Spicy Ghee Roast Potatoes

Spicy Ghee Roast Potatoes make for a great combination of classic crispy roasties with the nutty butteriness of ghee plus plenty of spices.

After seeing how popular my Miso Roast Potatoes have been around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seemed only appropriate to share another roast potato recipe.

For this one, we’re going with ghee and spices for a more Indian inspired take on the classic roastie. They’re crispy, insanely buttery, and packed with heaps of flavour.

Spicy Ghee Roast Potatoes

These roast potatoes have become a favourite amongst my family and friends. We all love butter and we all love spice so I never doubted that to be honest.

These roast potatoes are incredibly crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. We’re infusing ghee with spices and aromatics, which we’re using to roast our potatoes in. We’re then adding the spices and aromatics back in at the end for texture and additional flavour.

They’re buttery, crispy, and spicy. Just the way they should be.

What is ghee? And why you should be using it for roast potatoes

Ghee is clarified butter and it’s made by heating butter until the milk solids separate. At this point there are two options, to either strain the ghee immediately or to cook the butter further and allow the milk solids to caramelise before straining.

This is down to personal preference, I love the second option as the caramelised nutty notes infuse within the ghee. It adds heaps of flavour and an intense buttery richness.

Ghee is preferable for roast potatoes as the clarification increases the smoke point. Using butter to roast potatoes would simply cause the butter to burn, however ghee can hold up to to the long and constant heat without burning. Leaving you with a more intense buttery flavour.

These are an Indian inspired roast potato recipe

The combination of ghee along with the spices and aromatics has a very reminiscent flavour. It’s definitely inspired by North Indian cuisines and the flavours work perfectly for these roast potatoes.

We’re using earthy spices like cumin as well as more citrusy spices like coriander seeds. These paired with aromatics like garlic and chillies help to add a ton of depth.

If you love spice, you’ll love these Spicy Ghee Roast Potatoes

If you’re a spice fiend and love your chillies, you’ll love these roast potatoes. They’re about a 7/10 on the spice meter which is enough to get a hit of chilli but leave enough room for the other flavours to shine too.

However if you don’t like chilli or want to make this mild, you can omit the chillies entirely. Or even substitute them for some mild chillies or sweet peppers. That would also work perfectly.

The top tips for EXTRA CRISPY roast potatoes

• Choose the right potato – a floury potato is what we want here, it’s this very floury-ness that will give us those desirable rough edges that crisp up when roasting. Potatoes like Maris Piper/King Edwards/Russet/Idaho
• Par-boil your wedges before roasting – this allows the edges to start softening and breaking down which creates a rough starchy surface. It’s this surface that is going to give us extra crispy roast potatoes
• Don’t reduce the amount of ghee – in order for the potatoes to truly crisp up well, it needs fat of some sort. We’re using ghee for this recipe and it is crucial to use enough to sufficiently coat the potatoes and then some
• Be patient, roasting takes time – the roasting process has to first dry off the moisture within the potato skins before the Maillard reaction occurs. This requires time, high heat, protein, and starch and it is the reaction that causes the browning and crisping of the roast potatoes

Let’s talk about some of the ingredients

I’ll cover the main ones below but the full recipe can be found at the end

• Potatoes – choose a good floury potato for roasting, such as Maris Piper/King Edwards/Russet/Idaho
• Ghee – you can either make your own ghee or purchase this pre-made
• Coriander seeds – these seeds are used a lot throughout North Indian cooking and add a light citrusy flavour that works really well with the spices. It can be overpowering if you get a bite of one, which is why I recommend lightly crushing them in the recipe
• Kasuri methi/dried fenugreek leaves – these are dried leaves used in the same way you would use dried herbs. They add a savoury and subtle earthy note which I love
• Mango powder – also known as amchoor/amchur powder and is made from ground dry unripe mangos (green mangos). It adds a tartness which cuts through the spices beautifully

How to make Spicy Ghee Roast Potatoes

1) Start by peeling the potatoes (you can keep the peels and toss in some oil and air fry them for a little crispy snack if you like)

2) Chop the potatoes into quarters, we want to keep them chunky here

3) Place the potatoes into a deep saucepan and cover with cold water

4) Season generously with salt, this is our only chance to season the inside of the potato. Bring the pot up to a boil and as soon as it begins to boil, turn down to a simmer. Simmer for around 7 minutes

5) Drain the potatoes in a colander and then allow to air dry completely

6) They should look like this after air drying, this is the first sign that you’re on your way to a crispy roast potato. After they’ve cooled, transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl

How to make the spicy infused ghee

1) Start by pounding the cumin and coriander seeds

2) We want to keep them coarse so don’t grind them into a powder

3) Melt the ghee in a pan over a low heat

4) Add the crushed cumin and coriander seeds and toast for around a minute

5) Then add the garlic, chillies, spring onions, black pepper, salt, mango powder, and kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

6) Infuse the ghee over a low heat, occasionally stirring

7) Infuse the ghee for around 10 minutes, adding in coriander in the last 2 minutes

Making the ghee roasted potatoes

1) Pass the infused ghee through a sieve to catch the spices and aromatics. We don’t want to roast these as they’ll burn, but don’t get rid of these. Keep them aside for later

2) Toss the potatoes in the ghee till evenly coated

3) Transfer the potatoes to a roasting tray and space them out so that they’re in an even layer

4) Place them into the oven, and toss them around, just over half way into the roasting time

5) Once they’re done, they will be very crispy! These are honestly the crispiest roast potatoes I’ve ever made

6) Place them back into the mixing bowl whilst hot, and add the aromatics and spices from earlier back in

7) Toss the potatoes to coat and enjoy!

Frequently asked questions

Can we make these Spicy Ghee Roast Potatoes vegan?

You can indeed, you can substitute the ghee for an oil such as sunflower/vegetable/rapeseed. Unfortunately you do lose the rich buttery flavour of ghee however. But you still have all the flavour from the spices and aromatics, which is the main flavour anyways!

Plant based butters have a lower smoke point than butter from my understanding. And hence I would avoid using plant based butter here.

If you enjoyed this recipe

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Until then, happy cooking!