This Crispy Smashed Potatoes recipe is full of flavor, and the perfect side dish for any occasion! Load these air fryer roasted potatoes up with fresh garlic, herbs, seasonings and parmesan cheese for a truly delicious bite.
We're convinced that there's always new, delicious ways to enjoy potatoes. Once we finally got an air fryer, we were thrilled to put it to use! These air fryer potatoes are golden brown, crispy and packed with flavor. Air frying has a way of making everything tastier, crispier, and it's just so easy to use.
These crispy potatoes are the perfect sides for the air fryer short ribs, this air fryer ribeye steak, or these air fryer garlic parmesan wings!
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❤️Why you'll love this
- Simple ingredients - You don't need a lot of ingredients to make something super delicious. With a few high-quality ingredients, you'll have a new favorite side that you'll fall in love with!
- Quick and easy - If you love quick and easy, this is the perfect choice.
- Minimal prep time - You only need a little effort for this recipe. Less work, more eating!
- Lots of flavor - The garlic herb parmesan topping is delectable and is the perfect topping to these crispy potatoes!
🥔Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need.
✏Ingredient notes
Here is a list of ingredients, you can see the recipe card for quantities and nutritional information.
- Avocado oil - You could also use extra virgin olive oil. Basically, we want an oil with a higher smoke point to ensure we can cook the potatoes at a high heat in the air fryer.
- Golden baby potatoes - Small potatoes of any variety could work here, but our top choices are golden and red skin potatoes.
- Dry seasonings - Kosher salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes are the dry seasonings we use to season up these potatoes! Some other great options would include cayenne pepper, smoked paprika or Italian seasoning.
- Unsalted butter - We create a garlic butter, parmesan, seasonings and herb type of paste to add to the potatoes near the end of cooking.
- Garlic - Freshly minced garlic. We add it near the end of cooking to ensure it doesn't burn. You could use garlic powder in place of fresh garlic.
- Herbs - A mixture of fresh parsley, thyme and rosemary tastes delicious. Basil and cilantro would be options as well.
- Parmesan - Freshly grated.
📖Instructions
Boil the potatoes
Make sure to wash and scrub the baby potatoes to get rid of any extra dirt, poke holes in the potatoes.
Add in the water, kosher salt, and potatoes, turn the heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Boil potatoes until they are softened and easily pierced with a fork, about 18-22 minutes, then drain away water.
Smash the potatoes
Spray your air fryer basket with a little oil, line with foil or parchment. Our air fryer uses trays, so we line the trays with parchment. Add the potatoes, being careful not to overcrowd each tray.
You want to make sure the potatoes have enough room to not overlap too much, and have enough room to flatten. We take the bottom of a glass to smash the potatoes flatten them.
Bake the potatoes
Preheat your air fryer to 400°F. Drizzle the potatoes with oil, then season generously with salt, reserving some for your garlic & herb topping that will go on later.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, flipping halfway through to make sure every potato crisps up nicely.
Mix up the garlic herb parmesan topping
While potatoes are cooking, mix together melted butter, parsley, thyme, rosemary, black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic and parmesan. Toss to combine and set aside.
Top the crispy smashed potatoes and bake again
Distribute the garlic herb & butter topping over top of the crispy potatoes. Set the air fryer back to 400°F. Add the potatoes back to the air fryer for 3-6 minutes, keeping a close eye on the potatoes so the garlic doesn't burn.
That's it! Serve with anything you like (we highly recommend serving these crispy smashed potatoes with these smoked sausage and shrimp skewers).
✨Tips & tricks
- Don't skip salting the water when boiling the potatoes! This will help infuse some much needed sodium into the potatoes.
- Reheat in the air fryer at 350°F for up to 4 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic and herbs.
💭Frequently asked questions
Technically no, but you will still need to soften the potatoes in some way. If you don't want to boil, you will need to partially bake in a hot oven, in the microwave or in the air fryer prior to smashing the potatoes.
If baking make sure to pierce some holes in the potatoes with a fork, or else the steam will have no where to go.
If using the air fryer to bake before smashing, air fry at 400°F for 20-25 minutes.
If using the oven to bake before smashing, bake for 30-35 minutes at 425°F.
If using the microwave to bake before smashing, microwave on high for 8 minutes.
Either way, boiling or partially baking the potatoes is inevitable. Potatoes are hearty and tough, so they will need to be softened one way or another to give you the ability to smash them.
Yes, you can!
To make these potatoes in the oven, simply pierce holes in the skin of the potatoes, and follow the same instructions with the air fryer, but just increase the heat to 425°F. You will likely need to cook the potatoes for up to 45 minutes if using the oven method.
When it comes time to adding the herbs, garlic and parmesan, simply watch closely so you don't burn them. You will probably only need about 3-5 minutes to melt the cheese.
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🥣Storage
Store components separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Crisp up your potatoes in the air fryer or reheat in the microwave.
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📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds golden baby potatoes, scrubbed clean with holes poked in them
- 8 cups water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt (for salting the water)
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
- ½ tablespoon fresh thyme
- ½ tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
- 3 ounces parmesan cheese, freshly shredded
Instructions
- In a stock pot, add water, kosher salt, the potatoes, and turn the heat medium, and bring to a boil. Boil potatoes until they are softened and easily pierced with a fork, about 18-22 minutes, then drain away water.
- Spray your air fryer basket with a little oil, line air fryer trays with foil or parchment. Add the potatoes, being careful not to overcrowd each tray. Take the bottom of a glass and flatten the potatoes to smash them.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400°F. Drizzle the potatoes with oil, then season generously with salt, reserving some for your garlic & herb topping that will go on later. Bake for 20-30 minutes, flipping halfway through to make sure every potato crisps up nicely.
- While potatoes are cooking, mix together melted butter, parsley, thyme, rosemary, black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic and parmesan. Toss to combine and set aside.
- After the potatoes are crispy, distribute the garlic herb & butter topping over top of the crispy potatoes. Set the air fryer back to 400°F. Add the potatoes back to the air fryer for 3-6 minutes, keeping a close eye on the potatoes so the garlic doesn’t burn. Serve, and enjoy!
- These will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Please note, that the brand of air fryer you use may impact the cooking time. Because our air fryer uses two trays, the tray closest to the heating source heats faster and we generally have to swap the trays halfway through cooking, so this generally means slightly longer cooking times.
- You could use about 1 teaspoon of each of the dried herbs in place of fresh.
- Softening the potatoes before smashing them is non-negotiable. You can do this in the oven, in the air fryer, in the microwave, or by boiling on the stovetop. Potatoes are tough and hearty, so they will need to be softened a bit to be able to smash them.
- To reheat, reheat in the oven or air fryer at 350°F degrees. Just watch them closely so they don't burn.
- Don't forget to poke holes in your potatoes before baking, air frying or microwaving them.
- To make these in the oven, put the temperature up to 425°F and follow all the same instructions. Though you may need about 10-15 minutes more of baking the potatoes if using the oven method.
Nutrition
These nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy and are only estimates. We cannot guarantee the accuracy.
Meghan says
I did these in the oven because my air fryer isn’t big enough to spread them all out. Being that they’re already cooked from boiling, all you need to do is broil them on a baking sheet to make them crispy. No need to spend your life waiting on them to bake! The fam loved them. Hubby says best potatoes ever!
Briana says
So glad to hear you made it work for you and that they turned out great! Thanks so much for your comment, made our day! 😀
Connie says
I just got an airfryer few months ago and am on the lookout for recipes. This looks like one we would really enjoy. Question though, my AF has multiple functions including airfry, air roast(convection) and bake. So when using an AF for this recipe, do you airfry or bake, at 400 once your potatoes have been pre-cooked and smashed?
Briana says
Hey Connie, great question! We use the air fry feature for the entirety of the recipe! Hope you love the recipe, let us know what you think. 🙂
Connie says
Thanks! Can't wait to try this with steak on Valentine's Day!
Briana says
Great idea! Can't wait to hear how it turns out!
Moe says
Love your air fryer recipes! This one is becoming a staple in our house.
Briana says
We're so glad to hear! We are always craving these!!