Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes: An Easy Side Dish

Air fryer smashed potatoes are about to become your next favorite side dish. Think crispy exterior, fluffy interior, drizzled or dipped, loaded or plain with butter. No matter how you enjoy them, they’ll disappear from your table faster than you can blink.

Serves: 16 Time: 8 hrs 35 min Cookbook: Food Wishes

If you’ve never had smashed potatoes, we’re here to tell you that the flavor and texture of these potatoes are unlike any other potato dish you’ve tasted. Somewhere in between potato pancakes and mashed potatoes, crispy smashed potatoes are fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. These potatoes are so satisfying, and with a garlic-and-scallion-infused butter to drizzle on top, they will become your new best friend.

Leading us into the realm of potato heaven is Chef John from Food Wishes. He’s been creating some of the best-loved recipes of all time since 2007 and his fame has only grown. You can find him on YouTube and on AllRecipes.com. Let’s dive in! And if you want to get straight to the recipe card, just scroll down to the bottom!

Pro tip: Want to serve it as part of a meal? Serve it with Steven Raichlen’s T-Bone Steak!

Jump Ahead:

• ❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• 🥔 Ingredients Needed to Make Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes
• 🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
• 🥄 How to Make Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes
• ♾️ Smashed Potato Variations
• ❓ Smashed Potato Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Fun: Smashed potatoes are fun to make and fun to eat. They’re great for serving at a get-together or potluck, and people of all ages enjoy gobbling them up.

Simple: This great side dish is simple and requires only a few basic ingredients. As long as you have potatoes, an air fryer, and something to dress them up, you’ll have something delish to serve in minutes.

Sharable: These smashed potatoes are made to share. They’re easy to make in batches for even the largest of get-togethers and make a perfect side dish.

Scalable: This might be one of the easiest recipes on earth to scale. Simply add potatoes for however many people you need to feed.

Ingredients Needed to Make Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes

• Potatoes: A variety of potatoes work, here. You can use yellow, red potatoes, russet, Yukon gold, or purple, depending on availability and preferences. They all smash, so they’ll all work. If using russets (like we did), cut them in half so they’ll be the right size.
• Salt: Kosher or sea salt is what you want to use here. Some will be used to salt the water and some will be used to dress up the potatoes.
• Butter: Unsalted butter is what you want.
• Garlic Cloves: This is for the garlic butter. Use whole cloves if you can. Garlic powder can work in a pinch.
• Thyme and Rosemary: Use fresh sprigs of both herbs for an aromatic butter sauce for the potatoes. If you don’t have fresh, dried will work in a pinch.
• Cayenne: This is optional, but a pinch goes a long way in making the flavors of this dish pop.

Equipment Needed In the Kitchen

Air Fryer

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Stock Pot

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Rimmed Sheet Pan

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Fine Mesh Strainer

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• Air Fryer: Any air fryer will work for this recipe. We love our Ninja air fryer. It does a great job air frying and can also roast, dehydrate, and broil. Plus, all the inserts are dishwasher safe. Win-win.
• Large Pot: A six-quart stock pot is large enough to hold the potatoes and the water to boil them in.
• Rimmed Sheet Pans: We found it easy to use two rimmed sheet pans for smashing six potatoes at once. You can also do them individually by hand, it just takes longer.
• Fine Mesh Strainer: You’ll need this to strain the butter and remove the aromatics.

How to Make Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes

Boil and chill the potatoes

Scrub the potatoes under running water and clean the skins well. Then, place the potatoes in 3 quarts of cold water with 1/3 cup salt. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and boil potatoes for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.

Remove the potatoes from the simmering water, and place in a large bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.

Pro Tip: If you need to speed up the process, get the potatoes tender by cooking them in a pressure cooker or instant pot, and then place them in the freezer for 2-3 hours until thoroughly chilled.

Smash and air fry the potatoes

Preheat your air fryer to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slit each potato 3-4 times so the skin will split evenly. Then, place six potatoes on a baking sheet and press down firmly with a second baking sheet on top. You can also smash each potato individually by using a rounded potato masher or the bottom of a glass. Simply cover the potatoes with a sheet of parchment paper so the potato won’t stick to the masher or glass.

When the air fryer is ready, load as many potatoes into the air fryer as will fit in a single layer without overlapping. Air fry for 15-20 minutes, or until the skin is golden and crispy.

Make the garlic herb butter

As the potatoes air fry, place a stick of butter, rosemary and thyme, and garlic into a small pan. Melt over low-medium heat. Stir together to allow the aromatics to infuse the butter. When finished, strain the butter through a fine mesh sieve to clarify and remove the aromatics from the butter.

Serve the smashed potatoes

When the potatoes are finished air frying, remove them from the fryer and place potatoes on a platter. Brush or drizzle a bit of the melted butter overtop. Sprinkle a pinch or two of salt, black pepper, and a pinch of cayenne over the potatoes. Reserve the remainder of the butter on the side to allow each person to use it as a dipping sauce or to drizzle their desired amount of butter over the potatoes as they enjoy them.

To store, place the smashed potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge.

Smashed Potato Variations

Potatoes are a blank canvas for a whole host of flavors, you are only limited by your imagination. Switch up the type of potatoes, infuse the butter with various herbs, and play around with toppings and you can make a recipe all of your own! Here are some of our favorite ways to vary smashed potatoes.

Spicy Garlic Herb Butter Smashed Potatoes: Use springs of fresh rosemary and thyme or Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes, along with fresh garlic to seriously bulk up the flavor of the butter. Follow the rest of the recipe as normal.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes: Substitute sweet potatoes for the yellow potatoes and use fresh parsley instead of scallions in the butter. Follow the rest of the recipe as normal.

“Loaded” Smashed Potatoes: Any way you can dress up a baked potato, you can do the same for smashed potatoes. Consider adding ingredients such as parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream, and chives for the ultimate party appetizer.

Smashed Potato Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

More Air Fryer Recipes

Now that you’ve brought out your air fryer, try one of these recipes!

• Quick and Easy Air Fryer Zucchini
• Easy Air Fryer Pumpkin Seeds
• The Best Air Fryer Apple Chips
• Easy Air Fryer Chicken Strips

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