I will admit, this recipe is poached from J. Kenji Lopez, but hey, a spud is a spud is a spud. The magic in this technique comes from par-boiling the potatoes before cooking in an over or air fryer, resulting in soft, nearly mashed, potato centers with incredibly crisp outsides. This is an endlessly modifiable blueprint for a nearly perfect side dish. Per my dad’s suggestion, you can season with chaat masala, raw red onion, and cilantro. Per Helen’s suggestion, you can season with heaping teaspoons of sweat inducing dried chili peppers. Per my own suggestion, you can pair the spuds with crushed sour cream and onion potato chips for a double feature of spudly flavor.
Ingredients
Approx. 2 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
High-temperature oil (avocado, canola, vegetables, etc.)
Kosher salt
Recipe
Begin preheating your air fryer to 425 degrees F.
Place peeled and quartered potatoes in a pot. Cover with water and season generously with kosher salt. Add approx. 1-2 tsp baking soda.
Set on a stovetop over high heat. When the water begins to boil, turn off the heat and cover. Let sit for 10-12 minutes or until fork tender.
Drain potatoes into a colendar and let sit to allow water to evaporate for 1-2 mins.
To a large mixing bowl, add cooled potatoes and a couple glugs of cooking oil.
Agitate the potatoes by tossing in the bowl.
Place potatoes in the air fryer for 10-15 minutes or until beginning to brown. Flip potatoes and cooking for an additional 5-10 minutes.
Once cooked through, dust potatoes with seasoning of choice and salt to taste.
A couple of notes:
Use an air frier– it will result in crispier spuds than the oven. If you use an over or do not have an air fryer, you can increase the temperature to 450 F.
Heavily salt the boiling water to achieve even seasoning of the spuds.
Do not skip the bicarb! In cooking, much like in medicine, the pH is important to the process! It will help break down the pectin in the potatoes and allow the surfaces to develop many craggy irregularities ripe for crisping.