Crispy Greek Smashed Potatoes

These Crispy Greek Smashed Potatoes are easy to make, so delicious and the perfect small bite to serve at a party. The crispy potatoes are topped with a lemon, garlic Greek yogurt, chopped kalamata olives and diced tomato for the perfect Mediterranean twist on a classic side dish.

Potatoes aren’t typically my jam. When it comes to mashed, of course I’ll eat them on holidays where they’re practically a requisite, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, or when I’m eating at our favorite fried chicken joint (although I mostly just eat the gravy if we’re being honest), other that, they don’t make a regular appearance in my meals.

With that said, there are a few instances where I obligingly inhale the starchy veggie. First, if they’re in any type of fritter form, this includes a classic latke, a mashed potato cake or any type of croquette. Second, in a French fry – no explanation required there. Third, basically in any crispy type of preparation, which includes, but is not limited to, roasted potatoes, hash browns, home fries and crispy smashed potatoes.

He loves them for their crispy, golden brown edges, and soft, buttery inside, and I love them for their versatility and practically hands-off preparation.

I wish I could take credit for the initial idea and methodology, but I actually saw it years ago on a Food Network show called Five Ingredient Fix with Claire Robinson. She made a version with parmesan cheese I fell in love with, and have since altered in to a handful of other versions I’ve equally adored. My latest adaption of it, Crispy Greek Smashed Potatoes, may be the most creative yet, and has consequently lit the fire in my recipe-developing brain for a few other versions I’ll likely be sharing here.

The process is easy, and I promise, yields crispy potatoes that rival any restaurant. First, you add the whole potatoes (I use small Yukon Golds) to a rimmed baking sheet, fill it with a quarter inch of water, cover it and basically steam them in a screaming hot oven. Once they’re fork-tender, they’re tossed in olive oil, dried rosemary, garlic powder, salt and oregano, gently smashed with a potato masher, drizzled with even more olive oil and popped back into the oven, uncovered and on the top rack.

Once they start to crisp up, they go from the top rack to the bottom rack to finish up, and then they’re ready to be covered in toppings.

Before we get the toppings, I want to note, that these are phenomenal as is, and don’t require anything additional whatsoever, especially if you’re serving them as a side. I thought it would be fun to treat these as sort of a finger food or appetizer, so in this case, the toppings transform a simple side in to a appetizer worthy of a fancy cocktail party

Here, I dressed them sort of like a Greek salad with a garlicky lemon yogurt, plenty of chopped kalamata olives, diced tomatoes and flat-leaf parsley. Crumbled feta cheese and chopped roasted red peppers would also be great additions, and further solidifies my thoughts that these are about as versatile as you can get.

Stay tuned for a few other dinner-party worthy ways to serve these up in the future!