How to make oven-baked potato wedges that are perfectly browned and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Jump to the Baked Potato Wedges Recipe
Adam and I have a battle going on. It’s about potatoes. You see, whenever we’re in the grocery store I reach for sweet potatoes with the sole purpose of making these baked sweet potato fries. He, on the other hand, reaches for regular potatoes so we can make roasted potato wedges. In truth, neither of us mind who wins — we love both options. Click over here to see our favorite baked French Fries recipe (thin fries, not wedges).
How To Make Roasted Potato Wedges That Don’t Stick To The Pan
We’ve been making a version of these oven fries for quite some time now. Over time, we’ve learned a few tricks for making the best.
One of the most significant issues we’ve had when baking potato wedges is that they stick to the pan. Being forced to slowly peel potato wedges from your baking sheet is no fun.
Tricks We’ve Tried to Prevent Potato Wedges From Sticking
It’s pretty common for oven fries to stick to the pan you are roasting them on. Here are a few tricks we’ve tested to prevent it:
- Use parchment paper — This works, but the potatoes do not brown as well.
- Add fat (like olive oil) directly to the pan — Adding some of the fat (in our case, that’s olive oil) to the pan instead of tossing with the potatoes works really well.
- Soak in hot water — Soaking the wedges in water removes some of the potato starch, which is what causes the sticking.
- Use a heavy nonstick baking sheet — This is our favorite trick. Using a heavy nonstick baking sheet really helps — if you have one, we recommend it.
In our recipe below, we’ve combined a few of the tricks above in hopes that you won’t find yourself slowly peeling roasted potato wedges from your baking sheet.
Here’s What We Do
We soak the wedges in hot water for 10 minutes — you can thank Cook’s Illustrated for that tip. Next, we dry them very well and toss them with some olive oil and seasonings– in the photos we have used salt and rosemary, but you can also try our homemade seasoned salt. Then, before tossing onto the baking sheet, we add a little extra olive oil to the pan itself.
The wedges are baked in a hot oven for 20 minutes or so, turned and placed back into the oven until lightly browned, crisp on the outside and tender inside. They are ready to be dunked into your favorite dipping sauce like this homemade ketchup, this easy fry sauce, or our creamy honey mustard sauce.
Here are a few more of our favorite potato recipes:
- Try our favorite mashed potatoes. Learn which potatoes to use and how to cook them so that they are creamy and delicious.
- Our easy potato salad recipe is one of our most popular potato recipes. It has so many rave reviews.
- If you love oven fries, then I bet you love tater tots, too. Here’s our homemade tater tots recipe (they are easier to make than you might think).
- These roasted fingerling potatoes are smoky, creamy, and perfectly golden brown. Plus, we serve them with a ridiculously tasty potato salad inspired dipping sauce.
Recipe updated, originally posted March 2014. Since posting this in 2014, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Rosemary Baked Potato Wedges
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Oven-baked potato wedges that are perfectly browned and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. If you have one, a nonstick baking sheet works really well here. Baked potato wedges tend to stick to the pan, which can be annoying. The nonstick baking sheet not only helps to prevent sticking, but the darker finish also helps them brown a little more. If you don’t have a nonstick baking sheet, you will still be okay if you use a pan that’s heavier duty.
To prevent as much sticking as we can, we do two things: first, the cut potato wedges are soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, removing starch. Second, we use a good amount of olive oil (about one tablespoon per potato). Some of the oil goes onto the baking sheet, and the rest gets tossed with the soaked and dried potatoes.
You Will Need
4 large baking potatoes, unpeeled
4 tablespoons (60 ml) olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Pinch finishing salt, like flaky sea salt, optional
Directions
1Heat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Evenly coat a large baking sheet with one tablespoon of olive oil.
2Scrub and rinse potatoes, then cut each potato into six long wedges and add them to a large bowl. Cover the potatoes with hot water and soak them for 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes, spread them onto a clean dish towel, and pat dry.
3Dry the bowl the potatoes were soaking in, add potatoes back to the bowl and toss with the remaining three tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary.
4Spread the potatoes in a single layer, cut-side down on the baking sheet.
5Bake the potatoes, turning once after 20 minutes, until lightly browned, crisp on the outside, and tender inside; 35 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle with a little extra salt (if desired) and serve.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
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SilPad! No added oil on pan needed! Amazon now makes they’re own “store brand” version. A proper SilPad has wire in the silicone which aides in the browning.
I prepared this recipe for the first time last night. I followed your directions and they came out perfectly! The only thing I changed was the herb that I used. I didn’t have any rosemary in my cupboard, so I substituted an Italian blend of dried herbs. Just added Rosemary to my shopping list…Your site has become a “go to” for me. I enjoy your recipes!
I make baked frenchfries & have no problem with them sticking, I use doubled foil, spray with oil & spray potatoes after I lay them out, no problem at all, also set my toaster oven at 425
Looking forward to making these. One tip that I learned from the cooking channel is that if you heat the oil on the baking sheet first, it works like a charm. Just drizzle the oil and pop it in the oven to heat up prior to roasting anything. It works great for potatoes, vegetables, fish, meats…anything that you are roasting in the oven!
Just took them out of the oven and quickly tasted one. This recipe is the bomb!!!!
Nice!
I made these for my family. WOW what a reaction. They loved them and devoured every last potato wedge. Great recipe!
Nice! Glad they worked well for you.
These were so good! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Some of the best I’ve ever had. I did have trouble with them sticking to the pan when I took them out to flip them over, but they weren’t stuck on the pan at the end.
Great! Glad they worked out in the end for you.
I love adding rosemary to potatoes, it adds so much doesn’t it?! Yum!
Yep … we love it 🙂
Can you use dried rosemary? That’s all I have on hand.
Yes, definitely. Since dried rosemary will be a little stronger than fresh, use 1 teaspoon of dried herbs for this recipe.
I just made this and they came out great my family loved them. Follow the recipe exactly as it said and they didn’t stick to the pan that made me very happy :).
Nice! So happy about that 🙂
Sweet or regular, I love them both! Especially when they’re crunchy roasted as sprinkled with rosemary like these beauties.
🙂 thanks!