Amateur Chef’s Crispy Smashed Roasted Potatoes – Time Bake
Posted by terrepruitt on March 16, 2013
My last post was about how I have two late Nia classes in San Jose so I use my “Time Bake” feature on my oven. I think something that would be GREAT to put in the oven to have ready when I get home is the Rantings of an Amateur Chef’s Crispy Smashed Roasted Potatoes. I made these this week for the first time and I don’t think I will make potatoes any other way again.
Basically you boil the little red potatoes in salted water. Then you drain them and let them cool. Then you smash each one individually only so much as to make them a bit flat, but not so much they break apart and end up mashed. Then you put them on a pan that is covered in aluminum foil AND parchment paper. Oil and salt each potato and bake them.
I only used 8 potatoes. The recipe instructions include placing the potatoes on a towel to dry and covering the potato with a towel for smashing, but I am not sure that is necessary. I did it that way because I was thinking the towel helps soak up some of that water and less water makes for a crispier potato. Plus I usually follow instructions when trying a recipe for the first time. I will try it without the towel next time because I don’t need the extra laundry. I will let you know if the towel is imperative.
The initial cooking time (boiling) was longer for me and I didn’t turn it to simmer. “Simmer” on my stove is almost off so I left it a little below medium and boiled them for about 40 minutes. I used the foil and the parchment paper as per the recipe. But my potatoes took a bit longer than 30 to 40 minutes. BUT . . . . I also put asparagus on my pan. The pan I was using is so large it takes up an entire rack in my oven and I didn’t want to put another pan on the rack above or below, so I decided my asparagus and potatoes could share a pan. They both came out GREAT. But the potatoes needed a few more minutes than the asparagus.
I was so excited to eat the piping hot crispy gems that I forgot to take a picture of them once fully cooked. Not taking a picture was due to my excitement AND the fact that we were already eating the rest of dinner and so I was in a rush to get them from pan to plate! But they were delicious.
The smashed potatoes would be a perfect thing to put in the oven on Time Bake. But . . . . maybe not, huh? Parchment paper. That stuff kind of freaks me out in the first place. I mean it is PAPER in the oven. I don’t know that I would want that baking with me not home . . . . .
If you like potatoes these little smashed potatoes are GREAT.
Do you like potatoes? Can you imagine these little crispy nuggets on your plate?
See comment below for an alternative way to make these — all bake, no boil!
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
John Pruitt said
These were really really terrific! Thank you for making them honey 🙂
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terrepruitt said
🙂
I was going to make them tonight, but lunch ran LATE! Maybe Wednesday. Love you!
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Sonja said
My Dad is addicted to potatoes and I’m in charge of making the S. Cal Mothers Day dinner this year. I will be trying these. I do use parchment occasionally, and I just cant remember what recipes in the past I used it for. It crumbles if baked too long and I think high heat would also make it brittle. I have noticed that when cooking garlic parsley potatoes using red potatoes works well because this kind of potato stays together rather than crumbles when fully cooked (as opposed to a simple baked potato that fluffs). So the smashed potatoes using red potatoes are a good way to keep it together but still get a flat crispy gem. Great idea, with garlic salt for sure
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terrepruitt said
These are my favorite. I don’t always boil them, you can bake them if you want.
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Catherine said
They sound great, Terre! What temp. is the oven and for how long?
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terrepruitt said
Well, according to the Chef’s recipe it is 450 degrees F for 30 to 40 minutes!
Thanks for being here!
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Catherine said
I’m going to try these tonight since I don’t have anything “interesting” for dinner. Thanks Hon!
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terrepruitt said
Oh, I love them. They are my favorite now. YUM! I bought a sweet potato I am going to try this with it, but I know it is the skins that make it so good and I will be quartering the sweet potato so it probably won’t be as good!
Thank you so much for reading my blog and commenting. Means a lot to me. I really appreciate it!!!
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John Pruitt said
Just checking back in on this. These potatoes ROCK!!
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terrepruitt said
I feel bad though because I just now noticed you have sour cream in the fridge. You probably would have liked that. I bought a potato for The Queen and maybe I will use it tonight to try this with sweet potato. I am glad you like these potatoes because as I stated I probably won’t do potatoes any other way now.
Love you. Thank you for commenting on my blog!
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Michele said
Ok, I am trying these tonight, did you just salt and pepper them or other flavors too?
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terrepruitt said
So? How did you like them? I am sorry, I am just now getting to this. You know me, I didn’t use pepper. I use garlic salt and salt. 🙂 Oh, man . . . so yummy. On my way to bed gonna be thinking about these. Did you like them? Yum. I didn’t try them with a sweet potato because I think it is the skin that makes them good and I peel sweet potatoes. At least I peel most of the skin off.
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wolver said
I just wanted to notify you that I found your blog on and even though I enjoyed
checking out your entry, it appears your blog acts up in some web browsers.
If I look at your web-site in Chrome, it looks fine however, when opening in IE,
it has a small amount of overlapping problems. I simply wanted to offer you with a
little heads up, that’s all.
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terrepruitt said
Yeah, WordPress says they optimize for FireFox, which I don’t understand since I thought a lot of people used IE. But I have to write my blog on Firefox. I only know to let WordPress know that it would be nice if they worked their site for IE. Thank you.
Cheers!
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terrepruitt said
Look what I found when throwing some magazines out:
This recipe is cool because you bake the potatoes instead of boil them. It says to bake them on a cookie sheet using 3/4 cup water and covered with foil at 500° F for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the foil. Then roast with pan on top oven rack for 15 minutes, then the bottom rack for 20 to 30 minutes. I usually turn the potatoes over. I want to season both sides.
This is interesting. I am going to try baking instead of boiling!
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