Crash Hot Potatoes
I love no-recipe recipes. This isn’t my recipe, but when I saw it on The Pioneer Woman, I knew I not only had to make it (over and over), but also share it with you guys.
It is EASY and it is TASTY.
Boil potatoes, smash them, cover them with olive oil, salt, and rosemary, and bake them until they’re crispy. There. Now you know how to make them.
The Pioneer Woman uses New Potatoes, and I think those are a good choice. They’re small and waxy, which means when you squish them they don’t explode into a fluffy mess.
I, however, used regular organic russets, but small ones. These also worked just fine, but I did get a bit of fluffy mess. No worries, if this happens to you, just scoop the potatoes into rough piles and proceed.
In November I bought a pressure cooker, and I adore it. Especially for making potatoes. It’s not that boiling potatoes is hard, but pressure cooking them is definitely easier. They come out nice and fluffy and delicious, and they cook quickly and evenly. No soggy potatoes from over boiling, no splashing and scalding, just well-cooked potatoes every time.
Also, keep in mind that this recipe does require a good deal of oil and salt to be tasty. Obviously fat and salt make lots of things tasty, but when you’re dressing up naked potatoes, they’re really required. You can add more salt at the table if needed, but do your tastebuds a favor and close your eyes when you’re putting the oil on before baking.
Crash Hot Potatoes
Makes as many as you please
Several Smallish Potatoes, red or russet
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
2-3 Sprigs Rosemary
Preheat oven to 450º F.
Scrub the potatoes clean. Boil them until tender all the way through. If you have a pressure cooker, cook the potatoes whole on a trivet with 1 cup of water for 10-20 minutes at high-pressure, depending on the size of your potatoes. Turn off the heat and let the cooker release pressure naturally.
Place the cooked potatoes on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil. I like to use parchment paper here to keep things clean and non-stick.
Make an X cut on the top of each potato for easier squishing. Use a potato masher and gently press on each potato until squished but not obliterated. You want them to stay together somewhat. If they fall apart, have no fear! Just scoop the bits into piles and proceed.
Once smashed, generously sprinkle salt over each potato. Follow with pepper, and douse everything with more olive oil. If desired, sprinkle each potato with freshly chopped rosemary.
Bake the potatoes at 450º F for 20-25 minutes, longer is better as long as they’re not burning. Serve hot! I sprinkled smoked paprika over them to finish, but I put that on everything.
Thanks, Pioneer Woman, for the awesome recipe!
Thanks for sharing – I’m new to reading food blogs and have never even heard of the Pioneer Woman so… it’s new to me!
I can’t believe people get bent out of shape for you sharing the HCP recipe! Ridiculous! It’s called the blog-o-sphere people… things travel around. I’d guess not a ton of vegans read Pioneer woman, and would be happy to try this recipe. Plus, it’s not like you PAY to subscribe to this site…. crimony, such a sense of entitlement!
Lo, keep posting whatever you want! This is YOUR blog after all! I appreciate your posts, regardless of whether or not they are your own recipe.
Hi from a fellow pressure-cooker addict *waves*
Those potatoes look simple, yet delicious, and as I’ve just bought a 25kg bag of organic rooster potatoes, I’m looking for the best way to eat them to bring out their flavour. This looks like one great way…
Just found your blog! It’s wonderful. Absolutely beautfiul pictures.
Something as simple as a potato can really be a pleasure to eat…this looks great!
I made these tonight and they were delicious! I loved how crispy they got, while still being creamy inside. Next time I think I might try adding some garlic to them before baking.
I’m going to try these as well. So what if it came from another blog. I write a food blog as well, and sometimes you need to showcase things on your blog from other blogs. You can’t possibly come up with new things everyday. Most of my readers and I myself am not a vegan (or a vegetarian) but some of these recipes are great. They wouldn’t see them, if I don’t post them. Always give credit, where credit is due, that’s what counts. I am doing a variation on your asparagus tart today and posting it soon.
I love your site, you just can’t make some people happy!!
Keep up the wonderful blog!
I’ve made something similar before, but these look amazing too! I think I’ll try them tonight.
I’ve made those a few times from her site. SO GOOD! And I had never thought of making potatoes that way!
Not a vegan, but a potato lover. These look wonderful!
Finally a recipe to use rosemary with vege, and one of my favourite – potato. Thanx Lolo!
Looks absolutely delicious. I saw a twice baked potato recipe somewhere, but this would be a lot quicker.
Hum, those look really good, I have some russtes hanging around and I think this might be their destination….Thanks for sharing
Lolo- thanks so much- this means we never have to do double baked potatoes again ever as long as we live! Oh my, this is revelational. I tracked back through the internet train; thank you for the links. Your pix do the dish the most justice. Simple, exquisite, and bound to become classic, what more could we want from spuds? I believe a moment of silence is in order…
These look amazing! I bet they are positively addicting! I have already written up my shopping list, I’m making these this weekend.
I’m confused about this bit:
If you have a pressure cooker, cook the potatoes whole on a trivet with 1 cup of water for 10-20 minutes at high-pressure, depending on the size of your potatoes.
I use a pressure cooker regularly, and I don’t know what you’re talking about regarding the trivet. What is it? Why do you cook on it? My pressure cooker is used on the stove.
A trivet is a little disc that fits inside the pressure cooker that keeps the contents from touching the bottom of the cooker. That way the water can sit underneath the potatoes without touching them.
Thanks for explaining the trivet. Maybe I should get one.
I made these potatoes this afternoon, and I don’t think I want to eat potatoes any other way now. They were very delicious (especially with sour cream!). I really liked how the skin touching the oiled pan got really crispy and golden during baking.
Today I made this crash potatoes. They’re smashing! They look wonderfull, tast delicious and they’re easy to make.
Thank you very much for sharing this (no)recipe. And thanks to everyone else (especially pioneer woman) who invented this recipe.
I used medium sized red organic potatoes (Raja) Raja is problably an European potato. Its a nice in-between potato: not too fluffy and not too waxy.
I’m lookong forward to crash “Opperdoezer” potatoes this summer! (Opperdoezer are fabulous Dutch potatoes.)
I have never heard of Pioneer Woman either, so I am glad this is also posted here! Thanks!
simple yet beautiful! will try these
thanks!
I tend to agree with Joe above. There are “no-recipe recipes” that most people never would have thought of and which are amazing, and then there are “no-recipe recipes” that are just common sense, or a minimal variation of something you’d assume most people already know. This one’s not exactly a pioneer success, I can’t believe 70 people commented to cheer what is basically “crashed” rosemary potatoes, as if they’d never heard of anything like this, and won’t even allow one person to say he’s not impressed. Assuming that as an award-winning blogger you’d appreciate any negative feedback too. No offense, I usually enjoy your blog and recommend it often, but this is a disappointing post for any visitors (not just Joe and myself I’d assume) who come to your blog for its originality, of which the eggplant & pine nut rolled lasagna in your last post was a much better example. I hope there’s more of this ahead.
i made these last night and they were great – a good way to vary up the humdrum potato…we went heavy with cayenne pepper on top in addition to the rosemary and it was fab!
joe and quinoa, please get over yourselves and stop criticizing because you weren’t flabbergasted by the post. I read VYY to get ideas, as most of us do. I dont read pioneer woman and i welcome with open arms “non-recipes” to add to my arsenal. i make potatoes 100 ways…and now 101. I think it’s ridiculous to ask her to skip this post and just wait another week when she has something originial…I read this blog for entries like this! if you try a recipe and its terrible, let us readers know. otherwise, take your negativity elsewhere.
ps thanks for the intro to Pioneer Woman…NOW i might start reading her too :)
ohhh yum these look so good!
To to complainers: it’s a BLOG. Calm down, it’s one post.
I saw these both here and at Pioneer Woman, and I think I’ll be making them myself soon! They look amazing, and seeing them on a second blog got me even more excited.
I made these today with Yukon Golds, and we’ll just pretend that I didn’t eat 5 medium sized potatoes all by myself, okay?
They were SO GOOD. The yukons tended towards the fluffy-pile method, not excellent for dinner parties, but damn, they were tasty.
To those who can’t even stand two individuals out of 70+ people commenting on this post not being that impressed: Yes, it’s a blog, but perhaps you do at least agree that it’s not just some blog. And it has a “comments” option, nowhere does it say “only compliments, please”. It’s inevitable that an otherwise rather exceptional and well-known vegan food blog raises some expectations, and that some of its readers will be honest about being disappointed at times (e. g. by copying a not that original post from another blog centered on animal flesh, but thanks for the link anyway /sarcasm). Both of us “complainers” also expressed appreciation for the originality the vegan yum yum blog usually is known for. It’s called constructive criticism.
quinoa, if you aren’t impressed because a recipe is not good, that’s one thing. If you are not impressed because you were inconvenienced to have to read this post twice on two different blogs, that’s another. you want all the other readers to miss out on a fun entry so you don’t have to read it twice?
and “…copying…from another blog centered on animal flesh”…seems more like self-righteousness than constructive criticism.
These are super good. Actually I love their simplicity, but never would have thought of them myself. They’ve become a staple after work snack for me!
Yum! So easy. I wonder if this would work with small sweet potatoes, my favorite…
absolutely breathtaking :)
Delicious! Thank you to both you and pioneer woman for this recipe! I served them with Chana Palak and basmati rice and they complemented the meal perfectly.
@julie “and …copying…from another blog centered on animal flesh’…seems more like self-righteousness than constructive criticism.” How hard is this to understand? I dared to criticize this recipe, because I’m one of the readers who have come to expect a bit more than (s)mashed potatoes with rosemary from VYY, regardless of on how many other blogs this recipe can be found or how good it tastes. I did complement on the usual originality of this blog, and named an example. That is constructive. In addition, I dared to criticize that a vegan food blog (sorry, but yes) copies from and links to another blog which is focused mainly on “Big Ol’ Hunks of Beef” (quote from the other blog). Woe vegan me, how self-righteous not to love this. Don’t worry, I’m not going to disturb the rapturous delight here again, lesson learned.
P. S.: I just only saw the blog author’s view on reader criticism (under comment #10): “If he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t need to read it!”. Nice! Remember to give this attitude a second thought though if you ever think of publishing your own cook book.
I make these all the time! They’re so good. I like to use the small red potatoes, they turn out so pretty.
qunoa, what exactly is wrong with a vegan site that posts a vegan-friendly recipe borrowed from a meat eater? this is what i don’t fully understand.
I would like to say, thank you for posting this recipe! It is so simple, and almost, a no-brainer recipe! I made these as a side dish for dinner last night and we were ‘Ooohing’ at how absolutely delicious they are. I don’t usually visit non-vegan recipe sites and without you posting it, I probably wouldn’t have ever thought of it. So thanks again. Also, thanks for that crumb cake recipe! I’ve made it about 20 times! Keep on sharing!!
yum yum! i gave you an award:
http://frontierdreams.blogspot.com/2009/02/lemonade-award.html
I love recipes like this – simple, delicious and comforting. Yum. As a roast potato addict I look forward to making them.
Also – I don’t mind posting of other recipes that are out there. If I see a recipe come up a few times it just makes me want to try it all the more! Several people think it’s good so it’s probably worth a shot – a bit like the chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon that I have yet to make!
It’s also a great way to be introduced to new blogs. I’d never heard of this Pioneer Woman as I come here mostly for the vegan eats, but I’m off to check her out now. :D
I finally got around to making these last night…they were fantastic. I am still something of a novice at cooking, so I welcome easy recipes like this one that are probably pretty difficult to mess up. And after reading through the comments posted above I also wanted to say that I appreciate your sense of humor in dealing with the expressions of disappointment. Que graceful! Thanks for re-posting this here, because I never would’ve seen it on Pioneer Woman.
I just made these tonight for myself and my husband. We LOVED them! We have to make everything spicy, so of course we added a little cayenne pepper.
I can foresee myself making this a lot – its easy and delicious!
Thanks :)
Wow, potato flowers! were the first words craied in awe by Monika as she saw them out of the oven… I had no other choice but to renamed them! ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/14170642@N02/3257022179/in/set-72157613274916276/ ).
Yum!!, Yes, simply awesome. Thanks vegan yum-yum!
Thanks for a great recipe. Mine are in the oven now ; ) And as far as posting from Pioneer Woman…well, if you hadn’t many of us would not
have known about this great and simple recipe. I love simple.
Keep up the great work you do. Vegan Yum Yum Yay!!!
These were awesome!
I also threw a couple of carrots into the pressure cooker on top of the potatoes and then smooshed them down down next to the tatties before throwing the whole mess into the oven.
I actually kind of liked seeing the reference to another blog. I read both and like learning which blogs other bloggers read. It’s like a TV crossover!
i had seen these originally on PW’s blog, but i was looking for more versions because i don’t have red potatoes and i do have a 10# bag of russets to use up! thank you so much for posting your opinion of the difference btwn using the two kinds, because that is *exactly* what i wanted to know! i also don’t have fresh herbs on hand right now, so your paprika and others’ suggestions were particularly helpful.
it’s nice that some people are so creative they don’t need specific things like this, but it’s also a huge relief that those of us who might be a little kitchen-challenged CAN find simple tweaks like the ones you made. this is your first recipe i’ve seen, but from the comments it sounds like you do a great job of combining both worlds here. thanks!