Anyone who has ever made mash, chips, fish cakes or countless other potato recipes has probably been left with a large pile of peels and a slight niggling feeling of guilt. Although leftover peelings do sometimes have to be chucked or composted, potato peelings are a very versatile ingredient which crisp up beautifully in the oven, air fryer and deep fryer.
Many of these recipes are designed to work with potato skins that have been cooked, not just the raw peelings. So, if you have scooped out jacket potatoes or passed potatoes through a food mill, save those skins!
Do you need to peel potatoes?
All potato skin is edible once cooked, from the tough skin on jacket potatoes to the papery skin on new potatoes. However, larger potatoes like Maris Pipers tend to be peeled since their skin is thicker and harder to eat, while smaller potatoes like Jersey royals are left unpeeled as their skin is very tender.
For certain recipes, using unpeeled potatoes would give the final dish a funny texture. With gnocchi for example, leaving the skin on the potatoes makes the dough hard to roll out and lumpy. For other recipes - like mashed potato - leaving the skin on isn’t traditional but doesn’t stop the dish from working. Many people actually prefer the texture of a more rustic mashed potato with the skins left in. Finally, in some dishes - like potato wedges - potato skins are a traditional part of the finished dish.
Are potato skins more nutritious than potato flesh?
Many of us will have heard growing up that all the ‘goodness’ of potatoes is in the skin, and that potato flesh is basically devoid of nutrients. This isn’t actually true. While potato skins are high in fibre and contain most of the iron found in potatoes, the flesh of potatoes has plenty of vitamins and minerals too. Potato flesh contains lots of vitamin C, niacin, potassium and magnesium. So, don’t worry too much about peeling all the goodness away if you need to take the skins off your potatoes.
How to bake potato skin crisps
With the help of a little bit of olive oil, salt and paprika potato peelings can transform into delicious, crispy bites. This recipe works with any size and shape of potato peelings - thick or thin, long or short - but do make sure that the peelings come from clean, scrubbed potatoes.
- potato peelings, from 4 large potatoes
- olive oil
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- salt
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7
Lay the potato peelings on the baking tray and toss with a drizzle of olive oil, the paprika and season with salt to taste
Bake for 10-15 minutes, turning once, or until the peelings are golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and enjoy with dippings of your choice
How to make crispy potato skins in the air fryer
To make crispy potato skins in the air fryer, drizzle a small handful of potato peelings with olive oil, paprika and salt just like in the recipe above. Add the seasoned potato peels to the air fryer basket and cook at 200°C for 8-10 minutes. If they’re still not crisp after 10 minutes, give them a couple more minutes. Serve with a dip of your choice.
How do you make loaded baked potatoes?
Loaded baked potatoes - also called potato skins, loaded potato skins or twice-baked potatoes - are an American bar classic. They are made by baking potatoes until they are tender all the way through, then scooping out the flesh. The fluffy potato is then mashed with other seasonings like bacon, cheese, butter, sour cream or chives, returned to the potato skin, and baked again until the cheese has melted and the loaded baked potatoes are piping hot.
Loaded baked potatoes are best made with jacket potatoes, since their skin is thick enough that you won’t accidentally poke a hole in it with your spoon when scooping out the insides.
How to deep-fry potato skins
Potato skins are delicious deep-fried. They work perfectly in vegetable peel pakoras, especially when combined with sweeter peelings like carrot or parsnip skins. Stosie Madi’s legendary potato scratchings are another delicious way to enjoy deep-fried potato skins. Madi’s potato scratchings are great with a beer as a vegetarian alternative to pork scratchings.
Can you leave the skin on roast potatoes?
When making roast potatoes from larger potatoes, like Désirées or Maris Pipers, it’s traditional to peel the potatoes first. This allows the potato flesh to crisp up on the outside, giving roasties their signature crunch. However, if making roasties from potatoes with more tender skins - like Jersey royals or new potatoes - then the skins are left on. If you don’t want to have to peel potatoes, making roasties from smaller potatoes is a great way to go.
Are sweet potato skins edible?
You can use sweet potato skins just like you would use the skins from white potatoes. Loaded baked sweet potatoes pair particularly well with Mexican flavours like lime, chilli, cumin, cotija cheese and black beans.
If you’ve peeled your sweet potatoes - for sweet potato soup or sweet potato parathas for example - you can use the potato skins in pakoras or bake them up to make potato skin crisps. Sweet potato skins might be slightly harder to crisp up when compared to white potatoes. Since sweet potatoes don’t have as much starch in them, they tend to remain slightly soggy even if deep-fried.
Which flavours work well with potato skins?
The classic American pairing with loaded potato skins is bacon, cheddar, sour cream and chives. For a vegetarian option you can skip the bacon, use veggie bacon or fry some crumbled up tempeh with smoked paprika. Crispy potato skins make a great gluten-free garnish for salads and soups. You could even go double potato and top leek and potato soup with some crispy potato peels.
Potato peels go well with any dips or sauces you might use for chips - ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar, sweet chilli - so you likely have plenty of perfect potato peeling condiments in your kitchen already.
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