Mary Berry, Jamie Oliver and James Martin's roast potato recipes - the key differences

Making the perfect roast potato is no easy job (Image: Getty Images)

These three popular chefs each have their own version of the famous roast potato and with Christmas just around the corner now is the time to get all the cooking tips you can.

Making great roasties is a fine art and if you keep trying to achieve the perfect potato, these top chefs could impart some wisdom onto you.

While making roast potatoes in itself is quite simple, achieving flavour and crispiness can be a challenge.

Mary Berry’s recipe includes using a spoon to scoop up the boiling goose fat and ensure the potatoes are fully coated. She also sprinkles her potatoes with salt before serving.

Jamie Oliver has a different touch in his recipe, he adds salt as well as pepper to the potatoes for extra flavour. Where Mary parboils her potatoes for just five minutes, Jamie does his for 15 minutes.

Mary Berry only parboils her potatoes for 5 minutes (Image: Getty Images)

James Martin recommends adding a few whole garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme or rosemary to the roasting tin before they go in the oven to ensure the spuds are bursting with flavour.

Crucially James Martin also uses lard instead of goose fat to roast the potatoes, whereas Mary Berry and Jamie Oliver both use goose fat.

But Mary Berry says make sure not to use too much goose fat as this can make your potatoes soggy - and you wouldn’t want to ruin Christmas dinner!

To make roasties, first preheat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Then you’ll want to cut the potatoes into even-sized pieces and put them into a large pan.

James Martin uses goose fat to coat the potatoes (Image: Getty Images)

Jamie Oliver adds pepper to the spuds as well as salt (Image: Getty Images)

Next, cover them with cold water, add salt and bring to the boil where you’ll parboil them for about 10 minutes.

After this, drain the potatoes well in a colander, then shake to fluff up the edges of the potatoes.

You should then heat the goose fat in a large roasting tin in the preheated oven until piping hot.

Add the potatoes to the fat ensuring they are fully covered.

Continue to roast for about an hour, depending on size, turning the potatoes from time to time until golden and crisp.

Depending on which flavours you’re hoping to add to your potatoes, this Christmas you can take inspiration from these three successful chefs to create the perfect roasties.