- Hi, I'm Kelly.
I'm the Tasty culinary producer, and I love potatoes.
I would eat them at every meal if I could.
But what I really love are crispy potatoes.
I'm talking potato chips, french fries,
double-fried smashed potatoes.
I love it all.
Crispy potatoes are soft and pillowy on the inside
and crunchy and golden brown on the outside.
It's a dream.
But we are all busy people, and you might be thinking,
I don't have time to make crispy potatoes at home.
So I'm gonna show you how to make 5-minute,
50-minute, and five-hour crispy potatoes.
Let's get started.
So first up, I'm gonna show you how to make
five-minute potato chips in the microwave.
Okay, yes, I know you could go to the grocery store
and buy a bag of potato chips in under five minutes,
but hear me out.
First of all, we're using less oil than we would
in a traditional potato chip;
two, you get to customize it with whatever flavors you like;
and three, it's fun.
So this is a recipe for one,
so we're using one Yukon Gold potato.
We're using this kind 'cause it has a thin skin
and you won't need to peel it before.
So the first step is to thinly slice it,
and I'm gonna be using a mandoline today,
so I get nice, even slices.
You're just gonna put your potato on the prongs,
put it on here, and then thinly slice.
- [Katie] Have you ever cut your hand?
- I have luckily never chopped a finger off,
but Katie might have just jinxed me.
(Katie laughing)
So we have really beautiful, evenly sliced potatoes.
All our fingers are still intact,
and they're all the same width, so they'll cook evenly.
Next up, I need to dry them.
Potatoes have a lot of moisture inside,
so we need to get all of that moisture off
so we can get super crispy potatoes in the microwave.
So we're just gonna blot these dry for like five seconds,
just to get all that water off so the oil will stick.
So now that these are dry,
I'm gonna transfer them to my bowl.
First, what we're gonna do is spray our plate.
Now that my plate is sprayed,
I'm just gonna add a little bit of oil, just to coat them.
We don't want a ton.
And season it with a little salt.
And toss it all together
to make sure every potato is coated in oil.
Now, we're gonna take these potatoes
and line them on the plate in a single layer.
Try to fit as many as you can,
so you only have to do one batch.
So when I was testing these recipes at home,
my boys who are two and four, loved these.
It was like a special treat for them.
All right.
So now that these are all in a single layer,
let's go pop these in the microwave
for four to five minutes, flipping halfway through
until they're cooked through and crispy.
So I just flipped the potatoes.
Now I'm gonna make a little seasoning to sprinkle on top.
I'm doing a ranch-inspired seasoning.
So I'm gonna do a little bit of dill, some parsley,
some garlic powder, onion powder, and a little salt.
Just gonna mix that together.
So you can customize the spice blend to whatever you like.
Ranch is my life.
It should be an IV in my arm.
I literally put it on everything.
My oldest child has taken on my obsession.
He eats it with everything.
All right. They're out of the microwave.
They're super crispy.
Now I'm just gonna take some of that seasoning mix
and sprinkle it on top.
Not only does it taste good, but I think it's pretty.
I like the speckles of green.
Just toss those together.
Get them on both sides.
Can you guys you hear that crunch?
This came out of a microwave.
And this one is my favorite.
To me, it's the equivalent of a fold-over potato chip.
- [Katie] What's a fold-over potato chip?
- When it's like folded over,
so it's like double the crunch.
You don't fight over the fold-over potato chips?
- [Katie] I guess I never noticed that.
- Katie. (beeps)
So these look great.
They're covered, and I'm just gonna plate them.
All right, so there you have it.
That's a whole potato that we cooked in the microwave,
and it turned into a potato chip.
Let's give it a try.
(chip crunches)
That was so crunchy.
I don't know if you could hear it,
but I'm shocked that that came from the microwave.
From the microwave!
Plus the seasoning on there,
it tastes garlicky and dill and ranch.
It's just amazing.
They're crispy, they're golden brown, and they were easy.
All right, I am really loving these,
but if you have a little bit more time,
and you love a crunchy french fry,
this next recipe is for you.
The classic method for deep-frying french fries
can be intimidating and even messy,
so I'm gonna show you my secrets
on how to get super crunchy fries using the oven.
They're gonna be so crispy,
people are gonna think you deep-fried them.
So first up is our potato.
We're gonna keep the skin on an Idaho potato,
because it gives it a little bit more texture,
and Idaho potatoes are more starchy,
which will help with the crispiness.
To keep this safe,
I'm first gonna cut off a little base of the potato,
so then I have a flat surface to work with when I'm cutting.
So we're gonna cut these in about half-inch batons.
And just go across the other way
to create about a half-inch fry.
So my family is a big potato family,
really like a big starch family.
My mom, growing up, always made a protein,
a vegetable, and maybe one or two starches.
- [Katie] Did she make french fries?
- No.
(beeps) All right, so beside me,
I have a pot of boiling water.
And first I'm adding some kosher salt,
and that's gonna season the potato from the inside out,
so it's really flavorful in every bite.
So I'm adding some baking soda,
and what that's gonna do
is actually create a starchy coating around the potato
and give it a shaggy edge,
which is gonna help that crispness on the outside
when it goes in the oven.
So now I'm gonna add our potatoes carefully
'cause the water's hot and we're just par-cooking them,
and what par-cooking is cooking halfway through.
We're not gonna cook it so it's falling apart.
We still want it to hold its shape.
Cover it back up.
So we're just gonna cook these
for about five to seven minutes
until they're shaggy on the outside,
but still holding their shape.
These look great.
I'm gonna gently take them out
'cause we don't want to break them up
and just dry them.
Woo!
As you can see, some of these broke.
That's okay.
Those ones are actually gonna get extra crispy
in the oven.
So we're just gonna let these cool
to release some of that moisture,
so they get extra crispy in the oven.
So these just came out of their salty water bath.
They cooked for about five minutes.
You can see they're still holding their shape,
but they have a little bit of a shaggy edge.
So now I'm just gonna drizzle my pan with olive oil.
Rub it around.
This is gonna help not only crisp the fries,
but make sure that they don't stick to the pan.
So now I'm just gonna line up my fries in an even layer,
giving ample room in between.
Another secret.
You'll notice that I don't have any aluminum foil
or parchment down on the pans,
and that's because I really want the heat of the pan
to hit the potato and make it even crispier in the oven.
Now that I have them all lined up,
I'm just gonna drizzle with more olive oil.
And don't be afraid to use a lot here.
This is what really helps them
taste like they came out of the fryer.
And of course, season with a little salt
and then just give everything a toss
to make sure they're coated.
I'm gonna go bake these in a 425-degree oven
for about 25 to 30 minutes until they're golden brown.
But we are not stopping there.
We're gonna be adding a little bit more flavor.
All right, so our fries are out of the oven,
and I want you to listen to this.
(fries rattling)
Do you hear how crunchy that is?
From the oven!
So I told you we were gonna amp up the flavor.
So we're gonna add some freshly grated Parmesan,
a little more salt, some fresh parsley for color,
and a little garlic powder.
Toss that all together.
I mean, do you hear that?
I'm like shocked.
I tested this recipe eight times,
and I'm still shocked every time how crispy they get.
- [Katie] How were the other eight times?
- Some were sad.
Oh, I almost forgot the pepper.
Most important part.
I think the freshly ground pepper pairs really well
with the Parmesan cheese.
So now I'm just gonna toss it one more time and plate it up.
And don't forget all of that cheesy goodness on the bottom.
So these look really great.
I can't wait to try them.
But I feel like every fry needs a little bit of ketchup.
So I'm gonna make a spicy ketchup.
And all I'm gonna do is combine some sriracha
with some ketchup.
That's it.
All right. We are done.
It is now my favorite part.
It is time to eat and see if it passes the crunch test.
(fry crunches)
Did you hear that crunch?
They're crispy on the outside.
They're soft and pillowy on the inside.
They are delicious.
Now let's try one with our spicy ketchup.
That has a little bit of kick to it,
I'm not gonna lie, but I think it pairs really well
with the creaminess of the cheese,
the freshness of the herbs.
It's a really great combo.
I love these, but if you want to do something more epic,
and deep frying doesn't scare you, you have got to try
these super crispy five-hour potato stacks.
This recipe is inspired by poppycooks'
15-hour Tik Tok potatoes.
So she thinly slices potatoes, confits them,
then compresses them and deep-fries them
to create these golden-brown potato stacks.
They are so cool.
She also has a ton of other great potato recipes
on her page, so if you're a potato lover like me,
you should definitely go check them out.
But if you don't have 15 hours,
and you want to make something similar,
I'm gonna show you how to make
a five-hour crispy potato stack.
So first up, we're gonna infuse our duck fat
with some aromatics.
We got duck fat.
We got some smashed garlic cloves.
When you smash them,
it helps infuse the flavor a little bit better.
We got some rosemary and thyme and shallots.
So I'm infusing this duck fat with aromatics,
just to take things to the next level.
This smells incredible.
I can already smell the garlic starting to caramelize.
The herbs are really pungent,
and even the shallots, they're great.
All right, we cook for about four or five minutes,
take it off the heat and strain it.
My duck fat's ready.
I've got my potatoes,
and I'm gonna use the mandolin again to slice them.
You can see we got these thin slices again.
There's a ton of water on here,
and we need to drain that off before we add the fat.
So I'm just blotting these potatoes dry,
and then I'm gonna add another layer,
really just to soak up all of that,
and then I'm just gonna build layers as I keep slicing
to make sure they're super dry.
All right, so our potatoes are dry.
And now I'm gonna toss it in that flavored duck fat
and season it with a little salt.
And we're gonna just toss it all together
to make sure every potato is coated.
I have a bread loaf pan
that I've lined on both sides with permanent paper
and I have sprayed with nonstick spray.
And then I'm just gonna line up these potatoes
one layer at a time until I fill up the entire thing.
So when I was first developing and testing this recipe,
to be honest, I was a little annoyed
at how long this was gonna take me.
And then I tasted the final result,
and it was 100% worth the effort.
If you have kids or helpers at home,
you can give them this job.
It's really fun for them.
10 minutes later, I have them all stacked up in nice layers.
I'm gonna add a piece of parchment on top.
And then here comes the shortening time.
So Poppy cooks her potatoes and then compresses them,
but I'm gonna combine those two steps
to speed up the process.
So this is a brick I found in my backyard.
I cleaned it, and then I wrapped it in foil.
So it's gonna help press down the potatoes while they cook
and speed up the process.
All right, so I'm gonna put these in a 325-degree oven
for about an hour, hour 15, until nice and tender.
So once they're cooked,
I'm gonna let 'em cool at room temperature for 30 minutes
and then pop them in the freezer for two hours.
So my potatoes are chilling in the freezer,
and now I'm making a roasted garlic aioli
to dip my potato stacks in.
So it all starts with some egg yolks, some mustard,
some lemon juice, some salt, and some olive oil.
So this is what I like to call cheater's aioli,
'cause normally when you make aioli,
you have thinly stream it into your egg yolks.
With this immersion blender,
you can put everything in the cup and just blend it up,
and it will emulsify on its own.
All right, so you can see how thick and emulsified that is.
It's beautiful, and that took no work.
So the next step is to just add some of this roasted garlic
to the aioli.
And all I did was cut off the top of the garlic,
put it in some aluminum foil, drizzle it with olive oil,
and bake it for about an hour
until it's golden brown and soft.
So it comes out really nice and easy.
You can also squeeze the whole bulb,
but I just think it's kind of messy,
so I like to take them out individually with a knife.
It smells so good.
What's a better smell than roasted garlic?
All right, so now all my garlic cloves are in,
so I'm just gonna pulse this a few more times
to evenly incorporate it into the aioli.
And if at any point you feel like this is too thick for you,
you can just add a few drops of water
to loosen it to your desired consistency.
Let's go get our potatoes and start frying.
Okay, I just took my potatoes out of the freezer,
I've unmolded them, and now I'm gonna cut them.
So the first is to just take off the ends
'cause we want really clean edges
to get those beautiful stacks.
Do you guys see how the knife just glides through?
They're so tender.
Okay, so then I'm just gonna cut three long strips
and then I'm gonna cut this way about one inch
and create this cute little stack.
Look at all those layers. It's beautiful.
And I'm just gonna add one at a time.
(oil sizzling)
Do you hear that?
We're just gonna do like three or four at a time.
We don't want to overcrowd the pan
'cause they are sticky and they can stick together.
So just let them do their thing,
gently tossing to make sure they're not sticking together.
Sounds like a really good rainstorm
in the summer or something.
All right.
So these have been in for about three or four minutes.
This one looks perfect.
It's golden brown. It's beautiful.
I'm gonna take it out of the oil,
drain it on a paper towel,
and just season it with a little salt.
I'm just gonna keep frying these up in batches,
and then we're gonna taste test.
And voila.
I just want to open this up and show you guys these layers.
Let's try it.
Oh my god.
I can feel my teeth going through all of the layers.
This tastes like a fried cloud,
just because it is so soft and pillowy on the inside
and then super crunchy on the outside.
And the aioli, oh my god.
So this one was so fun to make.
If you have the time,
I definitely think you should try it.
But to be honest,
I think my favorite one out of the day
is the 15-minute french fry.
It was just so crunchy.
It just literally tasted exactly like a french fry.
It was so good.
Today, I've shown you how to make five-minute potato chips,
50-minute crispy oven fries,
and five-hour epic crispy potato stacks.
If any of you make these recipes,
make sure to tag me on Instagram
because I would love to see it.
And remember, there is always time for crispy potatoes,
whenever you want 'em.
Bye!
- [Man] Oh yes!
(upbeat music)