Smashed Potatoes with Pancetta & Sage Sauce

These crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside Smashed Potatoes topped with pancetta and a butter sage sauce are one of my favorite side dishes!

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Roasted potatoes are such a great side dish for fall and winter meals. In my opinion, perfectly roasted potatoes are crispy and crunchy on the outside and creamy and fluffy on the inside. Sometimes that balance can be a little difficult to achieve, so a slightly easier, and I think a more fun alternative, is smashed potatoes. Smashing up the potatoes is kind of fun - a bit kid-like! By adding some pancetta and a creamy sage sauce you get one super tasty side dish that is sure to impress your dinner guests.

Read on to learn more about how to make these Smashed Potatoes, or jump straight to the recipe to start cooking!

Contents:

• Recipe Highlights
• Key Ingredients
• Tips for Making Smashed Potatoes
• Tools you'll want for this recipe
• Serving suggestions
• More unique side dishes
• Smashed Potatoes with Pancetta

Recipe Highlights

• This unique side dish is ideal for any occasion, including holiday meals or date nights.
• The sage butter sauce is also great on chicken or fish.  
• These potatoes are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, making them simply delicious!

Key Ingredients

The full list of ingredients and quantities can be found in the recipe card below.

• Fingerling potatoes: Using smaller potatoes is key to getting them crispy - I prefer fingerling potatoes, however, if you cannot find them, or want something a little larger, small red or Yukon gold potatoes will work as well.
• Pancetta: I recommend buying thinly sliced pancetta and then chopping it yourself. It gives you the best texture for this recipe.
• White wine: I generally drink chardonnay so that's what I typically cook with but you can use any fairly dry and not too fruity white wine.
• Heavy cream: You can substitute half and half but the sauce won't be as thick.
• Chicken broth
• Parmesan cheese: I recommend using freshly grated.
• Lemon juice: You only need a small amount, so less than you'll get from half of a lemon.
• Shallot: Fresh shallots are my first choice for this recipe but you can also use freeze-dried
• Spices & herbs: fresh sage, sea salt, ground pepper
• Pantry staples: Olive oil, all-purpose flour, butter,

Tips for Making Smashed Potatoes

Making these tasty potatoes is really pretty easy:

Boil the potatoes. You start by tossing the potatoes in a pot and boiling them. This reduces the roasting time and makes it possible to smash them.

Smash the potatoes. When you smash the potatoes, try to keep them in one piece as much as possible. It's not big deal if some bits break off, they will just get a little extra crispy when roasting! I use the flat side of a meat tenderizer to smash them but you can use anything flat and somewhat heavy - a flat potato masher, a heavy flat bottom glass - something along those lines will work well!

Roast the potatoes. Roast in a hot oven for about 30 minutes to get them nice and crisp.

Finish the potatoes. Finish the potatoes with a drizzle of the sage butter sauce and a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese.

Tools you'll want for this recipe

Small glass bowls with lids – I love these little bowls from Crate & Barrel. They are perfect for mixing up and storing different recipe ingredients. They also have lids so if you need to store something you don’t need to pull out the plastic wrap, just grab a lid and put the bowl in the refrigerator.

Handheld Juicer – I love these juicers – you’ll see me mention them often in blog posts. They come in three sizes – lime, lemon, and orange. I recommend the orange version to make it the most versatile.

Serving suggestions

These crispy smashed potatoes are best when they’re hot and fresh, so serving them as soon as they come out of the oven is actually your best bet.

I'd serve these with anything from a nice juicy steak to this Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin to this Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad.

They also make a great snack or appetizer on their own!

More unique side dishes

• Crispy Asian Brussels Sprout Salad
• Zucchini Fritters with Goat Cheese Mousse
• Miso Glazed Roasted Cauliflower

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This post was originally published in February 2016. It was updated in November 2022 with some new information and photos. No changes were made to the original recipe.