Perfectly crispy smashed potatoes with garlic, olive oil and rosemary – one of the best potato side dishes ever!
Oven baked potatoes are our favorite potato side dish. I make them more often than any other side dish I could possibly make. And considering that I make lots of mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes or sauteed potatoes, plus other main courses containing potatoes, you can imagine that we go through a lot of potatoes in this house.
Typical German, one might think! 🙂
Crispy smashed potatoes with garlic
These garlic smashed potatoes are a rather new potato side dish discovery for us. I first saw a similar recipe here, and going from there I kept making my own smashed potatoes, playing with the spices and the fat I used.
At the beginning I mostly made this smashed potato recipe using butter and I must say that the results were very satisfying indeed. However, shortly after I used a mixture of butter and olive oil and the last times I made these garlic smashed potatoes I used olive oil only.
And although we all absolutely adored these crispy smashed potatoes in all their versions, we did like the olive oil version the best. I can’t even exactly say why, but somehow they were even crispier and tastier than before.
Ingredients for the garlic smashed potatoes
First of all the potatoes. I used small potatoes, weighing about 20 g/0.7 oz a potato. In Germany they are called Drillinge, meaning only that they are very small, the name doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the sort of potato they are.
But, from the way they felt and tasted they were primarily waxy potatoes.
As mentioned above I have made this smashed potatoes recipe with butter, with a mixture of butter and olive oil and only with olive oil. We loved all versions, but my personal favorite were the smashed potatoes with olive oil.
However, if you decide to make them with butter instead of olive oil, please do, they are wonderful. In this case replace the olive oil with 3 tablespoons butter, which you have melted, and proceed with the recipe.
Garlic is mandatory, if you ask me, but then again, I am a garlic junkie. I have made these crispy smashed potatoes without the garlic as well (only a small portion for my brother-in-law, who can taste one tiny garlic clove in a 2 liter pot of soup and complain about it) and they were OK, however I like the garlic version better.
And I often add some rosemary to any kind of oven potatoes, it has become almost a reflex. It is lovely, but it can definitely be replaced with thyme or any other kind of dry herbs or dry herbs mixes you like, like Italian herbs or Herbs de Provence.
You can use fresh rosemary (even better, but I don’t always have it), fresh thyme, parsley or chives. Please, trust your taste buds and change the spices for this potato side dish accordingly.
The garlic smashed potatoes can also be sprinkled with some sweet or hot paprika powder before baking, I do that very often. Chili flakes would also be an options, if you would like the potatoes to be spicier.
Do use good quality coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for these crispy smashed potatoes, I do feel coarse salt and coarsely ground pepper are a much better fit than the finer sorts. I sprinkle the garlic smashed potatoes twice with salt and pepper: once before and once after baking and I just love to bite on those tiny pieces of salt and pepper.
How to make crispy smashed potatoes with garlic
This is one of the easiest recipes you can think of. Boil, smash the potatoes, add oil and spices and bake.
First of all, boil the potatoes in salted water. The potatoes are very small, so the cooking time will be rather short. To speed things up, I often place the potatoes in the pot and cover them with boiling water from the kettle. I add the salt, let them come to a boil again (this will happen much faster now) and cook them for about 15-20 minutes.
Start checking after 15 minutes or so, they should be fork tender. If the potatoes are slightly larger, they will need some extra minutes, so do check.
Drain the potatoes very well and let them stand in the colander for about 5 minutes, just to make sure that as much of the water as possible has evaporated from their surface.
Grease a baking tray with olive oil. Give 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or as mentioned above 3 tablespoons butter, melted) to a small bowl. Add the smashed or grated garlic cloves and the rosemary (or other dry or fresh herbs of your choice). Stir well.
Place the cooked potatoes on the prepared baking tray and smash them carefully and lightly using a fork. I have tried smashing them with a potato masher as well, but I think a fork works better, I crushed them too much when using a potato masher.
Don’t press the potatoes flat or you will not have those nice ridges anymore and they are mandatory, as they will be the ones getting crispy. The inside of the smashed potatoes will remain soft and comforting, while the outside will get crispy.
Drizzle the olive oil/butter and garlic mixture on top of each potato. I use a teaspoon to do that, I drizzle each potato with about ½ teaspoon oil mixture to make sure that there is enough for all the potatoes and go a second time around to divide the leftovers between the potatoes as well.
Sprinkle the garlic smashed potatoes with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Bake the smashed potatoes in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until they are golden and crispy. Give the potatoes more time, if they are not crispy enough after 20 minutes.
Sprinkle again with salt and pepper after baking and serve immediately.
I’ve last served this potato side dish with roast lamb, but we also had them with roast chicken, roast chicken legs and skillet chicken breasts. You could serve them with most anything actually, they will always be delicious!
For a vegetarian meal, I can even imagine serving them with poached eggs or fried halloumi cheese.
I do hope you will try this version of a potato side dish, the garlic smashed potatoes are really a delight!
Clean the potatoes well and give them to a pot. Add water, bring to a boil and cook the potatoes for about 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. The exact cooking time depends on their size, so do check if they are cooked through before draining them. In the meantime preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Drain the potatoes well and leave them stand in the colander for about 5 minutes, so that most of the water on their surface will evaporate. Give the olive oil or melted butter to a small bowl. Add the smashed or grated garlic and the chopped rosemary. Mix well. Grease a baking tray with the extra olive oil. Place the potatoes on the baking tray and crush them carefully and only lightly with a fork, they should not be pressed flat, but still have plenty of ridges after you’ve crushed them. Drizzle the smashed potatoes with the olive oil and garlic mixture evenly, use a teaspoon for that purpose. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and crispy. Increase the baking time slightly if the potatoes are not crispy enough after 20 minutes. Take out of the oven, sprinkle again with some coarse salt and pepper. Sprinkle with some fresh chopped parsley or chives, if you wish, and serve immediately as suggested above.How to Make Garlic Smashed Potatoes – Potato Side Dishes
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Looks absolutely mouthwatering!