These spicy harissa potatoes are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, with a nice harissa kick. With just four ingredients, they can also be easily whipped up in under an hour.
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⭐Why you’ll love them
- They’re spicy (choose from mild, medium or hot!).
- They’re perfectly roasted with a soft, floury, fluffy interior and a crisp external skin.
- If you use a gluten-free harissa sauce, these are gluten-free. (Be cautious; sometimes store brands have added gluten. To be on the safe side, it’s easy and inexpensive to make your own harissa).
- They’re dairy-free and egg-free, so perfect for vegans or people with allergies.
- They’re very easy to make.
If you like a bit of spice, then you might also like these spicy vegetarian pasta recipes, this spicy cashew dressing, or this peri peri sauce.
🛒Ingredients and substitutions
Harissa paste: This is obviously a bit of an essential ingredient for harissa potatoes. The one thing I would point out here is that store-bought brands really vary in quality and spiciness.
For this recipe, I used Dea harissa, my favorite, which is a good, spicy, authentic harissa paste. If using a less spicy harissa paste (like Le Phare du Cap Bon, which is very mild), you could easily double the amount.
Potatoes: Again, a bit of a no-brainer. I would say you could swap out the potatoes for sweet potatoes, which are amazing when paired with spicy sauces, but I’m not sure how crispy they would get and haven’t tested it out yet.
I used a mix of whatever I had to hand when shooting my final test recipe, as I had used up my lovely roasting potatoes on previous tests. Ideally, Yukon Gold; failing that, russet or red potatoes will do in a pinch.
Olive oil: I live in Spain and love using olive oil for just about everything. Using it to roast your potatoes will definitely give them more flavor; just don’t whip out your expensive extra virgin olive oil.
A cheaper standard olive oil will do just fine. If you don’t have olive oil, substitute with a mild, flavorless oil that won’t compete with the harissa paste, canola, or sunflower, for example.
Salt: A well-salted potato is a thing of beauty. In this recipe, the water for parboiling the potatoes is salted to really give the potatoes some flavor, and then just a teaspoon is sprinkled when they’re tossed with the harissa.
If you are trying to keep your sodium levels down, you can of course skip adding the salt to the water, and salt to taste with a low-sodium or sodium-free salt substitute. Otherwise, salt away and don’t skimp on it.
See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact quantities.
👩🍳How to make them
Harissa potatoes are simple to make, but like most perfect roast potatoes, you do need to pay a little attention to timing.
Step 1: Peel your potatoes and cut them into one-and-a-half-inch chunks, a little smaller than roast potatoes usually are cut. Pop them into a large pot and add enough water to just cover the potatoes by about half an inch. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water (image one below), cover with a lid, and set on high heat to boil.
Step 2: Preheat your oven to 400ºF (200ºC) for ten minutes. Take a large oven roasting tray or a large baking tray, and line it well with baking paper. Add the olive oil to the middle of the lined tray (image two below) and pop it into the oven to get hot.
Step 3: When the water in the pot comes to a rolling boil, remove the lid and add the potatoes. When the water starts to boil again, set a timer for two minutes. Be precise about the timing (use a timer), as overdone potatoes will fall apart when you’re roughing them up in the next step.
Drain the potatoes in a colander (image three above). Allow to drain completely; shake once or twice to be sure.
Step 4: Add the potatoes to the dry pot (image four above). If it’s not completely dry, give it a quick wipe with some paper towel.
Place the lid back on the pot and hold the lid down tightly; shake the pot very hard to really roughen up the surface of the potatoes (see image five below for how the potatoes should look after shaking).
Step 5: Remove the lined tray with the oil from the oven, and carefully and slowly tip the potatoes into the hot oil. Using two tablespoons or large spoons, quickly toss the sizzling potatoes in the oil so they are completely coated. Space the potatoes out a little so they aren’t touching (image six below).
Step 6: Place the potatoes back in the oven for fifteen minutes. Then remove the potatoes and use the spoons to flip the potatoes so they’re not on the same side they were roasting on (browned side up, as in image seven above). Add back to the oven for another fifteen minutes.
Step 7: Transfer the potatoes back to the spot using a slotted spatula or slotted spoon (to reduce oil). Add the harissa paste(image eight above).
Note that if you’re using a quality spicy harissa paste like DEA, then:
- Three tablespoons will be mildly spicy
- Four and a half tablespoons will be medium-spicy.
- Six tablespoons will be hot.
Grab your spoons again and gently toss the potatoes in the harissa paste until they’re evenly covered with harissa. Now sprinkle the teaspoon of salt over (image nine below) and toss again until the salt is evenly distributed.
Step 8: Take out the tray again and repeat the step of gently placing the potatoes in the oil and tossing until lightly coated (image ten above). Place back in the oven for five minutes. Remove and flip the potatoes once more. Roast a further five minutes.
Done! Test a large potato to make sure it’s done and to taste for salt. Serve immediately.
💡Expert tips
- Do not boil the potatoes for more than two minutes, as they may fall apart then when roughing them up. Remember, they’ve also been cooking while the water was heating up.
- Make sure the potatoes are really roughed up – the more rough, fluffy, or flaky edges, the crispier your potatoes will be.
- Taste your harissa before using it – some brands are much milder than others, and you’ll need to add more.
🍽️Serving suggestions
These potatoes are delicious enough to eat alone, or as a side, but in case you need any inspiration, serve them with:
- Huevos rancheros (or vegan huevos rancheros) for a yummy filling breakfast or brunch.
- Ranch sauce (or try this vegan version) for dipping.
- Sour cream (or vegan sour cream) for dipping.
- A veggie burger or vegan fried chicken and salad for a complete meal.
- Creamy coleslaw and peri peri tofu.
FAQs
As with most roast potatoes, harissa potatoes should be eaten freshly made. If you do happen to have leftovers, keep them covered in the fridge for up to three days and “re-roast” in the oven at 400ºF, covered with aluminum foil and with a little hot oil for 10 to 15 minutes. Alternatively, if you’re lucky enough to have an air fryer, cook them for ten minutes at 200ºC with a spritz of oil spray.
Not really. What you can do is follow the recipe up until roughing up the potatoes, then stop and cover them tightly and keep them at room temperature (for no more than two hours) until you are ready to finish making the recipe.
Yes, and they actually cook up better from frozen than from being in the fridge! Reheat without defrosting in the oven, covered with foil, for about 20 minutes at 400ºF.
🔥More Spicy recipes…
Did you make this dish? Let me know how much you loved it with a star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐and a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Spicy Harissa Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs potatoes
- 3-6 Tablespoons harissa paste 42-84g, see notes
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt divided
- 5 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1.5-inch chunks. Line a large roasting tray with baking paper and add the oil to the center. Place in the middle of the oven and set the oven to heat at 400ºF (200ºC)
- Add potatoes to a large pot with enough water to cover the potatoes by about half an inch. Add one tablespoon of salt to the water, cover, and bring to a roiling boil. When fully boiling, uncover and cook for two minutes. Drain in a colander.
- Quickly dry the pot if needed with some paper towels and add the potatoes back to the pot. Cover the pot with a lid and shake energetically up and down and back and forth until the outside of the potatoes has been roughed up.
- Remove the roasting pan from the oven and gently tip the potatoes into the middle of the pan (be careful not to get splattered with hot oil). Using two tablespoons, toss the potatoes in the hot oil until coated with oil, and space the potatoes at least half an inch apart. Return to the oven for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pan and flip the potatoes using the two spoons again, so that the side that was touching the bottom before is now facing upwards. Roast another fifteen minutes.
- Remove the pan and use a slotted spoon, fish slice, or slotted spatula to remove the potatoes from the oil and add them back to the pot you were previously using. Return the roasting pan to the oven to keep the oil hot.
- Add the harissa paste to the pot and gently toss the potatoes using the two spoons until they are fully coated. Sprinkle over the remaining teaspoon of salt and toss again. Retrieve the pan from the oven, gently toss the potatoes in the oil, and roast for five minutes.
- Flip the potatoes and roast for five minutes more.
- Done. Check the potatoes are cooked through and adjust seasoning if needed.
Notes
- The potatoes will not absorb 1 tablespoon of salt from parboiling, but it will nicely season them.
- I recommend 3 tablespoons of harissa for mildly spicy, 4.5 for medium, and 6 for hot.
- Taste your harissa before using it to see how spicy it is. I used an authentically spicy brand (Dea) for the measurements above. It does vary a lot by brand, how authentic they are, whether it’s homemade, etc.
- If you don’t have olive oil, you can use any plain, flavorless oil, e.g., canola or sunflower. You don’t need to use EVOO.
- The olive oil will not all be absorbed, but it is a necessary amount to have enough to keep rolling and crisp-frying the potatoes.
Paula Lynch-Griffith
what’s the dip shown in the photo?
Deirdre Gilna
Hi Paula! That’s a great question. This dish does really well dipped in anything creamy like ranch sauce or sour cream, but I do personally count calories and I live in Spain which led me to my favorite creamy low-calorie dipping sauce that I use in a lot of my shots but never did a recipe on as I didn’t see the need for it: A low-calorie high protein dip that tastes like Boursin.
So I personally make my dip with one cup of 5% Fage or full-fat cottage cheese or my vegan sour cream, one cup with one teaspoon olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp dried garlic, 1/2 tsp dried onion, 1 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp dried chives, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried parsley and 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper. I make it just before I start making the potatoes and leave it in the fridge so it can chill and the flavors mingle and it’s amazing!