Our spicy potato wedges recipe takes the classic Australian café, pub and bar snack of potato wedges with sweet chilli sauce and sour cream and gives it a spicy Asian twist. These skin-on potato wedges can be fried or baked, but we’ve gone for the healthier oven-baked route.
Don’t worry, this spicy potato wedges recipe will still make you potato wedges that are crispy on the outside and fluffy within. Served with the classic Aussie combo of sweet chilli sauce and sour cream, these spicy wedges make a filling snack or a fantastic side for burgers.
If you made our Thai sweet chilli sauce yesterday then you’ll definitely want to make this spicy potato wedges recipe so that you have something to go with it. We don’t have a sour cream recipe for you yet, but we’re working on one. If you’re Australian, we know you’re already checking the dairy section of your fridge.
If you’re not an Aussie, then an explanation is probably in order: potato wedges with sweet chilli sauce and sour cream was our go-to snack in Australia back in the Nineties when catching up with friends for after-work drinks or having a quiet one on a Saturday afternoon at our favourite gastro-pub. Another Nineties trend.
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Now let me tell you about this spicy potato wedges recipe.
Spicy Potato Wedges Recipe With Sweet Chilli Sauce and Sour Cream
This spicy potato wedges recipe makes a variation of a drinking snack you’ll find around the world. In the USA, they were called ‘jojos’ or ‘jojo potatoes’ before potato wedges was adopted. Jojos are deep fried in the same oil as fried chicken and served along side it.
While potato wedges are still deep-fried to order at many pubs, cafes and take-aways in Australia, at home I bake my spicy potato wedges as a healthier alternative. If you use my method they will still turn out just as crispy as deep-fried or twice-fried potato wedges.
My Asian twist to this recipe involves one of our favourite ingredients – five spice powder. Five spice powder consists of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel seeds.
Potato wedges in Australia are sometimes seasoned with ground cumin seeds and ground coriander seeds, however, we love a lot more spice, so to the five-spice powder I’ll add an additional kick with paprika and chilli powder.
I combine this spice mix with oil to make a loose sauce that I coat the wedges of potato in before coating them with rock salt and baking them in the oven.
One benefit of baking the potato wedges is that it gives you 40 minutes to make whatever dish you want to serve them with. We recommend spicy fried chicken or a chicken katsu burger.
Tips to Making this Spicy Potato Wedges Recipe
The first tip to making this spicy potato wedges recipe is to make sure you’re using the right potatoes. Russets, King Edwards or Maris Pipers are favourites as we’re looking for potatoes with a thick skin and low moisture, which gives you that light and fluffy interior.
Some cooks like to put the potato slices in water, particularly if you’re running a cafe and are cooking to order. This removes some of the starch and is known to result in crisper potato wedges. In my testing – and I’ve been making these for years – I have not noticed any difference in texture.
In our ingredients list we have neutral vegetable oil or olive oil. Some cooks use olive oil – perhaps because baking potatoes is more of a Western pursuit – however, I find that the green flavour of olive oil conflicts with the five-spice, so we use a neutral vegetable oil.
My final tip is not to skimp on the rock salt before roasting the potatoes. Potatoes need plenty of salt whichever way you cook them. Himalayan Pink Salt is our favourite for this. We use an adjustable salt grinder so that the final little grind before serving is lighter than what we use before baking.
Make sure you serve these spicy potato wedges with dishes of sweet chilli sauce and sour cream or spoon generous dollops right on top of your pile of potato wedges if sharing with friends.
Spicy Potato Wedges Recipe with Sweet Chilli Sauce and Sour Cream
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp five spice powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp chilli powder
- 40 ml neutral vegetable oil or olive oil
- 1 kg thick-skinned potatoes scrubbed
- rock salt
- 2 spring onions finely chopped
- sour cream
- sweet chilli sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Line base of a large baking dish with baking paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Mix five spice powder, paprika and chilli powder in a large mixing bowl. Add oil and mix well.
- Take a potato and cut in half lengthways. Turn the potato cut side (flat side down) and cut this into 3 wedges lengthways. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes.
- At this stage you can place the potato wedges in a container of water and soak for 30 minutes. This removes some starch and can give you a crispier outcome.
- Dry the wedges off and mix by hand in the mixing bowl with the spices and oil. Try to coat all the pieces. Keep the leftover oil mixture.
- Arrange the wedges skin-side down in a single layer on the baking dish. Grind rock salt generously over the wedges. Bake for 20 minutes before rotating the baking dish and cook for another 20 minutes. Remove the tray and change the oven settings to only use the top element.
- Using a pastry brush, coat all of the wedges with the leftover spicy oil. Place the oven tray back in the oven on a higher rack and cook for another 5 minutes or until the wedges are a golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and give the wedges another grind of rock salt.
- Sprinkle with spring onions and serve with sweet chilli sauce and sour cream.
Nutrition
Please let us know if you make this spicy potato wedges recipe with Thai sweet chilli sauce and sour cream, as we’d love to know what you think.
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