Red potatoes are a great addition to any meal. They add color and texture to the plate and go well with pork, chicken, fish, or beef. Preparing red potatoes in the oven is an easy and tasty way to prepare them, and there’s many ways to add interesting flavor in order to feature them in your meal.
Red potatoes come in a variety of sizes, from small less-than-golf-ball sized, to large grapefruit-sized potatoes. When baking or roasting them in the oven, it’s important to make sure that all the potatoes are cut into similar sizes so that they will cook evenly. If the potatoes are small enough, it’s not always necessary to cut them. You can roast the potatoes whole and they will cook through just fine.
The best way to get the maximum flavor and best texture out of these delicate vegetables is to roast them. Place the potatoes in a roasting pan, cut into similar sized pieces for even cooking. Drizzle an oil over the top of them, or spray them with a non-stick cooking spray. A nice extra virgin olive oil will deliver the best flavor, but canola oil will work fine. After drizzling the oil, add your flavorings.
A variety of flavorings can be used and combined in any way that you desire. This is the part of the preparation where you can decide what kind of side dish you would like to make. Herbed potatoes are very popular, and just rely on dry or fresh herbs sprinkled over the potatoes. Any italian seasoning, oregano, basil, or rosemary will be a delicious and fragrant addition to the dish.
Ranch potatoes are also popular, and packets of flavorings for this dish and others like it can be bought pre-made at your local grocery store. When buying pre-made flavorings, watch out for a high sodium content in the mixture. A very high-sodium mixture will be unhealthy for your family and will overpower the delicate flavor of the potatoes.
Another great way to add flavor is to add another fragrant vegetable. Red, white, or yellow onions are a great addition to these potatoes. Pearl onions can also be used if you’d rather cook them whole without having to chop onions. These have a sweeter and delicate flavor that will pair well with the potatoes. Simply place them in the roasting pan mixed in with the potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, and cook as normal.
Any combination of spices and herbs can be used to get great flavor out of red potatoes. After adding the olive oil and your flavorings, place in a 400˚F oven until the potatoes are done and a fork can be easily inserted into the largest chunks of potato, generally between 25-40 minutes, depending on the size of potato.
