Potatoes are a great side dish — they can accompany fish, meat, or be eaten as a salad with a good complementing dressing, and the crushed oven-baked version is my personal favorite.
I've found that crushed potatoes are one of the best ways to make potatoes. They're tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. We use two cooking methods here: boiling the potatoes in hot water and then roasting them in the oven for the crust. It really is a winner of a potato side dish that you won't be able to stop eating.
There's no right or wrong in this recipe — you can use almost every kind of potato: starchy, big, small, red, white. They'll always come out good.
Potato Game plan
The idea is to boil the potatoes first. This has two main reasons. The first is that it brings out all the sugars of the potato and moistens them — important because we'll be roasting them in the oven at a high temperature. The second reason for boiling them is that only this way can we actually crush them and get them flat on the surface of the baking pan.
For oil, I like to use olive oil. It gives a fresh, tangy flavor to the potatoes and it's much healthier than any other kind of oil — but of course, any will do. Spread a bit on the parchment set on a baking pan, put the potatoes on it, and just use your palm or any other potato crusher to flatten them.
Sprinkle some more olive oil and some Atlantic sea salt on top. We want a tender potato on the inside and a nice firm crust on the outside, so set your oven on high heat. Remember, we only want to get the crust going — the potatoes are fully cooked inside, so high temperature is what's needed.
Method
1
boil potatoes· 30 minutes
In a large pot, boil full potatoes, skin on, for 30 minutes, don't let them get too soft, but they need to be a bit soft so we can crush them.
meanwhile preheat the oven to 225c/450F.
Let the potatoes rest for a few minutes to cool down and crush with your palm
2
Bake potatoes and serve· 45 minutes
sprinkle olive oil on the crushed potatoes and season with salt.
roast potatoes for 45-55 minutes until golden and crisp.
take out to a serving bowl, add some more olive oils and serve.
Jaron Kimhi — self-taught home cook from Tel Aviv, writing and cooking every recipe on this site himself. 20+ years of tinkering in the kitchen, leaning toward slow cooking, classic technique, and honest ingredients.
The recipe says plain white potatoes work fine, so don't stress about finding a fancy variety — just grab whatever whites are at the store.
How do I know if I've boiled them long enough before crushing?▾
They need to be soft enough to crush with your palm but not falling apart — 30 minutes of boiling should get you there.
What if my potatoes are too hot to crush with my palm?▾
Let them rest a few minutes after boiling — that's built into the method and stops you burning your hand.
My potatoes aren't getting crispy — what's going wrong?▾
Make sure your oven is fully preheated to 225°C/450°F before the potatoes go in — that high heat is what drives the crunch.
Can I scale this up for a bigger crowd?▾
Easily — just keep the same ratio of potatoes to olive oil and salt, and make sure your baking tray isn't too crowded or they'll steam instead of crisp.
