Crunchy and wonderful these rustic garlic smashed potatoes are the perfect side to any meal. Fluffy on the inside and super crispy on the outside they are kind of like fries, but better!
Bake them in the oven and serve alongside an easy vegan wellington and gravy. With added garlic and fresh parsley these spuds are full of crunch and flavour.
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I'm calling it. I like these crispy garlic smashed potatoes more than fries or chips. Whaaaat? And this is coming from a person who judges a restaurant entirely based on their ability to make fries. Seriously, if you can't make fries how can I trust you to make anything else?
Why This Recipe Works
Reader Review. "A family favourite! Rave reviews from everyone in our household!!!" (MiranDa) ★★★★★
If I was a baby potato, I would want to be these crispy potatoes when I grow up.
My crispy potatoes are everything pure and wonderful about potatoes. They are crispy with a hint of garlic, slightly cheesy (from the nutritional yeast) and beautifully fluffy inside. Bliss.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Smaller potatoes will create a crispier smashed spud. Larger potatoes will still crisp up but you'll get a more even fluffy-bits to crispy-bits ratio.
Nutritional yeast. "nooch" gives these potatoes a delicious cheesey punch. You can find nutritional yeast at health food stores and most supermarkets. You could also sprinkle a little vegan parmesan if you can't get nooch.
Herbs. I like parsley on these potatoes but you can use any herb you like! Sage, rosemary or thyme all work beautifully too.
Butter and oil. We want the buttery flavour but we want them crispy too.
Garlic. I prefer fresh garlic but in a pinch you can use dried garlic powder.
Salt and pepper. Always.
Step-by-Step Guide
Making these potatoes couldn't be easier.
Steps 1 and 2. First, wash the spuds and then cook them in water until soft. After straining them, steam dry them in a colander for 5 minutes.
Steps 3 and 4. Next, smash them! And then steam dry them for another 5 minutes.
Steps 5 and 6. Drizzle them with melted butter and olive oil and season generously.
Roast the potatoes for 20 minutes before removing them from the oven and drizzling them with garlic and parsley butter and sprinkling on some nutritional yeast flakes.
Finally, roast until crispy and deeply golden. So good!
Tips to Making Super Crispy Potatoes
Making smashed potatoes is pretty simply but there are a few things you can do to take your crispy spuds to the next level.
And that's it. Crispy, wonderful, flavoursome spuds to serve with pretty much anything or simply in a bowl to eat with your fingers. Amen to that.
FAQs
It doesn't masher! I'm sorry I couldn't help myself.
If you don't have a potato masher, you can use the underside of a cup, a fork or press down on the potatoes with the underside of another tray. Simply, place a tray that fits in to your baking tray on top of the potatoes and pressed down firmly and evenly. The spuds will flatten underneath.
You can use garlic powder. Add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder in to the 3 tablespoons of melted butter and drizzle it all on before you pop the potatoes in the oven. With dried garlic you won't have to worry about burning. Another awesome flavour is onion powder. A teaspoon of onion powder is wonderful with these spuds.
Serve Your Potatoes with These Recipes
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Make This Recipe
Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 kg / 2.2 pounds potatoes I used Sebago, an all-rounder
- 3 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves crushed or minced
- 1 tablespoon parsley finely chopped
- 1-2 tablespoon nutritional yeast to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cover the potaotes in a large pot with water and bring it up to a boil over medium to high heat. Cook for around 15 minutes or until soft.
- Strain the potatoes and leave them to sit and steam dry in the colander for 5 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 190°C (374°F).
- After the potatoes have steam dried, place them on an oven tray giving them space in between (enough space to spread when you smash them). Using a masher, the bottom of a cup or a fork, press down and flatten the potatoes. Don't completely flatten them - we want all those ridges!
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle it over each potato. Follow with a small drizzle of olive oil on each spud. Season well with salt and pepper and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the potatoes from the oven. Melt the remaning tablespoon of butter and stir in the chopped garlic and parsley. Drizzle a little over each potato. Follow with a good sprinkling of nutritional yeast.
- Return the potatoes to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes or until delicious an crispy.
- Remove from the oven and serve as a side or straight from a bowl like fries!
MiranDa says
A family favourite! Rave reviews from everyone in our household!!!
Amanda says
Hi MiranDa! I am so happy your family enjoy these (that's so awesome) - I am a sucker for potatoes and these are just so tasty. Thanks so much for taking the time to reach out. I appreciate it. 🙂
Kat Varcoe-Cocks says
SO SO good. I've played around with how I roast potatoes for ages. This was so easy, it does use more butter/oil than I'm used to - but soo worth it. I ate way too many!
This is the way my boys want me to cook potatoes everytime!! Um and so do I.
Thank you again.
Amanda says
The butter is pretty naughty - I don't usually use so much either. But, man they are good, right? I am so glad your boys liked them too.