Prue Leith’s controversial step to make roast potatoes leaves fans outraged – but they’re extra crispy and golden


PRUE Leith has sparked outrage after revealing the controversial extra step she takes to get her roast potatoes extra crunchy.

The Great British Bake Off judge has been sharing some of her top cookery tips on her TikTok page, and recently decided to post a clip explaining how she gets her roasties cooked to perfection.

Prue Leith demonstrating a cooking technique in her kitchen.
Prue Leith has caused controversy with the unique way she cooks her roast potatoes
Tiktok/@dameprueleith
Prue Leith adding ingredients to a pot while cooking.
Tiktok/@dameprueleith

After parboiling, draining and shaking the potatoes, it’s at this point she goes in a different route[/caption]

Prue Leith adding breadcrumbs to a pot.
Tiktok/@dameprueleith

And she adds BREADCRUMBS into the potatoes[/caption]

Person adding liquid to potatoes and breadcrumbs in a pan.
She also pours melted butter into the potatoes
Tiktok/@dameprueleith

But the 84-year-old couldn’t have predicted the response her revelation would have.

“I’m often asked, how do you make the absolutely perfect roast potato?” She began the video.

Prue then said that she starts off the “classic way” – parboiling the potatoes until they’re “just beginning to break up a little bit at the outside”.

After draining away the water, she puts the potatoes back into the pan with the lid on and gives it a “mighty great shake” to “rough up the edges”.

It’s at this point that Prue adds what she considers to be the magic ingredient.

“Then you get a handful of breadcrumbs, and put it in with your potatoes,” she said.

Prue continues her unique take on the traditional side dish as she pours melted butter into the potatoes – “just to make sure they’re all greasy”.

She then transfers the potatoes into a roasting tin, and covers them with MORE breadcrumbs before putting them into the oven “until they’re nice and brown and crisp”.

“So when they come out, there you have it, nice perfect roast potatoes!” Prue concluded.

“Try these absolutely gorgeous roast potatoes with your next roast dinner and let me know what you think!” Prue added in the caption. “Happy feasting!”


But people quickly took to the comments section to weigh in on Prue’s unique take on the recipe, with many slamming her for including breadcrumbs.

“Nope, no breadcrumbs necessary!” One person raged.

“I’m not even British and I know how wrong this is,” another added.

“Breadcrumbs on a roast potato – never!” a third shouted.

“Never heard of using breadcrumbs on roast potatoes,” someone else said.

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Research by LNER claims that a whopping four in five Brits experiment with unusual flavours, and almost a quarter have a ‘guilty pleasure’ when it comes to unconventional food combinations,

  1. Crisps and chocolate  
  2. Cheese and chocolate
  3. Crisps in jam sandwich
  4. Chips and milkshake
  5. Cheese and bananas 
  6. Apples with salt and pepper
  7. Avocado and chocolate
  8. Popcorn and hot sauce
  9. Tuna and marmite
  10. Gherkins and peanut butter

“Sorry wait what, breadcrumbs??????” Another questioned.

“Never ever seen potatoes done that way before … breadcrumbs and melted butter… is it a p**s take?” Someone else wondered.

Others were more on board with the suggestion, and said they’d be interested to try it out for themselves.

Cooks usually opt for plain flour, cornflour or starch, or semolina to get roast potatoes crispy.

Prue Leith preparing roast potatoes.
Once she’s transferred the potatoes to a roasting dish, she adds even more breadcrumbs
Tiktok/@dameprueleith
Crispy roast potatoes on a plate.
But the potatoes do come out extra golden and crunchy
Tiktok/@dameprueleith

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