How Tom Holland inspired the best roast potatoes of my life
I’ve been roasting potatoes for years, but could never get them quite right. I used to make them exactly how my mother did – peeling random spuds, throwing them in a baking tray, drizzling them in olive oil, sprinkling them with salt, placing them in the oven and hoping for the best.
I’ve picked up tips here and there, but it wasn’t until I heard Tom Holland in a discussion on the best way to roast potatoes on the Dish Podcast that I really nailed them.
A podcast episode with Tom Holland has changed the way I make potatoes. You Tube/Dish Podcast
During a 2024 appearance on the food-themed podcast, the actor, 30, labelled the dish the “make or break” of a roast meal.
Since I embraced the tips shared in the episode, the dish has become known as Tom Holland Potatoes or Spider-Man Potatoes in my house, and we eat them multiple times a week. They are perfectly crispy and salty on the outside, and nice and soft on the inside.
The trick is boiling the potatoes, starting in cold water, until they just “give” when you stick a fork in, then let them cool down for a bit. (This is a tip I previously picked up from Jane de Graaff.)
You then smash them up a bit by either pressing them or piercing them multiple times with a fork, then adding either duck fat or olive oil, salt and rosemary and then roasting for about 40 minutes at 200 degrees. Perfection.
There are many variations when it comes to roasted potatoes.
Some people add the salt to the potatoes while boiling them, some do it before roasting them, some do both.
My kids prefer olive oil, while Holland is likely not to use duck fat either because the his wife Zendaya is vegetarian, as he revealed on the podcast.
I use large sprigs of rosemary because while my children like the taste, they don’t like eating it, so this means we get the flavour but I can easily remove them before serving.
The reason I have been thinking so much about this potato recipe lately is because Holland has been doing the media rounds ahead of the latest Spider-Man release, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I have been obsessed, and don’t my algorithms know it?
The potatoes need to be boiled in cold water so the cook from the inside out. Jo Abi
Holland confessed to using boiling water instead of cold water to boil his potatoes ahead of roasting. You Tube/Dish Podcast
In addition to his latest interviews, some of his past media appearances have also been popping up, including his iconic Lip Sync performance as Rihanna and his 2024 Dish episode, in which he and hosts Angela Hartnett and Nick Grimshaw discussed roasting potatoes.
During the interview, the British native, who resides in the US with Zendaya, spoke about his own cooking while the trio enjoyed a meal that had been prepared by Hartnett – a well-known chef – for the podcast.
It included roast potatoes, which sparked a conversation about the optimal way to cook them.
Hartnett revealed she makes her potatoes the same way her mother does, saying she likely learned the method from British TV host and cook Delia Smith.
Holland is unlikely to use duck fat for his potatoes, as wife Zendaya is vegetarian. Getty Image/Pablo Cuadra
Smith’s recipe uses cold water only, and when Holland asked why, Hartnett explained it cooks the potatoes from the inside out, which helps achieve a crispy exterior and a soft interior after roasting.
It also avoids the outside of the potatoes getting too soft and falling away.
“Because I’m lazy, I’ve got one of those hot taps ... and I just fill it up with boiling water ... and I’ve just saved five minutes,” Holland replied.
“But my potatoes aren’t cooked on the inside.”
Crispy potatoes on the outside that are perfectly soft on the inside. Perfection. Jo Abi
So there you have it: The perfect recipe to cook roast potatoes with the key step of using cold water to boil them instead of hot, which is a game changer.
I hope you enjoy your Tom Holland-inspired Spiderman Potatoes this weekend. They truly are a perfect winter side dish to any meal.
