Rosemary Roasted Potatoes {GF, Vegan}

Thank you to Side Delights® potatoes for sponsoring this post through Kitchen PLAY. As always, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Rosemary roasted potatoes make for the perfect easy & convenient side dish. Garlic and rosemary are the best accompaniment for potatoes and pack in a ton of flavors. These are crispy without being fried! Served with a side of Cane’s Sauce for dipping – they are the ultimate crowd-pleaser.

Potatoes are the best. I cannot deny how much I love them. They are my favorite starch, and I realized this firsthand after backpacking for months in South East Asia and only eating rice as my starch — no potatoes.

It hit me then and there that potatoes transport me home. They’re my nostalgia food that makes me feel warm and safe. That must be my Russian roots speaking, as you probably know, there’s a lot of potato consumption in Russia.

One of my fondest childhood memories surrounds potatoes. The first time I visited my grandmother in Russia by myself was when I was 11 years old. We made our way via metro, train, and bus to her humble countryside cottage where she had her own mini-farm. She grew everything from flowers to berries, fruits, and veggies. This was my first hands on experience with gardening and farming. Naturally, before this, I knew nothing about the work and labour involved in growing and harvesting your own produce.

Unsurprisingly, most of all, I immediately took to the potato plants. Harvesting those potatoes, digging in that rich, pure soil and seeing how many potatoes came out of each plant, was truly one of my favorite activities.

Well before that, I’ve loved potatoes, but once I took part in the whole farming process, I gained a new appreciation for the potato plant.

And with my love of potatoes, I could not be more excited to work with Side Delights® potatoes and have the opportunity to interview a true American potato farmer!

Side Delights® potatoes are grown by eight different family-owned potato farms across the US, thus aiming to provide the highest quality fresh potatoes from regional operations. This network of farmers results in us/consumers eating products grown nearby while reducing food miles and transportation emissions.

I had the opportunity to chat with Chandler Mack, owner of Mack Farms, located in Lake Wales, Florida. For Chandler, the farming life started with his father Arnold Mack, who moved over to Florida to buy farmland after farming watermelons and potatoes in Alabama. Though in a way Chandler said farming has always been in his family, he was in his mid-20s when he decided to pursue this career path as well.

Mack Farms currently grows primarily red potatoes (my favorite) along with Gold, Yukon Gold, and White potatoes. Being located in a subtropical farming climate with no harsh winters, they plant potatoes in the fall. With the growing season going from late fall to early winter, the harvest occurs from late winter to spring. By summer, most crops have been harvested, and the farm is quiet due to rain and high heat.

Mack Farms grows 1500 acres of potatoes. Year after year one of the biggest challenges in potato farming is the weather, Chandler explains. You can’t control the market or the weather, so the best you can do is mitigate crop losses due to weather. They accomplish this by planting in raised beds so the crop can handle rain before it starts to affect quality, and by installing drainage ditches to get water off the fields quickly. 1997 was the worst year that they’ve encountered on the farm. Due to El Nino, they had a complete crop loss due to 20 inches of rain over 2-3 weeks, destroying the entire crop.

Overall, the biggest joy for Chandler, in being a potato farmer, is the variety in the daily work. He enjoys being out in the fields, selling the products he grows and participating in food shows, where no two days are the same.

Like all farmers Chandler wants the general public to understand how difficult it is to get high quality produce to your table. With many challenges to grow and sell, there are also challenges to be profitable enough to stay in business for the next season. It seems the success of the crop and the farm can vary wildly from year to year, which can create a lot of risk and unpredictability for farmers.

Even after all these years farming potatoes Chandler still doesn’t get sick of them. His wife loves them, so they have potatoes in some way during most meals. Chandler’s favorite family potato recipe? Rosemary roasted, of course. After my own experience with mini potato farming in my childhood, I was thrilled to chat with a real American potato farmer. It was fascinating to hear about the day to day life as a potato farmer and learn about the challenges faced by the farming community.

And now for a potato recipe!

To highlight the red petite potatoes specifically, I could not be more excited to share this Rosemary Roasted Potatoes recipe. For this recipe, you only need a few simple ingredients, with each ingredient vital to maximizing the flavor of this dish.

Ingredients:

red petite potatoes (I used the Side Delights® Gourmet Petite Real Reds)
olive oil
salt & pepper
fresh rosemary
fresh garlic

Why this rosemary roasted potatoes recipe is the best:

simple ingredients
oven baked so healthier than frying
easy to make
always a crowd-pleaser
family favorite recipe

How to prepare rosemary roasted potatoes:

This recipe could not be easier to prepare. Before you get started, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Depending on the size of the potatoes, you can either cut them in half or quarters. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes with fresh diced rosemary, minced garlic, salt, freshly cracked pepper, and olive oil. Mix everything together and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake for 60 minutes, flipping them over half way through the cooking time. Minimal fuss required, and only a few ingredients needed to make these fantastic rosemary roasted potatoes.

No frying required for this favorite family recipe. A hit with kids and adults alike.

When you bite into the potato wedge, you immediately taste the crisp outer crust, and then the soft tender, perfectly cooked potato inside – the best of both worlds.

Next time you’re looking to make potatoes, be sure to roast them with rosemary and garlic!