Crispy Brown Butter Sage Smashed Potatoes.

Easiest Crispy Brown Butter Sage Smashed Potatoes. Made simply with small potatoes, butter, sage, thyme, garlic, a bit of cheese, and of course, some flaky sea salt plus black pepper. These crispy potatoes are perfect and so delicious. The secret, cooking the potatoes in apple cider until they are fork tender. Then quickly smashing them down and roasting them up with fresh herbs. As the potatoes bake away, the edges of the potatoes get crispy, while the middle of the potato turns buttery. With hints of sage, thyme, parmesan, and garlic throughout, these easy-to-make potatoes are the best side dish. I highly suggest doubling the recipe – one batch is just never enough.

I am so excited to share these potatoes. This recipe is a part of our 2023 Thanksgiving Menu and Guide. And it might just be my very favorite dish on the menu. In our family, the turkey is not the main event, it’s all about the sides. And the potatoes are one of the most important sides.

My brothers, my mom, my dad, everyone. We all love delicious potatoes with any meal, but of course, no Thanksgiving menu would ever be complete without potatoes. Most years I go with classic mashed potatoes, but this year, mashed potatoes felt kind of fussy, and honestly, a little boring. Like we’ve all been there and done that. They’re great, but are they really the yummiest?

Maybe not.

Some of you may recall a few weeks ago I shared my cider braised pot roast. The recipe included potatoes that baked right on top of the roast. They ended up being some of the easiest and most delicious potatoes I’ve ever made.

This inspired me to create a recipe for just the potatoes, and slow roasting them in cider is the secret here. Wow, this is the easiest recipe. Nothing fancy here and no peeling is required!  We just love that. I’m anticipating that you ALL will LOVE these potatoes this holiday season.

Hopefully, you’ll make these for Thanksgiving, and then again for your Christmas celebrations!

The details

Step 1: get the potatoes cooked

This is the easiest process. Just place the Yukon gold potatoes in a roasting pan with a lid. Pour over the apple cider and then use either broth or a dry white wine. Cover, then bake for a long while, 45 minutes to an hour. You want to get the potatoes really soft – this is key – they should be easily smashable.

No need to peel or chop these potatoes. Just give them a good rinse, cover them, and bake away. Baking the potatoes in the cider is what keeps them from drying out. But it also cooks them really well and gets them ready for smashing. The cider also adds really great flavor.

Step 2: Mash/smash the potatoes

Pull the potatoes out of the baking dish and place them onto a baking sheet. Smash them down with a potato masher, or use a fork. Add pats of butter on and around the potatoes, then parmesan, garlic powder, thyme, and fresh sage.

Roast the smashed potatoes until they are very crispy. The butter naturally browns around each potato. It’s almost magical and most definitely the yummiest!

Step 3: serve

When the potatoes are crispy, they’re done. Spoon the butter over the potatoes, then season them well with pepper and sea salt.

I love to arrange the potatoes on a serving plate topped with crispy herbs and a pinch of extra flaky sea salt.

As the potatoes bake away in the oven, the kitchen will smell incredible. Buttery, with hints of garlic, sage, and thyme in the air.

And even better than the smell, these potatoes really are so good. It’s the crispy chip-like edges and sweet, soft centers – DELICIOUS! And the sea salt on top just makes them addicting.

I’m excited to serve these up for Thanksgiving this year, the options for these potatoes are endless. They can be paired with so many types of dinners, beef tenderloin would be especially delicious!

My only recommendation is to double the recipe, one pan of potatoes never seems to be enough. They’re always the first thing to disappear on the table.

Looking for other potato dishes? Here are my favorites: 

Crispy Parmesan Thyme Sweet Potato Stacks

Crockpot Cheesy Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions

Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole with Sweet ‘n’ Savory Bacon Pecans

Baked Sweet Potato Parmesan Tater Tots

Crispy Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon Maple Butter

Lastly, if you make these Crispy Brown Butter Sage Smashed Potatoes, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!

@halfbakedharvest

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♬ Traveller – Chris Stapleton