Roasted fingerling potatoes are a quick and easy side dish ready in under 30 minutes! Just toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and freshly minced garlic. The perfect side dish for chicken, beef, fish or pork.
Jessica’s Recipe Science
- Fingerling potatoes are slender tubers with thin skin, creamy flesh, and a buttery, subtly sweet flavor when roasted.
- Halving fingerling potatoes speeds up cooking and increases surface area, giving you a crispier texture.
- Heat roughly chopped garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for about 30 seconds to make garlic-infused olive oil.
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Featured Comment 21
“I love this recipe. I wanted to make tasty roasted fingerlings like one of my favorite dishes at a local restaurant, but without all the butter and this recipe satisfies!!”—Shannon M.
Why It Works
Nothing is more satisfying than the oil-infused smell of crispy roasted fingerling potatoes sizzling hot out of the oven. These unassuming little potatoes yield crunchy exteriors with a burst of flavor. Thankfully, this side dish requires minimal effort to achieve maximum taste.
Just toss the potatoes with everyday pantry staples like olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic, then roast in the oven until crisp. This recipe might just earn a permanent spot in your weekly dinner rotation. It’s wonderful with roasted chicken and sauteed green beans.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Potatoes: Fingerling potatoes are elongated tubers unique because of their thin skin, creamy flesh, buttery flavor, and subtly sweet flavor. They tend to be in season from spring to summer and come in yellow, red, purple, and even white colors. Each variety provides different phytonutrients and nutritional benefits. The most common types are the yellow Russian Banana, French Fingerling with red streaks, and red Ruby Cresent.
- Oil: Olive oil is used to roast the potatoes for a crispy skin.
- Garlic: Garlic is used to infuse its pungent and early flavor into the olive oil for cooking the potatoes. It’s also added back at the end of roasting, so the pieces get crispy with a nice crunch and flavor. Make sure to roughly chop the garlic, as it will burn off entirely if too finely minced.
- Seasoning: Salt and pepper enhance the savory taste of the roasted potatoes.
- Herbs: Fresh chives have a delicate onion flavor, complementing the roasted fingerling potatoes. I recommend garnishing right before serving this side dish.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
This oven-roasted fingerling potato recipe is easy to customize! Try these tasty ideas:
- Potato Substitutes: Since fingerlings peak in the spring and summer, you can use other types of potatoes. Yukon gold potatoes, New potatoes, red bliss, or purple potatoes have a similar waxy texture, yielding crisp, thin skins and creamy flesh. Choose smaller-sized potatoes and adjust cooking time as needed. For a sweeter option, slice sweet potatoes in wedges or 1/2-inch thick sticks.
- Oil Swap: Try avocado oil or coconut oil. If on the Whole30 diet, roast the potatoes in homemade ghee.
- Herbs: Toss the potatoes with dried herbs like Italian seasoning for a strong herbaceous note. Garnish with fresh parsley, oregano, green onions, rosemary, basil, or thyme.
- Seasoning: Feel free to add garlic powder, onion powder, or Cajun seasoning for a spicy kick. Add freshly grated parmesan cheese for a nutty taste.
How to Make Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Step 1: Heat the Oven
Place your oven rack in the center for even roasting, then preheat to 400°F (204ºC). This temperature tenderizes the flesh and gives the surface a golden-brown finish.
Step 2: Cook the Garlic
To infuse garlic flavors into the olive oil, briefly saute roughly chopped garlic in a skillet like a cast iron pan. Cook until fragrant but not browned over medium-low heat for 30 seconds, then remove the garlic and reserve the pieces for later roasting.
Step 3: Add the Potatoes
Mix the sliced fingerling potatoes with the garlic-infused oil and salt. Spread them into a single layer for even cooking. Then, place the skillet in the oven and cook until the tubers are crispy and golden.
Quick Substitution: If you don’t have an oven-proof pan, arrange the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet coated with cooking spray or oil. You could also line it with aluminum foil or parchment paper for easy clean-up. Cook until tender. You can still use garlic-infused oil, although the process is more straightforward with the one-pan technique.
Step 4: Roast the Potatoes
Place the skillet on the center oven rack and roast the potatoes until they’re tender about 15 to 20 minutes.
Step 5: Roast the Garlic
Remove the potatoes from the oven, stir them, and sprinkle the reserved garlic on top. Return to the oven and cook until the potatoes are golden brown and the garlic is lightly toasted about 5 minutes.
Step 6: To Serve
Transfer the roasted fingerling potatoes to a large serving bowl and serve hot. Sprinkle with black pepper and garnish with fresh chives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fingerling potatoes, with their slightly bumpy surface, cook relatively fast because of their small size and long shape. They’re low in starch content and hold together well after cooking, making them waxy potatoes. They’re also great for boiling, roasting at high temperatures, sauteing, and exceptionally tasty in fingerling potato salad.
New potatoes are round or oblong, small, immature potatoes harvested before their starches develop. They’re any baby potato. Fingerling is a specific heirloom variety of potatoes from the Andes. They both have a waxy texture and thin skin. New potatoes are a comparable substitute if fingerling potatoes are not in season.
No need to peel! Fingerling potatoes have tender, thin skins that are delicious and easy to eat.
There is no need to boil fingerling potatoes before roasting. Their small size and thin skin allow them to cook quickly in the oven, achieving a tender interior and crispy exterior without pre-boiling.
More Potato Recipes
If you tried these Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 pound fingerling potatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped garlic
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper, for seasoning
- 2 teaspoon chopped chives
Instructions
- Heat the Oven – Set the oven rack to the center position. Heat the oven to 400°F (204ºC).
- Cook the Garlic – Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large oven-proof skillet. Once warm, add the garlic and saute until fragrant but not browned, about 30 seconds. Immediately remove the garlic from the oil and reserve.
- Add the Potatoes – Add sliced fingerling potatoes to the skillet. Stir until coated with the garlic-infused oil. Sprinkle in the salt and stir to combine.
- Roast the Potatoes – Place the skillet on the center rack of the oven. Roast until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Roast the Garlic – Remove the potatoes from the oven, stir, and sprinkle the reserved garlic over the top. Continue cooking until the potatoes are golden brown and the garlic is lightly toasted, about 5 minutes.
- To Serve – Place the roasted fingerling potatoes in a large bowl and serve hot. Season with black pepper and garnish with chives.
Notes
- Make it Whole30: Use extra-virgin olive oil or ghee instead of olive oil. Use sea salt instead of kosher salt.
- Storing: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Reheating: Microwave in 30-second increments until hot. Cook on the stovetop with olive oil over medium-low heat for crispy skin.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Celeste says
Smells so good. It’s in the oven now. I lost and haven’t replaced my big cast iron skillet, so I’m cooking them in a Dutch oven. Quarantine is in effect, so I could only use what I had. So dried cubes and I threw in some summer savory also. The garlic is very well cooked, so I’m not going to cook it any more.
Curt Snyder says
I doctored them up with dried oregano and basil, just sprinkled on top prior to roasting. My grandsons really liked them ( as do I)
Rowy Bohlen says
I didn’t realize I bought baby gold potatoes but them came out delicious! I infused the oil with the garlic but took the garlic out when just browned so it wasn’t bitter at all when I put the garlic back at the end. Thanks again for a great recipe!
Martha says
Will substituting dried chives and parsley work, do you think? I would mix in the dried herbs with potatoes.
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, I would first try 1 teaspoon of dried chives and parsley (half each), combine with the potatoes and oil. Add more herbs if needed.
Bridget says
I wish the tip about removing the garlic after infusing the oil then adding back in 15 minutes into roasting time was part of the recipe. I didn’t see it till they were almost done. I pulled my potatoes out before they were crispy enough for fear of burning the garlic.
Marijane says
I made these tonight for dinner to go with steak. Followed instructions pretty much exactly and they were so good! I used a cast iron skillet and did remove the coarse chopped garlic from the hot oil before adding the potatoes and putting in the oven. I cooked potatoes for 15 minutes, tossed them and sprinkled the garlic over all before finishing 10 more minutes. Delicious!
Dan C says
This worked out great using my carbon steel fry pan. I used granulated garlic, sea salt and ground pepper. Perfect. The best result that I’ve ever had with roasted potatoes . Thanks for the receipe.
Pam says
I would wait till the potatoes are about halfway before adding the garlic. Great recipe for sweet potato or yams too.
Jessica Gavin says
Thanks for your feedback Pam!
Shannon M says
I love this recipe. I wanted to make tasty roasted fingerlings like one of my favorite dishes at a local restaurant, but without all the butter and this recipe satisfies!!
Jessica Gavin says
Great to hear Shannon!
Dan N says
Delicious, simple, and fast. I used about double the amount minced garlic and used avocado oil instead of olive oil, since it holds up to high heat a bit better. I ended up roasting in the cast iron skillet in the oven for about 40 minutes, which was perfect for me (crispy garlic pieces and warm, but not burned potatoes). Obviously the baking time will vary a bit from batch to batch. Thanks.
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you for the great tips and review Dan!
Lora says
Something went wrong for me. The garlic burned and the potatoes did not become crispy. I thought I followed the recipe closely but I must have missed something along the way. I grew a zillion fingerlings in my garden this year and would like to try this again if you have any tips to help me out! Thanks!
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Laura- Thanks for your feedback! How fine did you mince the garlic? The garlic does become crisp and lightly browned, but should not be burned if roughly chopped. Maybe stir halfway through cooking to getting them off the bottom of the pan. You can always add later, perhaps mix into the potatoes at the last 10 minutes of cooking? Maybe need just a little more time or slightly more oil? Are they getting browned when you cook them?
Lora says
Thanks for the response. Garlic was not minced too finely I did end up cooking the potatoes for longer. Would too much oil, rather than too little, result in not crispy potatoes? Hmmm…
Bongani says
I will put in on my menu is nice and the skin mhhh crunchy.
carol says
this is great, thanks for the recipe! i wonder if I need to be careful to avoid crowding in my pan? it looks gorgeous with the potatoes all piled on top of one another in the photo, but doesn’t that affect crispiness when cooking? thanks again!
Judy says
Hi Jessica,
I like the heirloom vegetables. These are beautiful. I’m going to make them one night for dinner when our company is here. I’ve never used chives so looking forward to that and going to the Farmer’s Market to find these potatoes. Thank you for another beautiful recipe.
Jessica Gavin says
You’re welcome, Judy! I love them too, they have a slightly sweet flavor and thin skin, I really enjoy the texture of fingerling potatoes.