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 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. 😂
As well as the health benefits of oil-free cooking, 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
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.
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)!!!
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! 😉
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?
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.