Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Today’s recipe is for garlic smashed potatoes. They aren’t mashed potatoes, they are smashed! My mom made a slightly different version of these potatoes and they were so good. I added garlic of course, and I have made these almost once a week since we first tried them. Garlic Smashed Potatoes make a great side dish. This recipe is great because you can make as many or few as you want.

Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

Yukon Gold or Red Potatoes
Olive Oil
Gourmet Garden Garlic in a tube, make your own garlic paste, or use garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Non-Stick spray
Chives or other herbs, optional

Directions:

Scrub your desired number of potatoes and place in a stock pot. Cover with water.
Boil the whole potatoes for about 20 minutes or until they are fork tender.
Remove the potatoes from the water and place them on a sheet pan that has been covered with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray.
Preheat the oven to 450° F.
With a fork or potato masher, gently press down on the potatoes to smash them open.
With a pastry brush, gently brush the garlic paste on the inside of the potatoes. The Gourmet Garden paste is pretty strong, so a little bit will be just fine. You can use garlic powder if you don’t have Gourmet Garden garlic.
Lightly drizzle olive oil over the potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Cook the smashed potatoes in the oven for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve.

I think this is a great side dish with pretty much any protein. We even ate them with our ham at Easter. At first I was turned off by the fact that you had to boil the potatoes and then bake them. However, this recipe is pretty hands off. I threw the potatoes on the stove and did other things for 20 minutes. It only took about 5 minutes to smash and season them, before I threw in the oven to finish. It really was quick and painless.

This dish is also great to personalize to your family’s taste. Some bacon bits and cheese would be delicious on these too! How would you customize your smashed potatoes? Let me know in the comments!