Crispy Smashed Potatoes

It’s easy to make perfectly crispy Smashed Potatoes for a delicious side dish. Seasoned with a garlic herb butter, this is the most flavorful recipe for smashed potatoes ever! Simply boil baby potatoes, then bake them in the oven, or cook them in an air fryer for extra crispy goodness!

Crispy, buttery, garlic potatoes, what could be better? Not much, I tell you! This Smashed Potatoes recipe has been a smash hit at my house for years, pun intended! But seriously, I get requests at every holiday meal to serve these potatoes and once you try them, you’ll know why!

Here’s why this recipe works.

• Using baby potatoes vs. larger potatoes means that when the potatoes get smashed, they’re thinner and therefore get nice and crispy in the oven.
• The garlic herb butter adds an insanely delicious, crunchy layer of flavor of top!

Even though it takes a little over an hour to make this delicious little side dish, only 15 minutes of that is hands-on time. And I promise you, the end result is worth every minute!

In a hurry and have an air fryer handy? You can knock 20 minutes off the cooking time by following my simple air fryer instructions below!

Ingredients

• Baby potatoes – these might also be called peewee potatoes or petite potatoes. Basically any potato that is around 1 inch long will work for this recipe. You can use slightly larger potatoes, like fingerling potatoes, but they will take a little longer to boil and won’t get quite as crispy as the baby potatoes. I do not recommend using red potatoes, or anything larger, as they’re just too big and won’t work properly for this recipe.
• Unsalted butter – there’s salt in the steak seasoning that we’ll use to season the potatoes, so I recommend using unsalted butter to make sure the potatoes don’t end up too salty. You can always taste, then salt them at the end as well.
• Garlic – I recommend fresh peeled garlic cloves for the best flavor.
• Steak seasoning – this homemade Montreal steak seasoning (linked to the left) is the magic fairy dust that adds so much flavor to these little potatoes! It’s filled with coarse spices that add delicious texture and crunch on top of the potatoes. I highly recommend spending 5 minutes to mix up this homemade seasoning blend at home, but you can also use Montreal Steak Seasoning found in the spice aisle at the grocery store.
• Fresh rosemary – if you can’t find fresh rosemary, dried rosemary can be used instead, but fresh herbs are always preferred for the best flavor.

Step by step instructions

1. Boil the potatoes. Add salt to a large pot of water on the stove, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the potatoes and cook for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender, but before they’re falling apart. Drain the potatoes from the water and let them sit in the colander to dry out for 5-10 minutes.
2. Smash the potatoes. Once the potatoes are dry, spread them out on a large baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Use a fork, or the bottom of a glass, to smash each of the potatoes.
3. Arrange the potatoes on a baking sheet. Once all of the potatoes are smashed, make sure they’re in an even row, not overlapping, on one or two baking sheets. Depending on the size of the baking sheet, you might need to use two to get the potatoes in an even layer.
4. Prepare the herb butter. Add butter to a small saucepan on the stove over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add crushed garlic, steak seasoning and chopped rosemary.
5. Simmer the herb butter for 2-3 minutes on the stove. Remove it from the heat and set aside.
6. Season and bake the potatoes. Use a basting brush to brush the herb butter over all of the smashed potatoes. Place the potatoes in the oven and bake for 35 minutes at 400°F.

Remove from the oven when they’re golden brown and crispy, and serve immediately. You can also garnish them with a little chopped fresh parsley, if you’d like.

How to make them in an air fryer

1. Follow steps 1,2,4 and 5 above. Boil, dry and smash the baby potatoes, then prepare the garlic herb butter. Add the smashed potatoes to an air fryer basket in a single layer.
2. Brush the smashed potatoes with the garlic herb butter.
3. Air fry at 400°F for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the smashed potatoes from the air fryer and serve immediately.

Cooking these potatoes in the air fryer makes them ultra crispy and honestly, I’m a huge fan! The only drawback is that you can only cook about a third of the potatoes at a time, if you have a 5.8 quart air fryer, like mine. This is perfect if you’re making a smaller batch, but wouldn’t be ideal if you’re trying to quickly make a full batch of the potatoes.

Frequently asked questions

• Are smashed potatoes the same as mashed potatoes? Nope! Smashed potatoes are small potatoes that are literally smashed with a fork. Mashed potatoes are mashed using either a potato masher or electric hand mixer. If you’re looking for an excellent recipe for mashed potatoes, check out these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes.
• How do you know when potatoes are ready to be smashed? Reach a metal skewer or fork into the pot of boiling potatoes and gently stick it inside one of the potatoes. If it slides easily into, and out of the potato, it’s ready to come out of the boiling water and get smashed.
• How do you make loaded smashed potatoes? After 30 minutes in the oven, remove the potatoes and sprinkle them with 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Place them back in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and top each potato with a small dollop of sour cream, then sprinkle with cooked, crumbled bacon and diced green onions.
• Can you reheat smashed potatoes? Yes, I recommend reheating them under the broiler in the oven on high for 2-3 minutes, or in an air fryer at 400°F for 2-3 minutes. This will help them crisp back up just perfectly!
• Can you double the recipe? Yes, if you’re making these potatoes as a side for a holiday dinner, or dinner party, you can easily double the recipe. You will need two or three large sheet pans so that you can make sure all of the potatoes are in an even layer and not overlapping. This will help them get nice and crispy in the oven! Simply double all of the ingredients, or hover over the “servings” amount in the recipe card below and change the servings from 4 to 8. This will automatically update all of the ingredient amounts in the recipe card for the new serving amount.
• Can you make this recipe vegan? Yes, instead of butter, use olive oil, or a vegan butter substitute, to make this recipe vegan.

What to serve with them

Smashed potatoes are the perfect side dish to serve with a weeknight dinner, or for a special occasion meal like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day.

While they do take a little over an hour to make, most of that time is spent either boiling or baking the potatoes, so there’s not a lot of hands-on time involved. You can even boil them ahead of time, so all you have to do before dinner is smash, butter and bake!

Over the years, I’ve served the potatoes with each of these delicious recipes, all to rave reviews!

• Beef Wellington
• Smoked Turkey Breast
• Marinated Sirloin Steak
• Smoked Prime Rib
• Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast
• Smoked Brisket
• Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin
• Crock Pot Pork Chops
• Grilled New York Strip Steak

More potato recipes

From smashed to mashed, salads to skins, try all of these delicious ways to eat potatoes!

• Red White and Blue Cheese Potato Salad
• Cheesy Grilled Potatoes
• Rosemary Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes
• Cajun Potatoes
• Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

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