I Asked 4 Chefs for the Best Roasting Potato, and This One Earned the Top Spot

Ina Garten and Emily Blunt literally broke the internet, or at least crashed the Barefoot Contessa site, when Garten teased Emily's English Roasted Potatoes on Instagram. That day, in May 2020, it became crystal clear that Allrecipes editors are far from the only ones who rely on (and adore) roasted potato recipes. 

Like Emily, we each have our go-to way of making roasted potatoes. Some cook in cast iron or an air fryer, while others stick with a classic sheet pan in the oven. In terms of seasoning, the most popular route is a toss-up between adding cheese, spritzing with lemon juice to transport the spuds to Greece, and spicing them up with something fiery, like chili powder or gochujang.

Regardless of what method you think is best or the ingredients you turn to most often to layer on the flavor, there’s one detail we can all agree on about roasted potatoes: to make them, you must have potatoes.

With more than 200 types of potatoes sold in America, it can feel daunting to try to narrow it down at the market. So we called in the pros—chefs who regularly roast potatoes at home and at their restaurants—to give us the dirt about the best potatoes for roasting. 

Meet Our Panel of Potato-Loving Chefs

• Matt Ayala, executive chef at Francois Frankie in Chicago, Illinois
• Kevin Gillespie, chef and co-owner of Red Beard Restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia
• Thomas Melvin, executive chef at Vida in Indianapolis, Indiana
• Mickey Woods, chef de cuisine at Evelyn’s at Hutton Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee

The Best Potatoes for Roasting

All potatoes fall on a spectrum from waxy to starchy. Starchy kinds are ideal for baked potatoes and French fries. Waxy spuds hold up well in soups, casseroles, and potato salads. All-purpose potatoes that fall somewhere in the middle of that spectrum can be used for everything from roasting and mashing to smashing and frying.

For roasting, potatoes that hit the sweet spot between waxy and starchy are ideal. Since they each deliver on that promise, and because their natural flavor is appealing, our chef panelists rank these potatoes in the top three slots as the best potatoes for roasting: 

1. Yukon Gold
2. German Butterball
3. Fingerlings

Raking in votes from three of our four chefs, Yukon Gold earns the trophy as the best to roast. Yukon Gold is essentially a “goldilocks” style of spud. "It has the perfect balance between waxy and starchy, which means it crisps beautifully on the exterior but remains fluffy, creamy, and moist in the middle,” explains Matt Ayala, executive chef at Francois Frankie in Chicago, Illinois.

Yukon Golds are naturally a hint sweet and buttery, “which is great for roasting because you have built-in richness without the addition of fat,” Ayala adds. And since they have enough moisture (a quality of waxy potatoes), this type of potato holds its shape well while roasting, unlike starchier varieties that tend to crumble. No wonder Blunt calls for Yukon Golds in her uber-popular roast potato recipe!

When we asked chefs to name the best potatoes for mashed potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes also ranked among the top three. So, if you aim to stock up on just one type before a dinner party or the holidays, you can’t go wrong by going for the Gold.

In second place, the chefs cheer for German Butterball (sometimes simply called “butterball”). Just like Yukon Gold, German Butterballs are round, yellow, and have a subtle built-in buttery flavor. You can tell them apart by the skin; Butterballs have thin, flaky skin that almost appears webbed. 

Kevin Gillespie, chef and co-owner of Red Beard Restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia, raves about this type of potato because it's “not quite as waxy as other small potatoes, which makes the interior of the roasted potatoes nice and fluffy.” Mickey Woods, chef de cuisine at Evelyn’s at Hutton Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, echoes that sentiment, noting that they’re just waxy enough to hold up well to roasting.

Coming in third place as among the best potatoes for roasting: fingerlings. These small, tubular potatoes are sweet and slightly nutty, and they stay quite firm, “so you get a nice bite when roasted,” Ayala says. 

One drawback of fingerlings is their not-often-uniform shape and size, which means fingerlings will require some slicing to achieve consistency in texture and doneness, explains Thomas Melvin, executive chef at Vida in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Worst Potatoes for Roasting

The chefs agree that potatoes that fall too far on either end of the waxy-to-starchy scale aren’t recommended for roasting.  

“Potatoes that are too waxy, like new potatoes, tend to stay too firm,” Ayala says. Waxy potatoes take longer to roast, and “if they don’t have enough starch, they won’t get crispy,” Ayala adds. New potatoes, red potatoes, and purple potatoes fall under this umbrella.

On the opposite end, ultra-starchy spuds like Russet and Kennebec crisp up well on the outside but can easily fall apart when roasted. The interior is more fluffy than creamy, too. Reserve these starchier spuds for recipes like baked potatoes and French fries, Woods says.

Chef Tips to Make Your Best Roasted Potatoes

Beyond starting with the proper potatoes, these pro tips will help your next batch of roasted potatoes your best batch.

• Parboil in baking soda-spiked water. Melvin explains that this starchy, alkaline slurry coats the potatoes, promoting a crispy exterior. Plus, giving the potatoes a headstart on cooking softens them enough to keep the centers tender and creamy. Boiling also generally introduces little nooks, crannies, and soft ridges that Ayala adores because they “increase the potatoes’ surface area, allowing maximum crispiness when roasted at a high temp.” For every 4 cups of water you use to boil the potatoes, add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Parboil for 10 minutes.
• Add fresh herbs and garlic part-way through the cooking time. Woods recommends tossing your clean potato pieces with olive oil, salt, and black pepper before roasting. Once the spuds just begin to brown, press pause (translation: remove the sheet pan or skillet from the oven or the tray or basket from the air fryer) and toss the potatoes with chopped garlic and fresh parsley, thyme, and/or rosemary. Transfer them back to the appliance and cook until golden brown. “This prevents the garlic and herbs from burning, which can happen if you add them too early,” Woods says.
• Preheat your pan. If you’re roasting in the oven, to maximize the crunch factor of the outside of your roasted potatoes, preheat your sheet pan or skillet inside the oven. We employ this strategy in TikTok Parmesan-Crusted Roasted Potatoes and will now use this secret for all future roasted potato renditions at home.