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Imagine: roasted potatoes that are crispy outside, tender inside, and covered in crunchy Parmesan cheese. Yes, you need these Parmesan potatoes stat.

Hello there. Looking for the world’s most perfect food? OK we jest, but these Parmesan potatoes are truly extraordinary. There’s the crunchy exterior, oven roasted to perfection. Of course the interior is velvety and tender. And you know how Parmesan cheese gets all crunchy and savory when you heat it up? Yeah, those little crunchy bits are all over these potatoes, making them all the more irresistible. These babies work as a side dish for just about anything, from salmon to a veggie burger to a Swiss melt. Want to know how to make them?

Related: Baked Potato Wedges (sans Parmesan, still amazing!)

Ingredients for these Parmesan potatoes

As the name might imply, there are only a handful of ingredients needed for these simple Parmesan potatoes:

Small, waxy potatoes, about 2 to 3 inches long (thin-skinned varieties like red potatoes, fingerling, and so forth)
Salted butter
Spices: Garlic powder, dried basil
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

The only thing you’ll need to watch for is the type of potato that you buy. For this recipe you’ll need a waxy potato, like a red potato or even fingerling potato. A waxy potato has less starch content than a starchy potato (a Russet potato, for example), which is fluffier and holds its shape less than a waxy potato. How to tell if a potato is waxy potato? Waxy potatoes have thin skin: if it feels thin and like you could scratch off a piece with your finger, it’s probably a waxy potato.

The size of potato is also important: you’ll need small potatoes for this recipe, or potatoes that are 2 to 3 inches long. This makes for the perfect oven roasted Parmesan potatoes in terms of size of the wedges and also bake time. (You could certainly use larger potatoes, you’d just have to bake them longer than specified in the recipe below!)

How to make Parmesan potatoes

There are lots of ways to make Parmesan potatoes; some are a little labor intensive, and others require simply roasting potatoes with Parmesan on them. Since we’re all about pretty simple cooking (hey, we wrote a book about it!), we developed this recipe to balance big flavor with the most simple cooking method possible.

Here’s how to make these Parmesan potatoes (see the full recipe below):

Cut the potatoes into wedges.
Mix together with melted salted butter, garlic powder, dried basil, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.
Place on a parchment lined baking sheet at bake at 425 degrees for 18 minutes, then flip and bake another 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

How to cut potato wedges

The only piece of technique needed in these Parmesan potatoes is how to cut potato wedges! It’s fairly simple, but you also might blank out when you get to the cutting board (we have!). You’ll simply place the potato on its side and cut it in half lengthwise, then cut it in half again into quarters. Then place each potato quarter cut side up and slice it in half to make a wedge.

This is easiest to see by watching: so we made you a video! Here I am cutting potato wedges in our kitchen:

This Parmesan potatoes recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, use the vegan variation in our Baked Potato Wedges recipe.