The Best Crispy Smashed Potates

Super Easy Side Dish

I’m a huge fan of potatoes – pretty much all kinds. Twice baked potatoes, homemade french fries, hash brown cups. Even breakfast muffins with hash browns on the bottom! If you give me the choice of a side dish, I’m going to pick potato something every single time. These crispy smashed potatoes are a new family favorite because they give you the fleshiness of a perfectly cooked baked potato and the crispiness on the outside of an amazing French fry. And they’re so easy to make – just a few minutes of actual work then baking in the oven. Plus kids will love them because hello, they’re smashed POTATOES. Kids love potatoes – or at least mine do. But they’re also elegant and flavorful enough that teens, adults, and even your in-laws will enjoy them too. Total win win all around!

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Potatoes – you can use either red or yellow potatoes in these (we just happened to have yellow ones for the photos). Look for potatoes that are about the size of a golf ball and ideally round like a ball rather than oval. Butter – use high-quality butter like Kerrygold if you can since this is such a huge part of the flavor of the dish. Otherwise, any melted butter works. Black pepper – this is totally optional. We personally don’t love a lot of pepper on our food but if you like pepper, it can add a nice touch. Garlic – I recommend using fresh garlic rather than mince garlic out of a jar or those big ones from Costco. The garlic gives the smashed potatoes a lot of their flavor and fresh garlic just has more flavor in my opinion.

Instructions

Okay first things first, you need to wash your potatoes. Make sure to clean them well and remove any bruised, sprouted, or bad spots. Those won’t smash well (or tasted good) so you want to remove them! Once your potatoes are ready to go, put them all in a pot that’s large enough to hold them all. Add a generous pinch of salt then cover with cold water until they’re fully submerged. And I mean fully, not just almost covered like the pasta in this easy baked ziti. Bring the water to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a fork – about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set them aside until they’re cool enough you can actually touch them. While the potatoes are cooling, preheat your oven to 425 degrees if using a conventional oven and 400 degrees is using a convection oven. Then combine the butter, garlic, and spices in a bowl and stir until well mixed. Next, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. By this point, hopefully those potatoes are cooled. Add the potatoes to the bowl with buttery spices and toss them gently (so they don’t fall apart) until they’re fully coated then carefully transfer them onto the baking sheet. Make sure to keep enough space between them that you can smash them! Use the bottom of a mason jar or other glass and press down on each of the potatoes on the baking sheet to smash them. You’re going for kind of like a hockey puck shape. Press hard enough that the edges split but still soft enough that the potatoes remains mostly intact. You don’t want to completely flatten and destroy them. This isn’t human battleship. Spoon any leftover butter and spices from the bowl onto the smashed potatoes, specifically adding it to the portions that smashed open that weren’t previously coated. Sprinkle each potato with kosher salt and pepper (if using). Then bake the potatoes until they’re golden brown and crisp on the edges, about 25-30 minutes. Serve hot with your favorite main dish. They’re go great with this almond chicken, coconut chicken tenders, or this grilled balsamic chicken!

Expert Tips

Smash lightly at first and increase the pressure if necessary. There’s no going back if you smash them too hard and destroy the potatoes but you can always press harder. Check the potatoes regularly after about 10 minutes of boiling so you can remove them as soon as they are fork tender. You don’t want them to be so soft that they just fall apart, like you’d want for these mashed potatoes.
Use a large bowl for the spice mix so that you can really get the potatoes coated before you put them in the oven. It’ll be tougher for them to move around in a small bowl. Make these a week and reheat in the oven to enjoy all week long! They make a perfect dinner or lunch side dish. Make these a delicious paleo or Whole 30 side dish by replacing the butter with ghee instead (approved for Whole 30!). They make a regular appearance on our Whole 30 meal plan!