We all love a roast potato and Sunday dinners just wouldn't be the same without crispy spuds, but they can be notoriously tricky to get right. And with so many of us wanting to ditch our ovens in favour of cheaper and more energy-efficient methods amid the sky-high cost of energy bills, it's no surprise people are looking at alternative ways to achieve perfect roasties without using an oven.
One woman shared her genius method online in a viral video in which she used an air fryer to cook her potatoes, which has now become a common method for cheaper cooking, as the appliances use far less energy than a standard oven. Demi Hammill said she had seen the "hack" elsewhere and decided to try it out for herself - and managed to get crispy potatoes in just 20 minutes.
Demi started with a tin of peeled new potatoes, which she drained and put into a bowl alongside a sprinkle of rosemary, garlic, and some flour to help them crisp up. She then gave the mixture a good stir and tipped the potatoes into her air fryer, before cooking them for 20 minutes.
And when she took the potatoes out, they looked just like a roast potato you would do in the oven - but she'd saved time and money by doing them in her air fryer.
Many commenters on the video - which was posted to Demi's @demihammillx TikTok account - were amazed by the hack, but Demi did have a few people call her method a "sin", as they disagreed with her decision to use tinned potatoes instead of fresh ones.
One person said: "The number of negative comments I'm seeing ... if you don't like it, don't try it! It looks banging!"
While another added: "Definitely going to try this!"
But a third stated: "Tinned potatoes! Noooo, what a sin!"
"Please, no tinned potatoes and that rotten tube of garlic,", a fourth wrote, "fresh is best and so tasty."
In a follow-up video, Demi explained she had been given the tinned potatoes by someone else and had used them in that specific dish because she was just trying out a hack she'd seen online without wasting her fresh spuds.
She said: "Guys ... chill. That video has gone mental. I don't buy tinned potatoes, I was given them! I can afford real potatoes, it was literally just to try an air fryer because I've seen it so many times on here and I wanted to try it.
"To be fair, they were really nice and they didn't explode. Next time I probably will just peel normal potatoes, but they were really quick and easy and it worked!"
Demi isn't the only one to have tried out tinned new potatoes in an air fryer either, as TikTok user @airfry_jen also used a 39p tin of potatoes from Morrisons to create crispy roasties in minutes.
Jen used black pepper, salt, and Cajun seasoning on her spuds and stuck them in the air fryer with a little bit of oil for 12 minutes at 220 degrees.
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