Skip the mess of frying in oil and make crispy and crunchy potato wedges that are light and fluffy on the inside by baking them in the oven or an air fryer. Then serve these perfectly seasoned potato wedges with a homemade roasted garlic dip that is worth repeated dipping.
Give me a tray of potato wedges and a tasty dipping sauce and we'll be fast friends.
I remember as a kid often celebrating the end of the school day and all of the awkwardness of middle school life by heading several blocks to the local family-owned grocery store with my bestie to exchange our allowance money for nothing better than seasoned jo-jos and dipping sauce. We'd demolish them before we even made it to her house for an after-school hang-out.
This potato wedge recipe reminds me of those carefree days but without the deep-fried oil slick left on my fingers. These wedges can be either baked or air-fried lending to a healthier french fry that is just as tasty if not more so than the jo-jos of my childhood.
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🌟 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
What's not to love about a rustic, homemade potato wedge? Crispy, carby comfort food, and the French fry's more substantial cousin. Less soggy and oily too. The crunchy seasoned crust on these potato wedges is where joy is found. Pair these potato wedges with one of these ideas and you'll be set with a very tasty meal:
- Bacon Blue Cheese Burger (and all the other burgers your heart desires)
- Sloppy Joe's or pulled pork sandwiches
- Grilled steak
- Chicken wings
- Fish and chips (or in this case --> potato wedges!)
- Make a baked potato wedge bar for dinner! Serve taco-seasoned ground beef, cheese, diced tomatoes, sour cream, bacon, chives, or anything you would typically love on a baked potato, but pile it on top of some potato wedges.
- Or just delight in the simplicity of potato wedges and roasted garlic dip. For lunch. Or dinner. Or snack. Some days call for this.
🛒 Ingredients & Suggestions
- Garlic: Two whole garlic bulbs are roasted in the oven until the cloves become soft, spreadable, and have a sweet, nutty, mellow flavor.
- Sour Cream: This is what makes the garlic dip rich and creamy but if you're looking to create a dip lower in fat, swap out the sour cream for Greek yogurt.
- Mayonnaise: Just a little bit adds a nice creamy tang to the garlic dip.
- Lemon juice: Fresh lemon juice squeezed from a lemon is the way to go. The lemon juice that comes in those little lemon-shaped squeeze bottles at the grocery always seems to taste a little odd to me.
- Potatoes: Russet potatoes are my favorite for making some substantial potato wedges but golden potatoes or red potatoes are tasty too.
- Spices: When I season my potato wedges, I keep it pretty simple with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, but feel free to experiment (and then tell me what spice combo you tried and loved). Check out the recipe card below for a few seasoning variations.
For a full list of ingredients and quantities see the recipe card at the end of this post.
🔪 Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Let's start by making the roasted garlic dip! Cut off the top ¼ inch of the garlic bulb.
Step 2: Place the garlic cut-side up on a piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil, and close the foil around the garlic bulb. I like to use a small baking dish to help the garlic sit cut-side up as it roasts in the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes or until the garlic is soft and golden brown.
Step 3: Once the garlic has finished roasting and has cooled enough to be able to handle, remove the garlic bulbs from the skin and place in a food processor with the remaining roasted garlic dip ingredients. Process until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Step 4: Let's make the potato wedges! Give the potatoes a good scrub to remove any residual dirt. Using a sharp knife slice the potatoes in half, and then slice each half into 4 evenly sized wedges. Optional: Parboil the sliced potato wedges by placing them in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain the potato wedges in a colander, let them sit for at least 5 minutes to allow the steam to escape, then season and bake. Be careful not to parboil the potatoes too long. Otherwise, they may fall apart when tossing with the seasonings.
Step 5: In a large bowl, toss the potato wedges with oil and seasonings.
Step 6: If using the oven method to bake the potato wedges, spread the potato wedges out on a preheated sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven at 450ºF for 35 minutes, flipping the potato wedges halfway through. Bake the potato wedges until they are golden brown with a crispy exterior.
Step 7: If using an air fryer, you may need to cook the potato wedges in two batches depending on the size of your air fryer to avoid overcrowding. Heat the air fryer to 400ºF (if preheating is necessary for your air fryer model), add the potato wedges, and cook for 20 minutes until golden and crisp, tossing or stirring halfway through.
Step 8: Serve those hot and crispy potato wedges with the roasted garlic dip and make your mouth happy (just be careful not to burn your tongue, it's easy to get overly excited and feel the urge to shove them in your mouth right away).
👩🍳 Recipe Tips!
- Choose potatoes that are even in size. This will help to ensure that your potato wedges cook at an even rate.
- Preheat your sheet pan (for the oven method). Preheating the sheet pan in the oven for about 10 minutes will help create crispy potato wedges. The potatoes sear as soon as they hit the hot pan and develop that truly crispy exterior.
- Use parchment paper on the sheet pan (for the oven method) after the pan has preheated. Not only will it keep your sheet pan clean but it will prevent the potatoes from sticking to the pan, which is a must for maintaining their crispy, crunchy exteriors. If you don't have parchment paper, use a nonstick sheet pan or spray the sheet pan with cooking spray before adding the potatoes and baking.
- Dipping sauces: I get it if you don't want to take the time to make the roasted garlic dip. It is tasty but sometimes life gets crazy and we just want a quicker dip for dunking those potato wedges. Try the good old reliable combo of ketchup and seemingly ranch (ifykyk 🫶), a quick marriage of BBQ sauce and mayo, or switch things up with a homemade tzatziki sauce.
- Check your oven temperature for accuracy. It's fairly common for ovens to be inaccurate and to either run too hot or too cold, sometimes up to 50ºF, which can make a huge difference in how successful a recipe turns out. If your potato wedges aren't crisping up or are too crispy, the culprit could be an inaccurate oven temperature. Use an oven thermometer probe to test your oven's accuracy.
🍟 Potato Wedge Variations
Here are a few other tried and true flavor combinations that I love:
- Add 1 teaspoon of onion powder or a pinch of cayenne to the base recipe for even more flavor and seasoning!
- Substitute Italian seasoning for the paprika and add 1 cup of finely grated parmesan.
- Substitute my homemade Cajun seasoning mix for the paprika to make Cajun potato wedges!
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Many recipes claim that soaking the potatoes in water anywhere between 10 minutes to 1 hour is the key to perfectly crisp taters because it removes excess starch. I tried out this theory by soaking several batches of potato wedges in both hot and cold water for 30 minutes to see if the end result varied significantly from potato wedges that were not first soaked. I did not find the results to be significantly different compared to just laying the potato wedges out and drying them thoroughly before seasoning them. In my opinion, soaking the potatoes first is unnecessary.
It depends on whether you have extra time to spare and also on your personal potato wedge texture preferences. Parboiling helps the insides of the potato wedges become extra soft and fluffy which is super tasty but I also enjoy these wedges just as much when I skip the parboiling. Their interiors are slightly firmer when they are not first parboiled.
Yep! Once fully baked, allow the wedges to cool completely. Then place the sheet pan in the freezer and allow the potatoes to freeze. Once the potato wedges are frozen, remove the sheet pan from the freezer and store the potato wedges in a freezer container or a large freezer bag. When ready to eat, bake from frozen in a 350ºF oven for 15 to 20 minutes or air fry at 375°F for 3-5 minutes until the wedges are hot and crispy.
Unspeakable potato bliss, especially dunked in some roasted garlic dip. Welcome to my happy place. ♡
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📖 Recipe
Potato Wedges With Roasted Garlic Dip
Ingredients
Roasted Garlic Dip
- 2 whole garlic bulbs
- olive oil
- ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons (115 g) sour cream
- ¼ cup (60 g) mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Potato Wedges
- 3 pounds (1.4 kg) russet potatoes unpeeled
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt divided
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
Roasted Garlic Dip
- Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200℃).
- Prep garlic: Trim about ¼ inch (6 mm) off the top of each garlic bulb to expose the cloves. Place cut-side up on foil, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap tightly. Set in a small baking dish to keep bulbs upright.
- Roast garlic: Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cloves are golden and soft. Let cool slightly.
- Make dip: Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins into a food processor. Add the remaining dip ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
Potato Wedges (Oven method)
- Preheat oven and pan: Preheat to 450ºF (230ºC). Place a large baking sheet in the oven while it preheats.
- Cut potatoes: Cut each potato into 8 wedges: halve lengthwise, then halve each half again, and slice each quarter diagonally into two wedges.
- Parboil (optional): Place wedges in a pot of cold water with 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil and cook 3–4 minutes. (Tip: Be careful not to parboil the potatoes too long. Otherwise, they may fall apart when tossing with the seasonings.) Drain and let steam-dry for 5 minutes.
- Season: In a large bowl, toss wedges with olive oil, garlic powder, paprika, remaining salt, and pepper.
- Roast: Carefully line the hot baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread wedges in a single layer. Roast for 35–45 minutes, shaking the pan halfway through, until crispy, golden and fork-tender.
- Serve: Let cool for 5 minutes. Serve with roasted garlic dip.
Potato Wedges (Air fryer method)
- Preheat: Preheat to 400ºF (200ºC).
- Cut potatoes: Cut each potato into 8 wedges: halve lengthwise, then halve each half again, and slice each quarter diagonally into two wedges.
- Parboil (optional): Place wedges in a pot of cold water with 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil and cook 3–4 minutes. (Tip: Be careful not to parboil the potatoes too long. Otherwise, they may fall apart when tossing with the seasonings.) Drain and let steam-dry for 5 minutes.
- Season: In a large bowl, toss wedges with olive oil, garlic powder, paprika, remaining salt, and pepper.
- Air fry: Cook for 20 minutes, shaking halfway through, until golden and crisp. Avoid overcrowding—cook in batches if needed.
- Serve: Let cool 5 minutes before serving with dip.
Equipment
Notes
- Add extra flavor: Stir in 1 teaspoon onion powder or a pinch of cayenne pepper for a bolder bite.
- Parmesan-Italian style: Swap the paprika for Italian seasoning, and toss with 1 cup (100 g) finely grated Parmesan before roasting.
- Cajun kick: For a spicy Southern twist, use my homemade Cajun seasoning blend in place of the paprika.
Nutrition
Nutritional information should be considered an estimate only; please consult a registered dietician, nutritionist, or physician for specific health-related questions.
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