These crispy Parmentier Potatoes are fluffy, savory, and satisfying, the perfect side dish for even the pickiest of eaters. Whether made vegan with olive oil or classically with butter, you need just 4 ingredients to make this delicious French side dish!
If you love crispy potato sides, try my sweet potatoes from frozen or air fryer potato blossoms.
Jump to:
- ❓ Why this recipe is great
- 🥔 Ingredients
- 🍽 Substitutions
- 📋 How to make parmentier potatoes: step-by-step
- 👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
- 🍟 Parmentier potato variations
- 🌟 Freezing and reheating
- ✔️ Most common parmentier potato mistakes
- 🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
- 😋 What to serve with parmentier potatoes
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
❓ Why this recipe is great
Simple Enough for Beginners: this recipe for Parmentier potatoes was developed based off of my mother-in-law's stovetop crispy potatoes, now made easier and even more hands-off thanks to a few prep tricks from the French.
Can't Tell They're Vegan: thanks to some simple swaps covered below, you can't even tell these are vegan Parmentier potatoes! While you could use the more traditional butter or even ghee, I've equally enjoyed parmentier potatoes made with olive oil and with avocado oil (as pictured).
Classic French Comfort Food: Parmentier potatoes transform simple diced potatoes into something truly special. Named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French pharmacist who popularized the potato in France, this dish is a delightful combination of crispy, golden cubes with garlic and herbs.
With all the dietary restrictions, finding low histamine comfort foods can be hard, but these Parmentier potatoes fulfill the requirements of warm, fluffy, savory, and satisfying!
🥔 Ingredients
Potatoes: you can use any variety of firm potatoes for this recipe, but I highly recommend a creamier type, like the Yuokn Gold potatoes I use here. If you can't find them, there are plenty of substitutes for Yukon Gold potatoes, including any type of yellow potato.
Oil: I used avocado oil for this recipe (and have made parmentier potatoes with lard, ghee, and olive oil in the past), but you can use any neutral-tasting oil you tolerate. Butter is another good option if you tolerate dairy, but check out my post on low histamine oils for more ideas.
Rosemary: ideally you'd use fresh rosemary, but you can also swap it for dried rosemary and/or add a smattering of other fresh herbs; use whatever combination of low histamine herbs you enjoy!
Sliced Garlic: add a beautiful umami flavor to the dish, and crisps up beautifully.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🍽 Substitutions
Potatoes - other than yellow potatoes, you could also use any type of red potatoes, but they don't tend to crisp up and hold their shape as well as yellow types. If you plan to roast frozen potatoes for parmentier potatoes, be sure to buy oil-free potatoes, as you'll still need to boil the potatoes so that they can defrost and drip dry a bit before adding them to the hot oil.
Other Oils - you can't make this parmentier potato recipe without oil, but you can use as little as 3 tablespoons of oil in a shallow roasting pan to make sure every drop has a purpose. Some other great oils you can use include frozen lard, ghee, butter, high-heat olive oil, avocado oil, or even refined coconut oil.
No Garlic - you can omit the garlic in the recipe for more plain-flavored potatoes parmentier, but I recommend first havling the amount, as they really balance out the overall flavor profile.
Herbs - you can create a low histamine herb blend using fresh or dried versions of hardier herbs, meaning they can stand up to the high heat of the oil in the oven. Some favorites include rosemary, thyme, chopped sage, and oregano.
📋 How to make parmentier potatoes: step-by-step
Step 1. Preheat your oven to 380°F (195°C ).
Step 2. While the oven is heating, peel your potatoes and cut them into even ½" cubes. This size cubes will ensure that they cook through and get crispy on the outside, but stay fluffy inside.
I like to collect my potato pieces in water as I'm cutting them (image 1), to help wash off the starch on the outside so that it doesn't end up in the water. Just make sure to rinse the potato pieces before cooking (image 2).
💡Tip* The smaller the potato pieces are, the faster they'll cook, so if you need your dish very quickly then cut the pieces quite small and even.
Step 3. Next add the oil to a roasting pan or cast iron pan and add it to the preheating oven (image 3). Then bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (a teaspoon of salt will do) (image 4), add the potato cubes (image 5), and cook for about 5 minutes (start the timer as soon as you add the potatoes).
Step 4. When the timer goes off, drain the potatoes in a colander and let them steam dry for 5 minutes over the pot (image 6). Give them a gentle shake in the colander to rough up the edges; this will also help make them extra crispy when baked.
Step 5. Take the pot of oil out of the oven, add the potatoes (they may sizzle) and then toss or stir them to ensure they're evenly-coated in oil (image 7).
Make sure they're not too crowded, then bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until they're starting to crisp up. Halfway through, give the pan a shake or turn the potatoes with a spatula to ensure even browning.
Step 6. When the timer goes off, add the garlic and rosemary sprigs, then season generously with the salt (image 8). Toss or stir everything together until the potatoes are well-coated with the seasonings (image 9), then bake for 20-25 more minutes (convection mode optional).
Raise the oven temperature to 400°F (205°C) during this stage for even stronger crisping, shaking the pan after 10 minutes for the most even browning. Once crispy, take them out and serve parmentier potatoes hot.
👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
Adding Texture: for even more texture in the final dish, you can smash the roast potato cubes halfway through baking and even leave on the peels, creating more crunchy bits along with the sliced garlic.
Microwaving Parboil: if pressed for time, you can also microwave the cut cubes in water and a dash of salt on high temp for 2-3 minutes. If you plan to do this, preheat the oven with the oiled pan before you start cutting the potatoes.
Serving Suggestions: typically you'd serve roasted parmentier potatoes with steak, but chicken does the trick just as well. Just remember that the potatoes soak up most of the oil in the pan, so opt for leaner cuts of whatever you choose.
🍟 Parmentier potato variations
Sweet Potatoes Parmentier - you can make potatoes parmentier with sweet potatoes or even yuca root for a nightshade-free version. Even if you're roasting frozen yuca, you'll still want to parboil the root, cube it, and roast in a preheated pan for a similar amount of time.
Brown Butter Sage Potatoes - for a crispier, even more savory version, you can swap the rosemary for 5-6 fresh or frozen sage leaves, lightly torn. Then simply use butter as the oil; the high heat along with a cast iron pan will brown the butter, a flavor you can further enhance by using half as mush fresh garlic as is called for.
Smashed Parmentier Potatoes - similar in concept to my air fryer smashed potatoes, after the first round of roasting but before adding the seasonings, you could spend one minute lightly mashing the parmentier potato cubes so that some of them have extra crispy edges. This is especially good to do if you ended up with large potato cubes, as it creates more surface area for browning.
🌟 Freezing and reheating
If you're not on a low histamine diet, these crispy parmentier potatoes can stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days when stored in an air-tight container and cooled to room temperature beforehand.
But if you want to freeze them, I recommend cooking them fully beforehand, and cooling them to room temp before freezing. They’ll stay good in the freezer for up to 2 months, though the texture will get a bit starchier the longer they stay in there.
It's ideal to reheat parmentier potatoes in the air fryer for even heating, pouring in the potatoes and heating to 380°F (195°C ) for 4-5 minutes if refrigerated, or 6-7 minutes if reheating from frozen.
✔️ Most common parmentier potato mistakes
Not Parboiling: skipping the step of parboiling the potatoes before roasting can result in less crispy potatoes, as this process is key for roasting them up to be fluffy inside and crispy outside.
Overcrowding the Pan: placing too many potatoes on the pan can lead to steaming rather than roasting, preventing the potatoes from getting as evenly crispy as they can.
Too Little Oil: not using enough oil can cause the potatoes to dry out instead of crisping up; a generous coating helps facilitate the crisping process, so use an oil you don't mind eating a fair amount of (depending on how many people you're cooking for).
Cold Pan: starting with a cold roasting pan can hinder the crisping of the potatoes; preheating the pan can help them start to crisp as soon as they hit the surface.
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
Parmentier potatoes are named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French pharmacist and agronomist who popularized the potato in France during the 18th century. He advocated for the potato as a food source during times of famine, and the dish honors his contributions to French culinary history.
Peeling potatoes when making Parmentier potatoes is generally recommended to achieve the classic look and texture of the dish, as it allows for even browning and crisping. However, if you prefer to leave the skin on for added nutrients and a rustic appearance, it's the chef's choice.
Soaking potatoes before roasting removes any excess starch on the surface, which can help in achieving a crispier texture. The soaking process also helps to prevent the potatoes from sticking to each other or to the pan during roasting.
Boiling potatoes before roasting, known as parboiling, is often the best move for roasting up crispy potatoes. This process partially cooks the potatoes and creates a rougher surface that creates a crispier exterior once roasted.
If your roasted potatoes aren't crispy, it could be due to several reasons: they may not have been parboiled long enough to soften the exterior, the oven temperature might be too low, they could be overcrowded in the pan, or there might not be enough oil to coat them properly.
😋 What to serve with parmentier potatoes
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📖 Recipe
Crispy Parmentier Potatoes (Roast Potato Cubes)
Equipment
- roasting pan or cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons high-heat oil avocado, coconut, ghee, butter
- 2 lbs yellow potatoes peeled and cut into ½" cubes
- 2 6" fresh rosemary sprigs well-cleaned & pat dry
- 4-5 18g garlic cloves, peeled & sliced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt plus some for potato water
- water for boiling
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 380°F (195°C ).
- While the oven is heating, peel your potatoes and cut them into even ½" cubes. This size cubes will ensure that they cook through and get crispy on the outside, but stay fluffy inside. I like to collect my potato pieces in water as I'm cutting them, to help wash off the starch on the outside so that it doesn't end up in the water. Just make sure to rinse the potato pieces before cooking.
- Next add the oil to a roasting pan or cast iron pan and add it to the preheating oven. Then bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (a teaspoon of salt will do), add the potato cubes, and cook for about 5 minutes (start the timer as soon as you add the potatoes).
- When the timer goes off, drain the potatoes in a colander and let them steam dry for 5 minutes over the pot. Give them a gentle shake in the colander to rough up the edges; this will also help make them extra crispy when baked.
- Take the pot of oil out of the oven, add the potatoes (they may sizzle) and then toss or stir them to ensure they're evenly-coated in oil.Make sure they're not too crowded, then bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until they're starting to crisp up. Halfway through, give the pan a shake or turn the potatoes with a spatula to ensure even browning.
- When the timer goes off, add the garlic and rosemary sprigs, then season generously with the salt. Toss or stir everything together until the potatoes are well-coated with the seasonings, then bake for 20-25 more minutes (convection mode optional). Raise the oven temperature to 400°F (205°C) during this stage for even stronger crisping, shaking the pan after 10 minutes for the most even browning. Once crispy, take them out and serve parmetier potatoes hot.
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