Golden, Crispy Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Roasted potatoes tossed with rosemary is a classic combination that I will never, ever get tired of eating. The real key is roasting the potatoes past mere tenderness and all the way until they’ve turned golden and crispy on the outside. I have a hard time getting these potatoes to the table without eating half the batch straight off the baking sheet.

If you’ve never roasted potatoes quite this thoroughly before, this is going to take a leap of faith. It really seems like the potatoes must surely be burning to a crisp. Trust me. The outside becomes so golden and crispy, you’d think the potatoes were deep-fried. And the middles — oh, the middles! — they become pillow-soft and creamy, almost like mashed potatoes.

Roasting potatoes this deeply does take some time, at least 45 minutes, but it’s so worth it.

I almost always serve these potatoes at Thanksgiving and other holiday dinner parties, but you definitely don’t need to wait for a special occasion. These crispy golden potatoes go just as well with a weeknight meal of pan-seared chicken or steak.

For an easy vegetarian meal, I often roast another tray of mixed peppers, zucchini, and broccoli alongside the potatoes and serve everything with rice and an easy sauce over top.

This is all to say that these potatoes need to be in your regular rotation. They make a terrific weeknight side dish. At least, they do as long as you can keep yourself from grabbing nibbles from the baking sheet — this continues to be a source of great trouble for yours truly.