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The air fryer has to be my absolute favourite kitchen gadget ever! I use it almost daily, sometimes more, and I love the convenience of having it on the kitchen side and being able to cook food in minutes. These air fryer diced potatoes are SO simple to make.
They take just minutes to prepare, and there are two different cooking methods in this post to help you find the one that will work best for you.
Nothing pleases me more, at family dinner time, than setting out loads of delicious items, mains and side dishes, and letting everyone collect whatever they fancy and load up their own plate.
While you’re here be sure to check out my air fryer tips and tricks. Whether you’re a total beginner to air frying, or just looking to get more from your air fryer, this is sure to help!
I tend to make these up, in batches, cook some and freeze some. I will freeze them flat on a baking tray, and then once frozen I will transfer them to a ziplock bag. Having ready prepped potatoes to hand, ready to throw into the air fryer, is so simple, and ideal for making dinner in a hurry.
These air fryer diced potatoes work so well as part of a main meal, or even just with baked beans and cheese on the top, or tuna and cheese with mayonnaise.

Ingredients for air fryer diced potatoes:
4 medium potatoes
Salt and pepper
Vegetable spray oil
Dried parsley
Garlic powder
Optional – paprika and rosemary
Firstly, before starting this recipe it is worth recognising that using larger dices for your potatoes will naturally equal longer cooking time. The method in this post is based on fairly small cubes, as you can hopefully see from the photographs.
If you’ve followed the cooking time and your potatoes are not quite ready then just use the air fryer for a few more minutes at a time, checking back frequently to avoid burning them!
Method for making diced potatoes in the air fryer:
To cook from fresh – no parboiling
Peel and wash the potatoes.
Cube the potatoes. I like to dry using a clean kitchen towel, but you CAN skip this step if you want to!
Use spray oil on the potatoes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook at 180C (360F) for 15 minutes.
Add 1/4 tsp of dried parsley, garlic powder and if you want to paprika and rosemary.
Add a little more spray vegetable oil if needed.
Shake up.
Cook at 200C (390F) for 8 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
To parboil to give extra fluffy edges!
Put a pan of lightly salted water on to boil.
Peel and wash the potatoes.
Cube the potatoes.
Boil on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
Drain. Leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.
Add the spray vegetable oil on to the cubed potatoes.
Add 1/4 tsp of dried parsley, garlic powder and if you want to paprika and rosemary. Speaking of rosemary my air fryer rosemary chicken breast works so well with these potatoes. If you want something a little different these rosemary and garlic roast potatoes are lush too!
Cook at 190C (375F) for 10 minutes.
Shake.
Cook for a further 10 minutes at 190C (375F). Shake halfway.
Serve and enjoy!
Which potatoes to use for cubed potatoes:
White potatoes are what I buy, whichever ones the UK supermarkets have when I’m shopping, typically Russet or Maris Piper. Nice and simple, widely available in the UK and they work really well!
You CAN use a variety of different potatoes, including red potatoes or even sweet potatoes. As long as you cube the potatoes well, for even cooking, it should be simple enough to get the method / cooking time right.
Do you need to soak cubed potatoes?
Personally I don’t feel you need to bother. I peel, wash and cube the potatoes, then ensure they are super clean and dry them thoroughly.
Are diced potatoes crispy?
Yes, they are SO crispy on the outside, almost as good as ‘proper’ frying! I love the crisp outer edge and the soft fluffy potato inside.
Want to make air fryer cubed potatoes with parmesan?
When you remove these diced potatoes from the air fryer just sprinkle over either finely grated parmesan OR finely sliced parmesan. It’ll melt on and go all cheesy and delicious!
What to serve with air fryer diced potatoes?
We love to enjoy these as part of a main meal. In the past I’ve served with air fryer BBQ chicken breast, air fryer cajun chicken, air fryer peri peri chicken, air fryer chicken wings, baked beans or air fryer green beans and lots of brown sugar BBQ sauce.
Do you need to use foil when cooking air fryer diced potatoes?
No, I don’t use foil in my air fryer almost ever! It is unnecessary, as nothing really sticks to the basket anyway.
Do you need to use an air fryer basket to make diced potatoes?
If your air fryer just has a bowl, and no basket, you can definitely still make these potatoes. They will crisp up lovely, just ensure that you mix them around at least once during cooking, and leave lots of room so they are not sticking together and can cook evenly.
Why not try some of my other fantastic air fryer recipes while you’re here?
- Air fryer parmentier potatoes
- Air fryer frozen roast potatoes
- Air fryer chicken tenders
- Chicken mini fillets in the air fryer
- Air fryer chocolate protein oats
- Air fryer smores
- Air fryer burgers
- Air fryer cheese crumpets
- Air fryer jerk chicken
- Air fryer Nando’s chicken
Here are some of my favourite air fryer accompaniments:
Something to note about air fryer recipes is that all air fryers have different sizes, depths and as such the cooking times can vary. All air fryer recipes on this website are intended as a guide, and not a guarantee that the timings will be perfect. Enjoy!
How to make diced potatoes in an air fryer:

Air fryer diced potatoes
Diced or cubed potatoes in the air fryer with methods for parboiling and air frying from raw.
Ingredients
- 4 medium potatoes
- Salt and pepper
- Vegetable spray oil
- Dried parsley
- Garlic powder
- Optional – paprika and rosemary
Instructions
To cook from fresh – no parboiling
-
Peel and wash the potatoes.
-
Cube the potatoes. I like to dry using a clean kitchen towel, but you CAN skip this step if you want to!
-
Use spray oil on the potatoes.
-
Season with salt and pepper.
-
Cook at 180C (360F) for 15 minutes.
-
Add 1/4 tsp of dried parsley, garlic powder and if you want to paprika and rosemary.
-
Add a little more spray vegetable oil if needed.
-
Shake up.
-
Cook at 200C (390F) for 8 minutes.
-
Serve and enjoy!
To parboil to give extra fluffy edges!
-
Put a pan of lightly salted water on to boil.
-
Peel and wash the potatoes.
-
Cube the potatoes.
-
Boil on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
-
Drain. Leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.
-
Add the spray vegetable oil on to the cubed potatoes.
-
Add 1/4 tsp of dried parsley, garlic powder and if you want to paprika and rosemary.
-
Cook at 190C (375F) for 10 minutes.
-
Shake.
-
Cook for a further 10 minutes at 190C (375F). Shake halfway.
-
Serve and enjoy!
Note: All calorie information is for demonstration purposes only and is based on the specific uncooked ingredients that I used when creating the recipe.
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Hannah
Friday 18th of November 2022
Hi, could you cook the to the end of step 5 and then freeze them? so it's only one simple throw in & cook (step 9) at a later date? (thinking something simple the teenagers could chuck in straight from the freezer themselves). Thanks
katykicker
Saturday 19th of November 2022
Yes, you definitely could do this!