in the oven they can release a lot of steam which can turn their skins soft and mushy if you are not careful. However, making sure you get perfectly crispy roasted potatoes is actually quite simple, as you just need to make sure you are using the right ingredients.

Helen Goldrein, the cook behind Family Friends Food, has shared you do not need a long shopping list to make roast potatoes as you really just need three simple every items most kitchens will already have. She said: "This delicious roast potato recipe couldn't be much easier, and only requires three ingredients! Sure, you can make your roasted potatoes fancier by adding optional seasonings, but if you've got these three key items, you're all set."

What ingredients do you need for roast potatoes?

All you really need when making roast potatoes is sunflower oil, salt, as well as the right type of potatoes and they will come out of the oven as crispy as possible.

Salt helps draw moisture out of the surface of potatoes. They are less likely to steam and it helps make the skin as dry as possible, so they crisp up properly while cooking.

Sunflower oil has a higher smoke point compared to other cooking oils, which means it can get very hot without burning up, so it will ensure you get a better crust on your potatoes.

Other oils have a low smoke point will cause the potatoes not to cook properly, which means the potatoes will become charred rather than golden-brown.

It will also greatly help to use Maris Piper or any potatoes with a high starch content as these types will absorb oil better than waxy potatoes.

Waxy potatoes contain more moisture which means oil does not mix well with them and cooking with them means you are more likely to end up with greasy potatoes.

How do you make the perfect roast potatoes?

You will need:

• 1kg of floury potatoes (like Maris Piper)


• Two to three tablespoons of sunflower oil


• Pinch of flaky salt

Method:

To begin, preheat the oven to 180C and place the cooking oil in a roasting tin or baking tray. Then, place the dish in the oven to heat up.

Potatoes will get a better crust if the oil is hot before you cook them, and makes sure they begin roasting rather than steaming in the oven.

Peel the potatoes, rinse them well and then cut into evenly sized chunks (around four to six centimetres. Then, place in a pot and cover with cold water.

Put the pot on the stove on high heat until the water begins to boil, then lower and cook for four minutes.

Once the time os up, drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Then, place a lid on top of the pot and give it a good shake.

Shaking the potatoes roughens up the potato edges so you get more crispy parts and simply helps them brown better while cooking.

Remove the dish from the oven once the oil is hot and sizzling. Carefully tip the potatoes into the dish and use a spatula to move the potatoes until they are fully coated in the oil.

Jiggle the dish to spread the potatoes into a single layer, then season them with salt.

Place in the oven and cook for roughly one hour, and once they are done you will have perfectly golden brown potatoes that have a good crunch when you bite into them.