You’ll love these crispy Smashed Fingerling Potatoes for a tasty and easy side dish. These oven-roasted potatoes skip the stovetop boiling method to make your life easier.
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If you’ve ever seen a smashed potato recipe that requires boiling the potatoes before roasting them, let me be the bearer of great news. You can totally skip the boiling step! Fewer dishes for the win.
The entire cooking process for these smashed fingerling potatoes takes place in the oven, and you’ll even find microwave instructions if you’re short on time.
Looking for other roasted potato recipes? Check out the recipes for our Air Fryer Potatoes and our Cast Iron Potatoes.
Ingredients
This recipe uses:
- Fingerling potatoes (no surprise there!)
- Olive oil
- Salted butter (unsalted butter might burn)
- Dried or fresh parsley
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Smoked paprika
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Black pepper
- Kosher salt
How to Make Smashed Fingerling Potatoes
*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.
Start by scrubbing your potatoes and then patting them dry with a clean kitchen towel.
In a medium mixing bowl, toss the potatoes with olive oil and kosher salt and then put them on a rimmed baking sheet.
Place the potatoes on the baking sheet and bake at 400˚F for about 20 minutes, or until a sharp knife pierces easily into the skin of the potato.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes while you increase the oven’s temperature to 425˚F and make the delicious butter sauce you’re going to drizzle over these incredible little spuds.
Use the bottom of a heavy glass/mug or a potato masher to gently smush the potatoes to ~1/2 inch thick. If you have a potato masher, it’s my favorite thing to use because it creates grooves in the potatoes. Those little grooves make the finished potatoes extra crispy. YES!
In a small mixing bowl combine melted butter, 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and smoked paprika. Drizzle the seasoned garlic butter mixture over each individual potato, and then bake for 20 minutes.
Pro tip: spoon the butter first over the larger potatoes to make sure their carby surface area is fully covered in the butter sauce.
After they bake for 20 minutes, carefully remove the baking tray from the oven. Sprinkle each potato with shredded parmesan and ground black pepper and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Now, go forth and live your best potato-based life.
Recipe Variations and Addins
Need to cut down on the total cooking time for these potatoes? If needed, you can skip the initial step of baking the potatoes, and instead soften them in the microwave.
Place clean potatoes in a microwave-safe bowl with a lid (like this steamer basket). Add 1-2 tbsp of water to the bowl, and microwave for 4 minutes. Test to see if a knife tip will pierce through the largest of the potatoes. If not, microwave until softened, checking every 1 minute.
Addins: As much as I love fresh minced garlic, I don’t recommend it with these smashed fingerling potatoes. The garlic can burn during the roasting process, leading to a bitter aftertaste. Garlic powder is the way to go!
That being said, if you really want to use fresh garlic, add it in the last 10 minutes of roasting.
You can easily make these potatoes dairy-free. Use a plant-based butter (or use all olive oil) and leave off the Parmesan cheese. If you still want that cheesy flavor (the answer is YES you do!), sprinkle a bit of nutritional yeast into the sauce.
Chopped chives or rosemary would also be delicious additions to the sauce.
How to Store and Reheat
Storing Leftovers: Allow the potatoes to fully cool before storing them in an air-tight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheating Leftovers: You can reheat the smashed potatoes for 3-5 minutes in the air fryer at 370˚F, in the oven at 400˚F for 5-10 minutes, or in the microwave for 1 minute.
Freezing: You’ll only want to freeze (fully) unroasted smashed potatoes. Follow the prep instructions through step 10 in the printable recipe card below.
Transfer cooled potatoes to a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 2-4 hours. Transfer to freezer-safe storage for 1-2 months.
To cook: either completely thaw in the fridge and bake according to steps 11-12 in the printable recipe card below.
To bake from frozen, add 2-6 minutes to the total baking time.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- You’ll want to use salted butter and not unsalted. Unsalted butter is generally what is used when making browned butter. Heated over a long period of time, unsalted butter can burn and make your smashed potatoes bitter.
- Fingerling potatoes can be considered a seasonal item in some grocery stores. If you can’t find them, potatoes labeled “petite” potatoes will cook in the same amount of time as fingerlings.
What to Serve With Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
These tasty taters go well with Air Fryer Steak Bites, Dry Brine Roast Chicken, Air Fryer Chicken Tenders with no breading, Smoked Venison Tenderloin, or alongside an Air Fryer Turkey Burger.
Some awesome dip options are Chipotle Sauce, Homemade Tartar Sauce, Cherry Tomato Sauce, Yogurt Ranch Dressing, or Vegan Aioli. I also adore drizzling Cilantro Chimichurri over a batch.
You can also do a play on our Air Fryer Twice Baked Potatoes, and top your smashed potatoes with chopped bacon and green onions. Chopped fresh tomatoes are also delightful on these.
More Potato Recipes You’ll Love
Smashed Fingerling Potatoes
You’ll love these crispy smashed fingerling potatoes for a tasty and easy side dish. These oven-roasted potatoes skip the stovetop boiling method to make your life easier.
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Preheat oven to 400˚F.
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Scrub the outside of potatoes, and dry off with a clean kitchen towel.
1 lb fingerling potatoes
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In a medium-sized bowl, toss the potatoes with 1 tbsp of olive oil and kosher salt.
1/2 tsp kosher salt
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Place the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 400˚F for about 20 minutes, or until a sharp knife pierces easily into the skin of the potato.
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Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes.
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Increase the oven temp to 425˚F.
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In a small mixing bowl combine melted butter, 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and smoked paprika.
2 tbsp salted butter, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
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Use the bottom of a heavy glass/mug or a potato masher to gently smash the potatoes to ~1/2 inch thick.
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Drizzle the garlic herb butter mixture over each individual potato. Pro tip: start with the bigger potatoes to make sure they get enough of the butter sauce.
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Bake for 20 minutes and then sprinkle each potato with shredded parmesan and ground black pepper. Pro tip: if the shredded parmesan is in larger pieces, break it apart while you’re sprinkling it on the potatoes.
shredded Parmesan cheese, 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
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Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
Smashed Fingerling Potatoes
Amount Per Serving (0.5 cup)
Calories 219
Calories from Fat 135
% Daily Value*
Fat 15g23%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Trans Fat 0.2g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 8g
Cholesterol 15mg5%
Sodium 343mg15%
Potassium 495mg14%
Carbohydrates 21g7%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 239IU5%
Vitamin C 22mg27%
Calcium 18mg2%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
