Quick & Easy Smashed Red Potatoe Recipe | Foodal (2024)
by Raquel Smith
Pohhh-tayyy-toesssss. What is it about potatoes that just says, “I am the perfect food for you to eat all day every day”? I really can’t put my finger on it, but I’m pretty sure I’d be okay with eating potatoes 3 meals a day for at least a few days in a row.
Recently, smashed potatoes are quite a hit. You can find a new recipe for them any day of the week. But, I’m pretty lazy and kind of snub my nose at any recipe that requires cooking in a pan first, then in the oven later.
I mean, can’t we just get it all done with one cooking method?
Most smashed potatoes require boiling the potatoes first and then sticking them in the oven to crisp. Aside from using two cooking methods, this also requires that I turn my oven on in the heat of summer… which is not ideal.
So what did I do? I simplified.
First, we start by boiling the whole baby red potatoes. You can buy giant ones, but I don’t recommend it. Babies cook quicker, smash better, fit in the pan better… You get it. Get small ones.
Anyway, you boil them, then drain. Then you toss them with the above delicious olive oil-mustard-shallot mixture and put them back into the pan you boiled them in.
Then you smash them. This part is kind of fun, but don’t go too gung ho on ’em.
Finally, you put that there pot right back on the stove and brown them in the pot. Flip each one over and brown the other side, and you’re a winner.
Note: Just for the photos, I put these in a cast iron skillet so that you could see them. I normally make them in the same stock pot I boiled them in, and it’s perfect!
You’re probably wondering if they taste exactly like the boiled-then-baked kind. Well, no. They don’t. They’re not the exact same, but they’re pretty darn close.
And the ways they are different actually make them even better in their own way. All in one potato you get the crispy skin but plenty of mushy potato insides that you love.
And can we talk about the dijon dressing? it’s not really a dressing because they are cooked in it but IT IS SO GOOD. I made these babies twice and each time I was just impressed with how much a little bit of dijon and rosemary can elevate a dish.
If you are doing a smaller celebration for the holdiays, definitely give these a go. Due to their in-pot nature you can’t really make a huge batch at one time unless you use multiple pots or a really, really large pot.
If you do that, please send me photos.
But these really are perfect for a smaller celebration, or any time you want to have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes and make people think you spent twice that much. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
This delicious recipe for Cheater Smashed Red Potatoes is the easy, one-pot, no-bake way to make smashed potatoes.
Ingredients
Scale
1 1/2 lb small red potatoes (about 15)
1 Tbsp minced shallot
1 Tbsp minced rosemary
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
Instructions
Place the potatoes in a single layer in the bottom of a large pot. Don’t cram them – give them some room to breathe.
Add enough water to cover the potatoes by about a half inch of water, then bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cook the potatoes for about 15 minutes, until they are easily pierced by a fork but are not falling apart. Drain.
While the potatoes boil, combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.
Place the potatoes back into the pot, then add the dijon mixture. Toss to cover the potatoes.
Use the bottom of a pint glass or other flat object to gently smash the potatoes until they burst.
Place the pot back over the heat and cook over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes, until nicely browned and crispy. Use a fork or spoon to turn the potatoes over one-by-one, then cook for another few minutes to brown that side.
Remove from the heat and serve immediately!
Notes
– Just for the photos, I put these in a cast iron skillet so that you could see them. I normally make them in the same pot I boiled them in, and it’s perfect!
Prep Time:5 mins
Cook Time:25 mins
Category:Side Dish
Method:Stove Top
Cuisine:Comfort Food
Keywords: smashed, red potatoes, cheater, easy, side dish
If you love your potatoes, then try out some of these tasty recipes:
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Raquel Smith
Raquel is a whole foods enthusiast, an avid mountain biker, and a dog lover. She works by day at Food Blogger Pro and formerly maintained her food blog "My California Roots" (now merged into Foodal).
Gordon Ramsay begins by boiling the potatoes in salted water.Next, he drains the potatoes.After that, he stirs in butter, sour cream, herbs, and seasoning. This is Gordon Ramsay's version of smashed potatoes, which differs from the one in this recipe.
While some people might use the terms smash and mash interchangeably, they are not the same. 'Smash' is when you merely break something into pieces. However, "mash" means you reduce a food to a soft, pulpy mass.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
Smashed potatoes will fall apart if they are overcooked or if you try to mash them while they are still hot. Long story short - cook the potatoes until al dente (slightly firm). Don't overcook the potatoes! Last - cool the potatoes completely before smashing them.
Adding egg yolks to a pot of mashed potatoes is an easy, dairy-free texture and taste upgrade that doesn't require any special techniques. The yolks harbor all the flavorful fats and emulsifying components and will thus effectively unify the fat and water in potatoes, translating to a smoother, uniformly creamy pot.
"Placing [peeled and cut] potatoes in water helps prevent oxidation, which turns their exposed flesh brown," says Ronna Welsh, the author of The Nimble Cook and the owner and chef instructor at Purple Kale Kitchenworks in Brooklyn, N.Y. While oxidation won't make the potatoes unsafe to eat, it does change their flavor.
A potato ricer is widely regarded as the best tool for mashed potatoes that are smooth and fluffy. Built like a big garlic press, it works by pushing cooked potatoes (one or two at a time) through a perforated grate, creating stringy, broken-down potato bits without releasing a ton of starch.
Instead of regular milk, pro chefs generally use a generous helping of buttermilk and plenty of half-and-half or (even better) heavy cream in their potatoes. If you think the bartenders up front are pouring heavy, they've got nothing on the cooks in the back who are in charge of the mashed potatoes.
Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American, Canadian and Australian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a side dish to meat or vegetables.
Should you peel potatoes before boiling? We prefer to leave the skins on, which prevents the potatoes from absorbing excess moisture. If you're putting them through a ricer, as we do in our best mashed potatoes recipe, the potato skins will be removed anyway.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at a minimum, potatoes should be rinsed under running water before cutting. This is crucial, even if you plan on peeling them, because germs on the outer skin can infiltrate the inside of your spuds when you cut them.
A: The main reasons to cut the potatoes and pre-soak in water are: To allow the excess starches and sugars to be removed from the outer surface of the fry strips AND to keep the potatoes from browning prematurely from exposure to air. Covering in water helps the potato from turning a dark color.
Rachael Ray's Solution for Keeping Mashed Potatoes Warm
"Hold your mashed potatoes in a bain-marie, or water bath, with a lid on top [and] they stay for hours — days really," Ray, who recently partnered with Home Chef, said in an interview with Allrecipes. The method is oh-so-simple.
Option 1: Turn up the heat on your stovetop to draw out the moisture. Option 2: Add a teaspoon of a thickening agent like cornstarch, flour or powdered milk until you reach the desired thickness. Option 3: Mix in 1 tablespoon of dehydrated potatoes until mashed potatoes are thicker.
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