While many of our favourite roast potato recipes call for duck fat or oil, this method uses butter to create crunchy edges and add a touch of indulgence to your traditional Sunday lunch.
Simply seasoned with fresh thyme and dried chilli flakes, these butter-roast potatoes pair perfectly with everything from roast lamb to baked ham. Not a fan of spice? Feel free to skip the chilli, or switch for dried rosemary and mint, if you wish.
Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3. Peel and cut the potatoes into large, even-sized chunks (about 5cm/2in). Put into a pan, cover with cold water and a lid. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat a little, take off the lid and simmer for 8min.
Step 2
Meanwhile strip the leaves from the thyme into a small bowl and mix in the butter, chilli flakes, 1tsp salt (ideally flaked rock salt) and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Step 3
Drain potatoes and leave to steam dry for 5min. Toss in the colander a few times to rough up the edges; empty into a large roasting tin. Toss through the butter mixture.
Step 4
Roast in the oven (ideally above the lamb if sharing an oven) for 1¼-1½hr, turning occasionally until golden. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl. Serve with shredded lamb.
Get ahead:
Prepare to end of step 3 up to a day ahead. Cool completely in the tin, then cover and chill. Complete recipe to serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
