Golden Crispy Roasted Potatoes without a single drop of oil. Easy, healthy, low calorie and virtually fat-free!
It’s all about the simple things in life today. Like potatoes ❤️
I adore them. Nothing beats Crispy Roasted Potatoes. But, with all that lovely yummy crispiness comes oil and fat and grease.
Until now…..
Since the creation of my completely oil-free Loaded Taco Fries, I have been wanting to experiment a little more with using aquafaba as a substitute for oil when roasting.
Well I finally got around to it and these Healthy No Oil Crispy Roasted Potatoes* happened.
LOW CALORIE & VIRTUALLY FAT FREE ROAST POTATOES
I love traditionally cooked roast potatoes a lot and I am not going to lie, these don’t taste quite as good as those. After all, as unhealthy as using copious amounts of oil is, it tastes pretty good when roasted up with the humble spud. However, they are a pretty close runner up, and what you lose (just) a little bit in taste, you make up for in low calories, virtually non existent fat content and smug, feel good healthiness. 😉
Plus if you are anything like me, you can put those calories you saved on the potatoes to good use when it comes to dessert. 😂
And your oven will thank you muchly too! Oily things splatter EVERYWHERE and I’m sure you are all aware of how thoroughly awful cleaning ovens is. I literally have to not show mine ever in my recipe videos because I hate cleaning it and if you so much as caught a glimpse I might die of embarrassment.😱 One day I might get a self cleaning oven and it will be like all my Christmases have come at once.
CRISPY ROASTED POTATOES WITH JUST 3 INGREDIENTS!
These Healthy No Oil Crispy Roasted Potatoes are super simple to make. All you need are 3 ingredients and some salt and pepper:
Potatoes (obvi!)
Semolina (or cornmeal)
Aquafaba a.k.a magic bean juice
It’s such an easy process too. Check out the video below to see exactly how, but basically you boil the potatoes for a bit, drain and allow to steam dry, Then drizzle over aquafaba and sprinkle on semolina. Shake well to rough ’em up, then roast. Flip, roast some more, then EAT! 😋
The roughing up is an essential part of the process. It creates a thick slurry of aquafaba, soft potato and semolina which coats and clings and crisps up beautifully. It also makes them turn gloriously golden as all perfect roast potatoes should be!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY NO OIL CRISPY ROASTED POTATOES
*Please note that by providing oil-free recipes, I am not recommending an oil-free diet. I use oil myself in a lot of recipes, but sometimes I like to shave off a few calories if I can (because I eat too much 😂) and I also like to provide recipes for those of you who are trying to reduce your consumption of added oils.
Healthy No Oil Crispy Roasted Potatoes
Golden Crispy Roasted Potatoes without a single drop of oil. Easy, healthy, low calorie and virtually fat-free!
Ingredients
- 900g / 2 lbs potatoes , see notes
- 80mls / ⅓ cup aquafaba , the liquid from a can of chickpeas
- 3 tablespoons semolina , cornmeal can also be used but make sure it isn't too course. Semolina is not gluten-free so be sure to use the cornmeal option if you need to keep this recipe gluten-free
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450°F
Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Timings here are based on a medium potato being cut into about 5 pieces. Make sure all pieces are pretty even.
Place the potatoes in a pan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling the should take about 5 - 6 minutes to become just fork tender. As soon as they do, drain through a colander then leave for a few minutes to steam dry before returning to the pan.
Line a baking tray or roaster with parchment paper or a Silpat. This is essential because no oil is used.
Add the aquafaba and semolina to the potatoes, put the lid on the pan and shake vigorously a good few times to rough up the potatoes, then dig in with a spoon and stir them around a bit to get the potatoes slurry that has settled on the bottom to coat them thoroughly.
Tip the potatoes onto the lined tray and spread them out so they are not touching each other then season with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground pepper.
Place in the hot oven and cook for 25 minutes. Remove, flip them all over then return to the oven and cook for around another 20 minutes or until a lovely golden brown. The time will vary a little depending on your oven and the type of pan you are cooking them in.
Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Using the right kind of potato is really important when it comes to great roast potatoes. A high starch content is necessary to get a lovely fluffy inside and a crusty exterior. Russet potatoes are ideal or Maris Piper in the UK. And even though they aren't really classed as a high starch potato, Yukon Gold work well too.
Barbara Lindsey says
Thank you for the recipes. I will definitely be trying this one. I really love potatoes and without the oil, even better.
A Virtual Vegan says
You’re welcome. Hope you enjoy them!
Jillie says
We tried these tonight. Followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect!! Big hit and we’ll be making them again soon! Thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! That’s great. I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Anna says
I almost decided to make mash potatoes for xmas this year (I try to avoid oil), when suddenly I disovered your recipe – thank you so much! 🙂
A Virtual Vegan says
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them!
Kathy says
You mentioned several times how unhealthy oil is. That is very far from the truth.. Olive oil and coconut oil and avocado oil or very healthy for you. Please do the research. They help with cholesterol levels and slow down digestion which aids in weight loss. Not to mention lots of other nutrients especially the coconut oil. They also help with the immune system
A Virtual Vegan says
I don’t say oil is unhealthy. I say using copious amounts of oil is unhealthy, which it is. No-one can argue that potatoes covered in oil then roasted are a health food. Any nutritional benefits the oil might have had, when roasted at high temperatures like you need to with roasted potatoes, are probably almost completely lost. You will also notice my disclaimer just below the video that says “*Please note that by providing oil-free recipes, I am not recommending an oil-free diet. I use oil myself in a lot of recipes, but sometimes I like to shave off a few calories if I can (because I eat too much 😂) and I also like to provide recipes for those of you who are trying to reduce your consumption of added oils. ”
Regardless though, there are lots of different schools of thought on oil in the diet and we should be open minded and respect other people’s opinions. If people choose to eat an oil-free diet then that is up to them. The same for people who choose to eat oil. That is up to them and a personal choice.
If you don’t like oil-free roasted potatoes, it’s simple. Don’t make them.
ele says
Why so many ‘Eggland’ ads? Aren’t you vegan?
A Virtual Vegan says
Of course I am vegan. Unfortunately I have no control over what the ads on my site are for and they are necessary to cover the cost of keeping my website up and running. Without the ads there would be no site and no recipes. Ads are generally shown based on your browsing history though so usually what you see will be relevant to your browsing history. No brand wants to be paying to show ads to someone who isn’t going to be interested in their product. It’s a waste of their money. Sometimes the odd irrelevant one slips through and that’s just bad luck and there is nothing I can do about that.
Sophia says
These look amazing! I’m going to try them this weekend, although I want to use stuff I already have so I think I’ll coat them in oat flour instead of semolina. Hopefully the texture will still be similar!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you! I wonder whether oat flour might make them a little gloppy? Hopefully not though as I am seeing this late as I have been on vacation. Semolina is granular, as is cornmeal and it is that which aids the crispiness. For best results I would recommend using those over flour of any kind.
Sophia Greacen says
It went pretty well! I used 1/2 oat flour and 1/2 spices and they did crisp up! I think the aquafaba is the magic ingredient – thanks so much for the idea!
A Virtual Vegan says
Perfect! I’m so glad it worked out.
Anni says
Your site is fabulous, love the recipes, but the ads that keep popping up are horrendous and make it really hard to read a post, without constantly deleting them. 🙁
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you are loving the recipes. In an ideal world there would be no ads, but unfortunately it costs a lot of money to keep my website running and maintained and the ad revenue is necessary to cover the cost. Without ads there would be no site and no recipes. However, the ads shouldn’t be popping up and getting in your way. There might be one that pops up every so often on desktop but that usually only happens if you hover over the small version of it. I use a very good ad network that nearly all other food bloggers use so my ads are basically the same as everyone else’s. I did have someone a while ago who was having problems with the ads getting in the way and after troubleshooting it turned out it was the browser they were using. It wasn’t a popular one and hadn’t been kept updated. As soon as they switched to an up to date version of Chrome they had a much better experience. I use Chrome and Safari and have no trouble at all with ads getting in the way when I access my website. Perhaps your issue is a similar one? Oh and occasionally as with all website ads, a bad and annoying one can slip through. It is possible for you to report them. There should be a little report’ button that you can click on. It take a second and will enable the people at my ad network to trace it and get rid of it. Hope that helps!
Janet Brisson says
This recipe is amazing. Being gluten free, I used a gluten free flour with the aquafaba and added nutritional yeast to slightly coat it, so no salt. I baked it for 20 minutes before flipping and then another 15 minutes so the potatoes were a bit moister (is that a word?)
Since it reminded me of tempura veggies, I roasted mushrooms, baby carrots and brussel sprouts for 20 minutes (a tablespoon of oil in a bowl and coated everything then roasted on a baking sheet at 420 degrees). Then I used the 1/2 cup of aquafaba and 3 tables of gluten free flour and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a bit of pepper and then baked as above. They were a huge hit. Almost an appitezer. Can’t wait to try it with brocolli and cauliflower.
Thank you so much for posting this.
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you enjoyed them Janet! If you can get some, try them with the cornmeal next time. It’s gluten-free and will make the potatoes even crunchier than they are when made with GF flour.
Denise from Urb'n'Spice says
Brilliant! What a great idea. I just made Aquafaba meringues which I thought was pretty cool but your recipe is way cooler. Can’t wait to try it because who doesn’t love crispy roasted potatoes, right? Thanks so much for the inspiration.
A Virtual Vegan says
You’re welcome! Making meringues with it is amazing isn’t it? It blows my mind every-time. Let me know what you think if you try the roasties!
Amy says
I need to try these :)!
A Virtual Vegan says
Aquafaba is magic stuff! If you try them let me know what you think!
Sophia | Veggies Don't Bite says
Love the aquafaba trick! As much as I do love that olive oil potato flavor (being Greek that’s how I grew up and the flavor of olive oil will always be fave of mine), it’s fun to switch it up and get a lighter crispy potato from time to time! These look just like the ones I grew up with! YUM
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you. I love olive oil too! So good. But my waistline doesn’t like it so these are great for every day cooking. Olive oil comes out for the more special meals!
Nicole Dawson says
I haven’t tried using aquafaba as an “egg wash” yet! What a great idea. Usually I just avoid that step altogether but not anymore.
Agness of Run Agness Run says
I love potatoes but I haven’t tried to prepare them this way! An excellent healthy way of prepare my favourite ingredient. Is this only a recipe for white potatoes or can also be used for the sweet ones?
A Virtual Vegan says
You could do something similar with sweet potatoes but I’m not sure they would need parboiling first. Timings would be different too.
Trinity Bourne says
OMG – just YES!!! Totally drooling. I think the only problem I see is that I just won’t know when to stop eating them. Love that you have a GF suggestion too… yay!
A Virtual Vegan says
Ha ha! Thank you Trinity. I always have that problem when it comes to roast potatoes!
Vanessa @ Veganfamilyrecipes says
This recipe is genius! I would’ve never thought to add Aquafaba to potatoes and then roast them. Such a smart idea!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Vanessa!
Aimee says
Oh. My. Goodness. This is genius! I am soooooo trying this. Thanks Melanie! They look incredible.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Aimee. Let me know what you think!
Dianne's Vegan Kitchen says
There is really nothing better than a big pile of roasted potatoes. I love that you were able to make these so crispy without the oil. Aquafaba really is magical.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Dianne. Aquafaba is certainly the ingredient of the moment! How did we manage without it?
Linda from Veganosity says
Holy YUM! These look so darn good! I need to make these soon. Too funny about your oven. I literally opened mine to shoot an Instagram story video of apple bread baking and I just couldn’t post it. LOL! Time to set the self-clean button on that baby. 😉
A Virtual Vegan says
At least you have a self clean button. I am jealous. I need to psych myself up to give mine a scrub by hand. I do hope you enjoy the roast potatoes and rest assured that they wont splatter your freshly cleaned oven! 😉
Jenn says
OMG, I love this. I have 1/2 of a bag of potatoes left and some semolina in the pantry that needs using. Totally make these crispy little suckers!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you and how convenient that I posted it when you had the ingredients handy. I hope you enjoy the crispy little suckers (ha ha love that name for them)!!!