lemony smashed potatoes

I feel like smashed potatoes have been all the rage lately. I keep seeing them pop up in my Instagram feed and on restaurant menus. Once I decided to try making them, I fully understood the hype. Smashed potatoes are like a mix between French fries and baked potatoes. They have skins and bake in the oven for a crispy finish, but they’re healthier than fried potatoes.

The fun thing with this recipe is that you can also mix a bunch of yummy seasonings into the potatoes before baking, making them oh so delicious. The process of smashing potatoes are fairly simple. I opted to use small potatoes to make them nice and bite-sized, but you can absolutely use larger potatoes as well (just know they’ll take a bit longer to cook and may not be as crispy in the end).

After boiling the potatoes with skins on, you’ll toss them with a mixture of garlic, lemon juice, thyme, and some spices. Next, you’ll move them to a baking sheet, and carefully smush them down with the back of a fork or spoon. After baking, the skins will get brown and crispy, lending a little crunch to each bite. So good!

You can serve these as a side dish (Thanksgiving is coming up if you want an alt to mashed potatoes!) by themselves, or you can dip them in a sauce as an appetizer or salty snack.

⟶ the recipe

lemony smashed potatoes

ingredients

2 pounds small potatoes

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Juice of 1 lemon

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

½ teaspoon onion powder

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Prep time

20 minutes

Cook time

30 minutes

Total time

50 minutes

4 servings

instructions

Boil potatoes in a medium pot for about 15 minutes, or until fork-tender. Drain potatoes in a colander and carefully pat them dry before transferring to a large bowl.

Toss potatoes with garlic, lemon juice, thyme sprigs, onion powder, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and transfer potatoes to a rimmed baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Using the back of a spoon or fork, gently press down on each potato. Drizzle any leftover oil and spices from the bowl over the smashed potatoes, and add additional salt and pepper if desired.

Bake potatoes until golden and slightly crispy, about 25-30 minutes. Turn the broiler on at the end for about 2 minutes if you want them extra crispy. Let potatoes cool for a couple minutes, and serve hot.

⟶ recipe notes

You can make these with any size potatoes, but I recommend smaller ones like fingerlings or petite potatoes as they’ll cook faster and end up crispier
These potatoes are delicious as is, but you can also serve them with a garlic-yogurt dip (mix ½ cup of Greek yogurt with 1 crushed garlic clove, a tablespoon of chopped dill, a drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper)