How to make TikTok's famous crispy roasted potatoes that even Kylie Jenner likes

• College student Jeremy Scheck's roasted potatoes have become a social media sensation, even receiving a like from Kylie Jenner.
• His cooking demos of the potatoes have been viewed nearly 20 million times total.
• Scheck told Insider his dish was inspired by Emily Blunt's recipe for English roasted potatoes, which crashed Ina Garten's website.
• He boils his potatoes before roasting, leaves the skin on so they get extra crispy, and seasons everything with Old Bay, paprika, cayenne pepper, and fresh rosemary.

A college student's roasted potatoes recipe has become a social media sensation, racking up nearly 20 million views and even getting a like from Kylie Jenner.

Jeremy Scheck, who runs @scheckeats, is behind TikTok's most famous potatoes.

Jeremy Scheck's recipe was inspired by Emily Blunt's classic English roasted potatoes

The "Mary Poppins" star demonstrated how to make her dish with Ina Garten during a 2018 episode of "Barefoot Contessa."

Garten shared Blunt's recipe in May during the early months of the pandemic, and it was so popular that her website crashed. The dish is also featured in Garten's new cookbook "Modern Comfort Food."

Scheck told Insider that he loved Blunt's classic British technique, but added a few of his own special tweaks

"Boiling potatoes before roasting them is a pretty classic British technique that's been around for hundreds of years," he said. "I combined that with the seasonings and flavors that my mom usually used in her roast potatoes, and adapted it more to my liking."

For this recipe, Scheck doesn't recommend peeling your potatoes.

"Most British 'roasties' recipes peel the potatoes," Scheck said. "I happen to think the crispy skin is the best part and I hate peeling potatoes, so I just leave them on."

While Scheck said you can use any type of potato for this dish, he believes that Yukon gold and red skin potatoes are the best.

"They're waxier than russets," he explained. "I like russets for a classic baked potato or my grandma's twice-baked potatoes, but, for crispy roast potatoes, it's just not the texture I'm after."

Once you've cut your potatoes into your desired size, throw them in a pot of cold water with a generous amount of kosher salt.

"You're not actually going to eat all that salt," Scheck explains in his viral clip. "But you need the water to be super salty for the potatoes to absorb it and get the flavor."

Bring the pot to a boil and cook your potatoes for 10 to 15 minutes, until they're almost fork-tender.

Then drain your potatoes and use a spoon to rough up their edges. This increases the surface area, which will help your potatoes get more crispy in the oven.

Transfer your potatoes to a sheet pan and drizzle them with olive or avocado oil. And if you happen to have duck fat, Scheck says that's even better.

Scheck also recommends adding plenty of herbs and seasonings. He uses fresh rosemary, Old Bay, Maldon salt, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, and a little cayenne pepper.

"If you can't find Old Bay, any Cajun seasoning works," Scheck told Insider. "But the distinctive taste comes from celery salt. It sort of reminds me of the Cajun fries from Five Guys, which are a religious experience."

Once everything is lightly and evenly coated in the oil and seasonings, throw your potatoes into a preheated oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit and cook them for 15 to 25 minutes, tossing them a couple of times while they roast. When they look 90% done, turn off the oven and leave them in there for 10 more minutes.

Scheck said that this is his mom's special trick to make the potatoes taste even better.

"We discovered by accident that this was a great way to get them extra crispy, because my mom would make them in advance and then leave them in the oven so they wouldn't get cold," he added.

Top your potatoes off with some fresh and tender herbs like dill or parsley and dig in.

Scheck's roasted potatoes first caught Kylie Jenner's attention back in June

Jenner had liked Scheck's TikTok clip before she switched the "liked videos" section of her TikTok to private.

"All of a sudden I got hundreds of comments saying 'KYLIE LIKED THIS,' because hers were shown publicly on her profile at the time," Scheck recalled. "It was definitely cool, but I would have been even more psyched had it been a famous chef."

Scheck said he thinks "it's hilarious that something as basic as roast potatoes" has become his most popular recipe.

"I always like to mention, 'I have more interesting stuff, you know,"' he added.

Scheck started taking cooking seriously five years ago, when he was a sophomore in high school

"I wanted to be good at it and knowledgeable, rather than just have it be a passive interest," he added. "I got a job at a local bakery, read dozens of cookbooks cover-to-cover, and spent hundreds of hours watching cooking videos on YouTube and re-creating the recipes at home."

"I launched my cooking Instagram under its original name 'After School Bakery' along with my first blog (which is now combined with ScheckEats) later that summer. Almost nobody looked at the blog for five years, but it was something I consistently did for myself just because I enjoyed it."

Scheck launched his TikTok in March when the pandemic hit and he had to move out of his dorm at Cornell University, where he's majoring in Spanish and Italian, and return home.

"I started just filming the things I was cooking," he said. "And it took off after a couple months!"

• Read more:
• I tried Emily Blunt's English roasted potatoes after they crashed Ina Garten's website, and it's one of the tastiest dishes I've ever made
• The biggest and best TikTok food trends of the year
• Ina Garten shared Emily Blunt's recipe for roasted potatoes, and it was so popular that her website crashed
• I tried Kylie Jenner's divisive sweet-and-spicy avocado toast and I'm never going back to the basic recipe