If you are always looking for easy side dishes, here are four easy potato dishes you can pair with any meal! Potatoes are a great comfort food and taste great cooked in so many ways!
I buy potatoes every single time I am at the grocery store. Our family eats them so often, that we decided to try our hand at growing potatoes in our own garden next year! We eat sweet potatoes, red potatoes, Yukon potatoes; we are not biased at all!
I try to keep meals healthy, but simple around the Harris Homestead, so cooking a meat with side of potatoes and veggies is a go-to meal option in our home. You can probably see this style of dinner on our table at least two to three nights a week! Check out my top veggie side dishes here!
Potatoes are so versatile and can be prepared many different ways. Here are our top four easy potato side dishes!
TOP FOUR EASY POTATO SIDE DISHES
Crispy Fried Potatoes in Coconut Oil
I’ve been cooking with potatoes for several years, but I haven’t always fried them up as crispy as these potatoes. This is probably my favorite way to enjoy potatoes as a side dish!
However, to get that perfect crisp, you must be patient. So patient that you can even walk away from the skillet as they are cooking! I am not a patient person, so walking away to do a few other tasks is best for me!
I have had success with cooking crispy potatoes, but I have also had failures. These are my tips for getting crispy potatoes every single time!
- Get your cast iron skillet and coconut oil hot BEFORE adding potatoes. Medium heat for about 4-5 minutes is usually good.
- Make sure your cast iron skillet is the same size as your oven burner. If your skillet is too large for the burner, the outer edges will not get hot enough and the potatoes in that area will not get crispy.
- Make sure your cast iron skillet is clean and well seasoned.The potatoes will stick if otherwise.
- Do not use a lid. Moisture will build up inside and keep potatoes from getting crispy.
- Cook potatoes in a single layer. Crowded potatoes do not crisp.
- DO NOT FLIP OR STIR! This is probably the most important tip. Flipping/stirring will cause them to stick and fall apart. I have walked away for 10-15 minutes at times and came back to perfectly crisp potatoes that were finally ready to flip!
- Do not salt until the end. Salt brings out moisture in veggies and remember moisture is the enemy for crispy potatoes! After they are off the skillet, salt away. This is our favorite salt!
Crispy Fried Potatoes in Coconut Oil
Equipment
- Cast Iron skillet
Ingredients
- Potatoes ,chopped
- coconut oil
Instructions
- Chop potatoes to desired size.
- Heat skillet and coconut oil over medium heat for approx 5 minutes
- Add one potato to ensure that the oil is hot. If so, add the potatoes in a single layer.
- Allow them to cook on this side until they are browned and crisp. DO NOT FLIP OR STIR! You may think you have left them too long and they will burn, but they will not.
- Once the first side is crisp, flip them ONE time and let the other side crisp.
- Remove from heat and salt.
Enjoy your perfectly crisp potatoes!
Smashed potatoes
Smashed potatoes are a great comfort food side to any meal. They are flavored perfectly and baked to crispy perfection!
Smashed potatoes are super easy to make and only require boiling, smashing, and baking. Very little hands-on effort is needed for this side dish!
The smaller the potato, the better they taste. I have done this with red potatoes but my favorite are the mini potatoes that come in a bag at our local grocery store. Just remember the smaller the better.
Here’s the basic rundown!
- Boil potatoes until fork tender.
- Place on lined baking sheet.
- Smash potatoes with an object. I have tried a jar, a fork, and another baking sheet. My friend Ally from Tjoelker Family Farm taught me that a baking sheet works best and is the quickest way to “smash” potatoes.
- Season with butter and/or seasonings of choice.
- Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes at 450 degrees.
- They will come out perfectly crispy and ready to dip into your favorite dipping sauce!
Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 bag small potatoes
- 1/4 cup butter or oil of choice ,melted
- 1-2 TBSP seasonings of choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- In medium pot, boil potatoes until fork tender.
- Place on lined baking sheet in a single layer.
- Smash potatoes using a jar, fork, or another baking sheet.
- Drizzle potatoes with melted butter or oil and season with spices of choice.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until crispy.
Red Mashed potatoes
I’ll admit, I grew up on boxed mashed potatoes and thought they were the best thing ever! We did make real mashed potatoes at times, but usually just for a holiday or a special occasion.
Once I learned how to make real mashed potatoes, and that they are not difficult at all, they have become an easy staple side dish at dinner time!
I have also tried to make these healthier than typical mashed potatoes loaded with creams and butters. The bone broth adds such a creamy texture and a boost of healthy benefits.
Mashed Red Potatoes
Ingredients
- 12-15 red potatoes
- 1 cup bone broth ,warmed
- 1/4 cup grass-fed butter ,melted
- 1/8 cup chives , chopped can also used dried chives
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup cheese ,optional
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil potatoes until fork tender.
- Pour potatoes in strainer to drain.
- In a large bowl, mash with fork or potato masher. (I leave skins on for the added fiber.)
- Add bone broth, melted butter, chives, salt, and pepper.
- Add grated cheese on top if desired.
Instant Pot Sweet potatoes
This is the one of the most valuable tips I can give anyone for healthy meal prepping for your family. We have cooked instant pot sweet potatoes in our fridge at ALL times.
I usually make a large batch on the weekends and we eat on them throughout the week. This is the easiest side dish to add to any meal.
Instant pot sweet potatoes could not be easier because the Instant pot does all of the work for you. However, before I owned an Instant Pot, I still made sweet potatoes in bulk I just used a baking dish in my oven. The process works exactly same, the Instant Pot just does the work in half of the time as the oven.
Either way you cook them, instant pot or oven, these are still the perfect potato side dish to keep in your fridge ready to add to a meal at any time.
A few tips:
- Instant Pot– No matter how many sweet potatoes I cook in the Instant Pot, 2 potatoes or 8 potatoes, I set the time to 45 minutes. This has not failed me yet. I always cook medium-sized sweet potatoes. If you have super large potatoes, you may need to increase cook time to 60 minutes.
- Instant Pot–Use the Instant Pot rack to lay potatoes on so they are not submerged in the water during cook time.
- Oven– Use a baking dish with a lid to hold in more heat.
- Oven– Bake at a lower temperature for the first hour (250 degree) then raise the temp to 400-450 degrees for the last 30-45 minutes. Remove potatoes when soft and fork tender.
Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Rack
Ingredients
- Medium sized sweet potatoes
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Add 1 cup of water to Instant Pot.
- Place sweet potatoes on the Instant Pot rack.
- Close release valve on Instant Pot and set timer to 45 minutes. Adjust time for much larger potatoes.
- Store in fridge for up to a week and reheat in oven.
I hope our top four easy potato side dishes have given you some dinner inspiration for your family! I’d love to know some of your favorite potato side dishes! Leave them in the comments below!
More Dinner ideas from our HOMESTEAD
Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Soup
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