Simple Cooking for Beginners and Dads – Potato Wedges

Restaurants have kind of moved away from wedges. But if you like something with a little bit of fried taste and a fluffy interior like a baked potato, they are dead simple.

The recipe I start with needs 1 cookie sheet, 1 mixing bowl, 1 sharp knife, 1 measuring cup, and 1 measuring spoon. It’s built around 4 medium whole potatoes; you can double it easily; I generally double it to handle about 10 potatoes. 4 potatoes is more than plenty for two people, but a family wants more. I’ll annotate the source recipe ingredients as I go – the idea is you can tweak it for YOUR taste. 3 and one third teaspoons per tablespoon; I don’t know of any ill effects from rounding to 3 exactly.

1/4 cup vegetable oil (fine to substitute olive, canola, safflower, or corn oil)

3/4 tablespoon salt (Source recipe says 1/2 tablespoon)

1/2 tablespoon paprika (Source recipe calls for full tablespoon)

1 teaspoon pepper (source says 1/2 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon garlic (unchanged from source)

Source calls for 4 Tablespoons parmesan; we like it better without. Your taste determines if you want that ingredient

Some folks like to add onion powder; I’d recommend matching the garlic to start if you want to try it.

Combine the coating elements (non-potato) in mixing bowl. Wash and cut potatoes into about 8 wedges each longitudinally. Begin preheating oven to 350.

Mix the coating elements thoroughly just before putting the wedges in. A wisk is great but not necessary. Mix the potatoes (I use clean hands to do the mixing) until they are thoroughly coated. Place the wedges on cookie sheet in something approximating a single layer (fine to pour the bowl and spread them out, so long as the cookie sheet has raised edges to hold the oil in)

Bake 350 for about 45 minutes. Source recipe says an hour; we find that’s overdone and dry. Don’t go under about 40 minutes your first time; the potatoes will not be cooked through.

Takes about 15 minutes total prep time (really), roughly an hour from when you start to potatoes being ready to eat.

There is no reason you can’t do this with pre-cut potatoes; the reason I use whole potatoes is I want nice thick baked potato type taste in the middle when I’m doing wedges. The issue is cooking time and temperature will vary; consult directions on your package of pre-cut potatoes for heating instructions.