Smashed Potatoes: A cousin to the mashed potato, the smashed potatoes offers a creamy center with a crispy crust that can be served as finger food appetizer or as a side to a main course.
This smashed potatoes recipe is flavorful and buttery, a perfect way to indulge in a fluffy light yet crunchy potato side. It is complimented with herbs, and will quickly become a family favorite recipe.
A simple potato dressed up with mouth watering flavors like garlic, and parsley, and crusted with delicious sharp cheddar cheese. If you’ve never tried this way of cooking potatoes, once you pop one into your mouth you’ll be wondering where they have been all your life. You’ll be making them again and again.
How do you cook smashed potatoes?
Making smash potatoes is ultra simple, only 5 simple easy steps:
- Boil You’ll want to boil small potatoes about 1-2 inches in circumference. Smashed red potatoes are great for this or Yukon gold babies. Boil for about 5 min. Don’t over cook them. Then drain and dry them.
- Smash. Put all the potatoes on a greased cookie sheet or silpat. Then use a potato masher or the back of a flat glass
- Drizzle. This is where you add not only the oil but also the seasonings. So if you’re making garlic smashed potatoes this is where the magic happens.
- Bake. At 450℉ for about 10 min. If you’re making smashed potatoes with cheese, top with cheese then bake again for another 5-7 min. If you’re not using cheddar you can make smashed potatoes parmesan cheese style which can be put on the top before baking at all and bakes undisturbed for about 25 min.
- Garnish with parsley and enjoy.
How do you make crispy smashed potatoes?
The secret to crispy smashed potatoes are:
- Use a liberal amount of oil.
- Letting the potatoes steam dry a little bit before baking them. That way the oil isn’t competing with any extra moisture and you’ll get a nice crunch. This is why we pop them back into the pan, and back onto the heat after draining. That little steam gets rid of the excess moisture.
- Don’t shy away from the salt and seasonings.
How do you make the best Smashed Potatoes?
Of course I love my recipe which includes:
- Garlic
- Sharp cheddar cheese
- Paprika
- Onion powder
- And fresh parsley
It’s a yummy combination of savory and fresh, these garlic smashed potatoes it’s a great easy smashed potatoes recipe for novice and chef alike. If you want the best smashed potatoes, find your perfect flavor combination, and be sure to use the above tips to get them crispy and delicious.
If you’re feeling adventurous you can try your own flavors. The potato is a great pallet to experiment on.
By way of reference some the more well known cooks have their own variations, they are:
- The smashed potatoes Martha Stewart makes:
- Are baked with thyme
- And garnished with sour cream and chives
- The smashed potatoes Rachael Ray makes:
- Are garnished with dill and parsley
- The smashed potatoes Pioneer Woman makes:
- Bakes them with black pepper, rosemary, and parmesan.
Is there a difference between mashed and smashed potatoes?
Absolutely. Mashed and smashed potatoes are about as opposite as they can be. Let me show you the difference:
Fluffiness:
- Mashed: are nice and pillowy and fluffy
- Smashed: and crispy on the outside with a creamy soft center.
Type of potato:
- Mashed: use a high starch potato so it’ll break down and blend easily, russet are best.
- Smashed: a waxy potato is used so it’ll hold its shape, red or yellow (like Yukon) are best.
Ingredients added to the potato:
- Mashed: butter, salt, a variety of seasonings and garnishes, and some type of cream, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, or half and half are often used.
- Smashed: oil, a variety of seasonings, and a garnish of fresh herbs or sour cream.
About the only similarities are they are both made with potatoes, are really simple to make, are a great side dish, and taste awesome.
Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs baby yukon potatoes or any small potato
- 1 1/2 Tbs olive oil
- 1/4 tsp granulated garlic
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp paprika
- 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 Tbs freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Line a baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Scrub potatoes and place them in a pot. Fill pot with water until the potatoes are just covered.
- Bring water to boil.
- Stir the potatoes so the potatoes at the top go towards the bottom and the potatoes cook evenly.
- Cook potatoes for about 5 minutes once the water starts boiling, or until you can just pierce the potatoes with a fork. Be careful not to overcook them.
- While potatoes are cooking, mix together salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic granules, and paprika in a small bowl. Set aside
- Drain water from potatoes. Return to the hot stove top and cook 1-2 minutes to let the steam evaporate from off the potatoes. This will help them crisp up.
- Using tongs, place potatoes onto the baking sheets. Let the potatoes cool for 5 minutes.
- Smash potatoes by placing a glass on them, and pressing down on them until they are flattened, but still intact mostly.
- Drizzle oil on the potatoes, and sprinkle seasonings on top.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Take potatoes out of the oven, and sprinkle the cheese on top of the potatoes.
- Bake for another 5 to 6 minutes, or until the edges of the potatoes start to crisp up and cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven, and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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