How to make Emily Blunt’s English Roast Potatoes

• Jennifer Garner revealed she makes Emily Blunt English roast potatoes every week.
• She found the recipe in Ina Garten’s cookbook and now swears by the dish.
• I first tried the recipe when I was learning to cook and it’s still one of the best I’ve ever made.

Anyone who follows Jennifer Garner’s Instagram knows that she loves spending time in the kitchen.

And Garner recently revealed that one of her favorite weekly recipes comes from Emily Blunt and Ina Garten.

The actress told People that she’s been making blunt English roast potatoes almost every week since spotting the recipe in Garten’s cookbook, Modern Comfort Food, which was published in October 2020.

A post by Ina Garten (@inagarten)

Garner calls the recipe a “definite recommendation,” and I definitely agree. It’s one of the tastiest dishes I’ve ever made and I write about food for a living.

Emily Blunt taught Ina Garten how to cook her family’s special recipe on an episode of “Barefoot Contessa.”

Barefoot Contessa/Food Network

The actress told Garten that these English fried potatoes are a “blunt household staple,” and revealed all of her tips and tricks during the 2018 Food Network episode.

Garten re-shared the recipe in May 2020 when her Instagram followers were asking for kitchen-friendly dishes for the first lockdown of the pandemic. The recipe was so successful that it temporarily crashed the Barefoot Contessa website.

Months later, Blunt’s family recipe appeared in Garten’s cookbook, Modern Comfort Food, where it was discovered by Garner.

“I did them consistently,” she told People earlier this month. “Hardly a week goes by that I’m not there [the kitchen] Peel potatoes and try to make them like Emily’s. My kids love them.”

Blunt’s English Fried Potatoes recipe is super easy, even for a novice cook

I first made Blunt’s family recipe while living like garden for a day during lockdown (an experience I highly recommend). I was a total novice cook at the time, but I couldn’t believe how easy it was to whip up this sophisticated potato dish.

The recipe calls for just four simple ingredients. All you need are Yukon Gold potatoes — peeled and diced into 1½ to 2-inch pieces — plus the parsley, salt, and vegetable oil.

Anneta Konstantinides / Insider

To start, I put my potatoes in a large simmering pot of water seasoned with 2 tablespoons of salt. I brought the water back to a boil, then lowered the heat so my potatoes could simmer for eight minutes.

I drained the water and threw the potatoes back into the pot. Then I covered it with the lid and shook everything for five seconds. Blunt told Garten that this was her mother’s trick to rough up the edges of the potatoes.

“That’s the training part,” she said. “If you rough up the edges, there’s just a really nice crunchy crunch after frying.”

Barefoot Contessa/Food Network

Then I tried Blunt’s second specialty trick – letting the potatoes dry for 15 minutes before popping them in the oven.

“That’s my addition that made my mom a little worried for Christmas,” Blunt told Garten. “Because their whole thing is like that, just shake them up and stick them in the oil — don’t overthink it!

“But I said, ‘Mom, that’s a really good trick. You put them on the wire rack and get all the moisture out, and then they have such a great crust on the outside.'”

And if you don’t have a baking rack, don’t worry. I simply placed a paper towel over a baking sheet and let my potatoes dry on it.

Blunt English roast potatoes take about 45 minutes to cook

Anneta Konstantinides / Insider

While I par-cooked my potatoes, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and poured 1/2 cup of vegetable oil into a sheet pan. I tossed the pan in the oven and let it sit for about five minutes.

“You want it to kind of smoke,” Blunt told Garten during the “Barefoot Contessa” episode. “It should hurt your eyes a little when you pull it out.”

I added my potatoes to the pan after drying and tossed them lightly in the hot oil. I then lowered the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and roasted my potatoes for 45 minutes, turning them every fifteen minutes.

Blunt’s potatoes capture that magical combination of crunchy and creamy

Anneta Konstantinides / Insider

After sprinkling my dish with some sea salt and fresh parsley, I admired the plate of beautiful golden potatoes in front of me.

And Blunt’s potatoes tasted even better than they looked. The crust was perfectly crispy while the center was soft and tender. The parsley on top also provided a nice boost of color and freshness.

Anneta Konstantinides / Insider

Blunt’s special tricks were definitely worth the extra effort to take these potatoes to the next level. And they still tasted great when I used my leftovers for an impromptu hash the next day.

So I’m not surprised that Garner makes these potatoes every week. If you’re looking for an easy and comforting dish that will make everyone happy, Blunt’s recipe will always deliver.