Every Sunday, millions of households around the UK prepare the most important meal of the week – the humble roast dinner. Arguably, one of the most important elements of a roast dinner are the roast potatoes. They are so important to get right.
There are hundreds of ways to make roasties, and many methods claim to be better than others – but one woman thinks she's cracked it. She thinks she's got the balance between crispy, fluffy and cost effective, calling it a "game changer".
Posting on the Slow Cooker Recipe & Tips Facebook page, Ria McCllough said she had used her slow cooker and said she wasn't sure she would "make roasties in the oven ever again".
Ria also shared a picture of some delicious looking potatoes that are most certainly crispy, and people in the comments said they looked "great" and "so good".
Importantly, she used Navan potatoes, which are classed as a waxy potato because they hold their shape when boiled.
After peeling them, she parboiled them for 10 minutes and then left them to steam dry. She added: "While they were cooling down slightly I added a few glugs of mild olive oil in to the slow cooker and put it on high so the oil would be hot when adding the potatoes."
To enhance the flavour further, she added pepper, sage, onion granules, salt and flour to the potatoes and shook them around to make an even coating.
She then "put them into the oil, tossed to coat, then had them on high heat for four hours with a tea towel under the lid". During that time she turned them twice to make sure they were evenly cooked.
According to Ria, the tea towel is key because it "traps any condensation and the potatoes stay crispy".
She also noted that she expected that keeping them in a single layer so that they touch the bottom of the slow cooker will help them form a crunchy layer.
After making them she confirmed that despite being sceptical to using a slow cooker, they were both crispy and fluffy – and it frees up your oven to make the rest of the dinner.
People in the comments couldn't wait to try them, with one person saying: "Yum yum, they look delicious".
Another added: "Wow, I'll defo be trying these."
Some people were also worried about the cost of running a slow cooker for four hours, versus the time they would take in the oven. However, running a slow cooker will only cost between 4.08p and 10.2p per hour to run, while a 2kW oven would cost 68p per hour, according to Uswitch.com.
Do you have a go-to roast potato hack? Let us know in the comments below.
