Yes, I’m talking about how to lower the carb count (naturally!) in any type of potato dish your heart desires: introducing resistant starch potatoes!
Crispy (Crispy, Crispy!) Resistant Starch Potatoes
i.e. naturally low carb with just one trick!
No, I’m not pulling your leg… nor doing a (very early) April Fools joke. I’m literally, literally talking about how to lower the carb count in actual potatoes, with one super duper easy trick:
Allowing your potatoes to cool (after cooking them in any manner your heart desires), refrigerating them overnight and reheating them. Yup, thats it!
You see, while chilling your potatoes (and white rice too, for that matter) they will partially convert into a resistant starch. How much exactly frankly I’m not sure, but according to reputable internet sources (say Johns Hopkins) and reputable people who monitor their glucose constantly (say @gluclosegoddess) enough to lower your GI response substantially and (vip!) provide a myriad of nutritional benefits.
But what is a resistant starch?
In case some of you are first coming across this term, its a type of carb that resists digestion in the small intestine and subsequently ferments in the large intestine (you know, acting as a legit prebiotic fiber!).
Which leads me to…
The benefits of resistant starches
Starting with this 2017 study, it appears that consuming a moderate amount (think a normal ‘side dish’ serving, don’t overthink it) made peeps feel more satiated and for longer, improving overall insulin sensitivity.
Which in turn is also tied to all the goodness that resistant starches do for your gut. As keep in mind that a healthy gut bacteria can improve glycemic control and, needless to say, is key to our overall health.
So who knew huh? That perhaps we don’t quite need to see all carbs as the enemy, we just need to learn to prepare (and consume them) the right way.
p.s. another trick I’ve tried that has worked wonders for me to lower the GI spike if I’m having some potatoes or rice, is to first have a small salad with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. And if I indulged a bit too much (say I went out to eat), I’ll go for a nice walk with Dedal and Tito. You know, they surely don’t mind and it lowers the GI spike ;).
Crispy Resistant Starch Potatoes (i.e. naturally low carb!)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs small potatoes halved or quartered
- extra virgin olive oil as needed
- flaky sea salt
- black pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Brush a baking dish or rimmed tray with olive oil.
- Add potatoes to prepared baking dish, drizzle generously with olive oil (you know, to get them extra extra crisp!), and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Roast for 45-60 minutes, until golden and crisp, tossing them about half way through.
- Set aside, cool completely and refrigerate overnight. You'll want to reheat them again at 400°F/200°C for 10-15 minutes until they crisp up once again.
- Feeling a little extra? Feel free to roast them up with some fresh thyme and finish off with parmesan during the second roast. Or just add them to your favorite cozy roast in the last 20 minutes so they soak up all the juicy goodness.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.
In one word, No. The conversion on a molecular level is final.
No you are incorrect. Resistant starches form after after rice/potatoes/pasta is cooled for 24 hours. The structure does change and the glycemic load is much lower. You can try for yourself. The spike from fasting levels with cooled foods is much lower.
I roasted yukon gold potatoes and refrigerated according to your directions.
Next day i ate 8 oz by themselves. I started with baseline of 101 and had 145 after 2 hours.
Next day I ate 8 oz with fish, green beans and guacamole. From a base line of 111, I was
104 after 2 hours.
Glucose Goddess says to always eat starches with other foods, protein, fat, fiber.
Today I dusted off my rice cooker and have it going!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Brenda thank you so much for sharing, and absolutely on pairing your carbs with fats (and eating a fatty salad first is also ace if indulging a bit more!).
xo and my pleasure!
Hi Paola
Thank you for posting this fascinating discovery. My understanding is that the chilling works for starch molecules in any sort of food. Therefore chilling potatoes, pasta, rice and bread should all result in a certain percentage of resistant starch. I wonder if the percentage is a function of chilling and is similar across the range of foods, or if it is a function of the accessibility of the starch molecules.
This gets me to wondering would this work for all flour based foods too?
Looks like we need more research….
So glad to find this recipe. I have been having a baked potato every now and then, this makes it even more enjoyable. I am able to continue to lose eating between 40 to 125 grams of carbs a day I used to stay around 50. Glad I found this site
I can’t even tell you how excited I am to hear this!!! I eat keto-style and had decided to add potatoes here and there, and felt such guilt… So silly!!
So I had been in the lookout for a digestive enzyme to help, and now I’ll wait and see how this changes things for me!! Thank you for sharing your journey with food, you’ve been a favorite of mine for a long time!!! 💖 💖 💖
Oh my god! This is gonna be a game changer for me!!!!
I made Au Gratin for my cheat day meal, next time I’ll cook potatoes a night before and refrigerate them over night. I don’t need to feel too bad about eating potatoes (in moderation) anymore!
It seems this applies to quinoa and beans as well. I can sprinkle those on salads again! Hooray🥳
THIS BEGS THE QUESTION…………….WHAT HAPPENS TO THE RESISTNT STARCH WHEN YOU PULL IT OUT OF THE REFRIGERATOR AND HEAT IT UP TO EAT IT? DOES IT CONVERT BACK?
No it doesn’t revert back and you can have it cold too (ahem, sushi?).
Just remember that not all the starch becomes resistant (someone commented that over the days more of it does though). But enough does not to cause a significant spike (in most peeps).
I knew about potatoes turning into resistant starch after refrigeration, but not rice and pasta. Three of my favorite things which I’ve pretty much given up on Keto. Yay, one of my favorite meals is a baked potato with chili and cheese and taco toppings. Now I can make it again periodically.
This sounds great! Another way to resistant starch up your taters is to do potato salad. Just use whatever recipe you liked before, and use avocado mayo (I use Sir Kensington’s). It tastes better after a night in the fridge anyway! Also you can make rice, cool and refrigerate overnight, then make your own fried rice with it. I’m cooking for a non-ketonian, I got to give him something more than meat!
I actually freeze cooled down rice and pasta. Very convenient, and it does the job with starch.
Serious keto did some experiments with this. Also with rice. I think everybody’s results are different with this. Also, when you eat fat with it, it slows down the glucose curve significantly. But.. it takes much longer to get back to normal numbers. It all depends how well your pancreas is still working. (or if you’re metabolically healthy, it will come down much quickly, if not, it will still get high after 3 hours of eating.) Anyway, that’s my take on it. It’s not written in stone. 😉
Absolutely, and if I’ve learned anything doing keto over the years is that not even I react the same every day to the same foods. Depends on my sleep, exercise and food combos (like you said).
That’s why I like having a fatty salad to start a higher carb meal, helps to keep the GI spike at bay as it’s also not the first thing your body gets.
Thank you for writing this! I have appreciated your recipes over the years and love hearing your life stories. Once in a while a person wants to eat a dang potato and not always be super low carb. I make big batches of fries first by soaking the wedges in cold water to get rid of some of the starch (I think) and finish off as in your recipe above. I find Yukon Gold to get much crisper than red potatoes. They freeze really well and when reheated a few minutes on Convection at 400 they have way less carbs and are as tasty as the day they were made. I do it with sweet potatoes too. Love bulk cooking! You could try your version and post for your followers.
Just a thought or suggestion. The way I love to use them is in making a fretta! This works out absolutely perfectly. I take the, let’s say, cold salt potatoes or boiled with skin on potatoes, cube them up and pan-fry them slightly in butter or bacon grease or whatever your fat choice is, and then, add in onions and peppers until they are all fork tender, then the rest of your fretta ingredients of choice; for us that is eggs, sausage or pepperoni, eggs, and various cheeses. If feeling that we need more veggies in that day, baby spinach leaves added near the end are great, or when I have an abundance of garden zucchini or yellow squash, they go in perfectly as well. Just another way to enjoy them! Plus, diabetically speaking, since you have all the fat from the eggs, cheese, meat, and grease, your glucose spike is greatly diminished as well.
Did you mean frittata? I’ve never heard of fretta.
“Fretta”, along with its description, made me think of “frico”, a layered giant pan-cooked cheese (lotta cheese!) and potato “cake” made by Lydia Bastianich on here show. She described it as home fries with a layer top and bottom of crispy low-cooked cheese (drool…)
Very interesting! Do you need them to cool completely, or just enough to not be steaming when placed in the refrigerator overnight? Would think it is rare, but thinking in regard to food safety and avoiding any potential botulism. I do not know enough about it, but would think that would perhaps take many hours being left unattended or being sealed without refrigeration, truly not certain! Hoping for any suggested tips or clarity, or even just your thoughts. Thank you for all that you have shared and inspired us with, you are amazing!
So, for brown rice would I follow the same process? Cook, fridge overnight, reheat? Bc I do this anyway with brown rice when I eat it the following days. It would be awesome if something I already do is helping me. I wonder if freezing it makes it resistant, faster……
Very interesting. Thanks
Would this work with mashed potatoes, do you think? Like heating up the mash the next day, OR using those premade bowls of fully prepared precooked mashed potatoes (which are surprisingly tasty) and heating them? Thanks!
Absolutely! What I do for mashed potatoes is boil them first, let them cool, refrigerate overnight and then I make my mash (but I just like fresh cheesy mash!). Either way will work xo!
Can we do this with sweet potatoes too?
Big (BIG!) yes here. It’s actually my favorite to do.
We pressure cook the potatoes in 1 cup of water for 5 minutes, allowing the pressure cooker to naturally release. Then freeze them. Remove from the freezer to thaw before roasting (same day). We always make enough for 2 meals, to have a fry up bubble and squeak the next day (3 times cooked, twice cooled). We got the idea from Heston Blumenthal triple cooked chips.
Paola, would you be willing to do a post of what you eat? I have a feeling I will learn a thing or two.
This excites me so much! I have one question though since French fries are cooked and then frozen why do they still spike me. Isnt it the same process?
I’ve also heard that leaving the skin on adds fibre, which reduces the net carb count as well.
But also, who wants to remove potato skins?! 🙂 (Well, for mash… but still)
I first heard of resistant starch potatoes from Max Lugavre and they really are great. I’m a diabetic and have been enjoying potatoes successfully for a couple years now.
I didn’t see you mention it, but it appears that the resistant starch develops further the longer they sit in the fridge. By day 5 you can definitely taste you’re eating a resistant starch lol.
Ooooh, I didn’t know they developed further!! But lol yes, by day 5 you won’t get crispy anything anymore
I’m a diabetic too and beyond excited to try this. I wear a monitor, so I’ll report back. THANK YOU POTATOES ARE LIFE
What makes the potatoes a resistant starch? TIA
Simply refrigerating them overnight after cooking them 🙂
I have been researching resistant starch. This can also be done with pasta. Cook, Chill overnight and reheat.
I only read about doing it with pasta just this weekend (it’s in the Johns Hopkins article I linked). But, you know, it’s probably healthier to do it with potatoes.
But still. STILL!
I’m totally excited about resistant starch potatoes, thanks. I wonder if this would also work for rice?
So, for potato salad, I can cook them and refrigerate, but not reheat and still have the starch resistance?!? I really miss my potato salad!
Yes!! Reheating is not essential.
Joelle, here’s what i found on it. ” Potatoes also have a type of resistant starch known as retrograde starch: When you cook and then cool potatoes, the starch molecules shuffle themselves around into a different structure. Potatoes also have a type of resistant starch known as retrograde starch: When you cook and then cool potatoes, the starch molecules shuffle themselves around into a different structure.”
Hope this helps.
Paola I’ve loved your new recipes that are less restrictive, thank you for validating my own experience that you don’t need to restrict to just 20g net carbs. I hadn’t heard of resistant starch potatoes before and I’m beyond elated to try them out. Thank you
Oh this is really interesting and has me wondering about that frozen bag of french fries in my freezer…
Ooooh, well now I’m wondering too. If they are precooked I assume they are good to go 🤔
I remember a TV programme about diets a couple of years ago doing a similar thing with pasta and it had the same results! On bbc 1 I think
I love glucose goddess!! More of these smart recipes please 🙌🏼
Yes!! She’s a must follow on Instagram, I’ve learnt so much from her (particularly as I don’t personally monitor my glucose constantly)