skip to recipe

These baby potatoes, crisped up with nooch and Italian seasonings, make a perfect, easy-to-make side dish or bite-sized snack! That nutty, cheezy, nooch flavor will have you craving more and more!

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about some ingredients in a recipe, and my husband had to stop me for a moment to ask, “What’s nooch?!” It was at that moment that I realized not everyone, not even all vegans, know what nooch is. Nooch is slang for nutritional yeast. Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast, popular among us vegans because of it’s cheesy flavor and because it’s a great source of B vitamins. Some brands even fortify it with B12. Nooch is often used in recipes to replace Parmesan or to give a cheese-like flavor.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten that all cleared up, I know what you’re going to ask me next… “But I thought you didn’t like potatoes???” So, not liking them may have been an overstatement. I sometimes try to stay away from foods high in starch, and I’m not a huge fan of the classic Russet potato, but… in all honesty, I really do love little, roasted baby potatoes. Also, I’ve kind of been eating a lot of potatoes in general lately. I decided there just must be something in there my body needs, so I’ve kind of embraced it.

I’d love to now share with you how I came up with this yummy dish o’ spuds. In the mornings, while I’m having my coffee time (side note: coffee — I’m a huge fan!), I always look through recipes and make that day’s grocery list. On Wednesday morning, I was flipping through Flipboard, and I saw a recipe for Crispy Roasted Parmesan Potatoes from recipetineats.com. I’ve been having fun veganizing non-vegan recipes lately and decided to give this one a go.

Veganizing these spuds wasn’t hard since the only ingredient I needed to change was the Parmesan. I did also end up changing amounts and adding some extra herbs and spices, but the technique in these is the same as the original recipe.

I’m usually pretty good at not using a lot of faux meats. I’ll make something like tofu or tempeh once or maybe twice a week, but the super processed stuff, like fake chicken in a box, that’s something I’ll use maybe once a month. Cheese on the other hand (which I’m sure you’ve noticed), that’s my weakness. I don’t crave dairy cheeses. I think about all its grease and about all the poor, abused dairy cows I’ve seen on the videos, and the thought of it makes me lose my appetite. I do, however, love to use non-dairy cheeses, and well, some aren’t as healthy as others.

That being said, for this recipe I chose to take the healthier route and not to replace the Parmesan with an imitation. I love my faux parm, but I really did think the nooch would go great with these, and I was kind of just craving it’s own individual flavor. That to me is kind of funny, because, at least for me, nooch was an acquired taste. I’d never used nutritional yeast before going vegan, and in the beginning, I didn’t care for it. I’d use it in things because it definitely is needed to recreate certain flavors, but I’d usually cut the amount in half from its original recipe. Now I’ve just been craving it more and more. So nooch it is, and I had to add some yummy herbs in there as well!

Making these is really quite easy. I mixed together the nooch with some other herbs and spices. I added sea salt, black pepper, garlic and onion powders, thyme, oregano, basil, paprika, sage, and a little cayenne. Next, I covered the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil and spread out the nooch mixture on top of that. I tried to spread everything evenly using the back of a spoon.

Once I had the nooch mixture evenly spread out, I took the potato halves and covered the baking dish with them, cut side down. When finished, I pushed down on each potato, pressing them down into the nooch mixture. I then took a little more olive oil and used it to brush the tops of the potatoes. The potatoes then roasted in the oven for 35 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once finished, I sprinkled the tops of these with some chopped chives. I served them as a side dish alongside some butternut squash steaks and sautéed greens. I put vegan ranch on the side (which was a suggestion included in the recipe I’d tweaked) for those who wanted to dip. I tried mine both ways, by themselves and dipped into the ranch. Either way, they were delicious!

If you try and enjoy these yummy potatoes, let me know by taking a picture and tagging me on Instagram, @veggiesattiffanis, or by leaving a comment below!