Emily Blunt used a plate of spicy wings to settle a years-long case of mistaken culinary identity. On the May 28 episode of First We Feast’s “Hot Ones,” the British actor told host Sean Evans she “really has to clear up this rumor” that she invented the dish now circulating online as Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes. The recipe, made famous by Ina Garten, is a classic British Sunday side she grew up eating, and she did not invent it.
The credit came with a catch. Garten’s blessing turned a humble family side dish into a viral hit, and it also turned Blunt into a soft target for friends back home who keep reminding her that roasting potatoes was never her idea.
Emily Blunt Says the Potatoes Were Never Hers
The question arrived in the middle of the wing gauntlet, where Evans is known for pairing escalating heat with deep-cut research. He asked Blunt about the roast potato recipe attached to her name, and she jumped at the chance to set it straight.
I really have to clear up this rumor that I invented these roast potatoes. They have been named ‘Emily’s Roast Potatoes.’ They really aren’t mine.
That was Blunt speaking to Evans on the show, which films celebrities answering questions while eating progressively hotter sauces. She was on the press run for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi film “Disclosure Day,” and the potato question landed alongside chats about Tom Cruise and her own favorite movie quotes.
Her point was simple. The dish carries her first name because of one cooking demo and one very enthusiastic cookbook author, not because she developed anything in a kitchen. You can watch the full Hot Ones interview with Emily Blunt for the exchange in context.
From a Barefoot Contessa Demo to a Cookbook Title
The trail starts in 2018 and runs straight to last week’s wings. Blunt shared a family recipe on television, a beloved cook wrote it down, the internet did the rest, and the name stuck long after anyone remembered where it came from.
Here is how a Sunday side dish ended up with a celebrity’s name on it:
- 2018: Blunt appeared on Garten’s Food Network show “Barefoot Contessa” and cooked the roast potatoes her family had been making for years, calling them a household staple.
- 2020: Garten was impressed enough to include the dish in her cookbook “Modern Comfort Food,” giving it the title “Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes.”
- 2022: Garten posted the recipe to Instagram, where, in her words, it “blew up” and people started saying Emily’s potatoes “broke the internet.”
- 2026: Blunt finally addressed the attribution head-on, telling Evans the dish “really” isn’t hers.
Garten, the Food Network host and best-selling cookbook author behind the Barefoot Contessa brand, has never hidden the source. The recipe title itself credits Emily by name, which is part of why the misunderstanding took hold so easily.
What Goes Into Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes
Strip away the celebrity layer and the recipe is almost defiantly plain. There are three core ingredients and one technique that does most of the work. That simplicity is exactly why home cooks latched on.
The Short Ingredient List
The version printed in Garten’s cookbook calls for three pounds of large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks, half a cup of vegetable oil, kosher salt for the boiling water, and coarse sea salt and parsley to finish. No goose fat, no long marinade, no specialty kit. The official Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes recipe rates the difficulty as beginner and serves six to eight.
The numbers matter because they set expectations. You boil the potatoes for about eight minutes, then heat the oil in a 425°F oven until it smokes before the potatoes ever touch it.
The Par-Boil That Does the Work
The trick is what happens between the pot and the oven. After draining, you shake the potatoes in the pot for a few seconds to rough up their edges, then dry them on a rack before sliding them into screaming-hot oil. Those frayed edges crisp into the craggy shell that defines a proper British roast potato.
The table below shows how Blunt’s family method lines up against the broad strokes of the traditional Sunday version.
| Attribute | Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes | Classic British Sunday roast potato |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | Yukon Gold | Maris Piper or King Edward |
| Fat | Vegetable oil, heated to smoking | Goose fat, duck fat, or beef dripping |
| Par-boil | About 8 minutes, then shaken to roughen | Par-boiled, then shaken to roughen |
| Roast | Oven drops to 350°F, roughly 45 to 60 minutes | High heat throughout, often 425°F or hotter |
The bones are the same as the dish served in homes across England every weekend. Garten’s contribution was writing it down cleanly and putting a famous name on the header. You can also find the Food Network version of the roast potato recipe archived from the original broadcast.
Why Her British Friends Keep Side-Eyeing Her
Blunt finds the whole thing funny, and a little embarrassing. To her, the recipe is not special-occasion cooking. It is the default.
“This is, like, a classic English thing that everyone cooks every single Sunday,” she told Evans, adding that she is not sure America “has quite got on board with this tradition.” The roast potato sits at the center of the British Sunday lunch alongside a joint of meat and gravy, and the method she demonstrated is closer to received wisdom than personal invention.
That is where the ribbing starts. Blunt said her friends back home have been needling her since the dish got her name, with the gist being “You didn’t invent roast potatoes.” Her answer, by her own account: “I know.” If Garten wants to call them Emily’s, she added, she is “absolutely delighted” to take the compliment anyway.
The Recipe That Broke the Internet
The viral life of the dish says as much about the audience as the ingredients. A three-ingredient potato recipe is the kind of thing that travels well, because it asks almost nothing of the cook and promises a crowd-pleasing result.
When Garten told Blunt in 2022 that the Instagram post had taken off, the framing was telling. People were not sharing a complicated showpiece. They were sharing permission to make great roast potatoes at home with a bag of Yukon Golds and a hot oven.
There is a quiet irony in how it played out. The dish needed a recognizable name to break out of the British Sunday routine and into American feeds, yet that same name is what saddled Blunt with credit she keeps trying to hand back to an entire country. The attribution made the recipe travel, and it also made her the face of something she learned from her own family table.
Garten can call them whatever she likes. The recipe was always going to belong to England.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Emily Blunt invent the roast potato recipe?
No. Blunt has said plainly that she did not invent the dish, calling it a classic English recipe her family has made for years and that British households cook every Sunday. The recipe carries her name only because Ina Garten titled it that way.
What is the recipe actually called?
It is officially titled “Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes,” the name Garten gave it when she published the dish in her 2020 cookbook “Modern Comfort Food.” Online it often gets shortened to “Emily’s Roast Potatoes” or “Emily Blunt’s potatoes.”
What ingredients are in Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes?
The core list is short: large Yukon Gold potatoes, vegetable oil, kosher salt for boiling, and coarse sea salt plus parsley to finish. The published recipe uses three pounds of potatoes and half a cup of oil to serve six to eight.
What temperature do you roast the potatoes at?
You heat the oil in a 425°F oven until it smokes, add the par-boiled potatoes, then lower the oven to 350°F and roast for roughly 45 minutes to an hour, turning occasionally until crisp and browned.
Where did Ina Garten get the recipe?
From Blunt herself. Blunt cooked the family recipe on Garten’s Food Network show “Barefoot Contessa” in 2018, and Garten liked it enough to write it into her cookbook two years later.
When was Emily Blunt on Hot Ones?
Her episode of First We Feast’s “Hot Ones” was released on May 28, during her press run for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and Steven Spielberg’s film “Disclosure Day.”
