Buffalo Smashed Potatoes

Perfectly Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Buffalo + Blue Cheese

These Buffalo Smashed Potatoes include delightfully crispy potato skin and fluffy buttery centers filled with lightly spicy buffalo sauce and creamy blue cheese dressing; finishing with a generous sprinkle of crumbled blue cheese and fresh chives. This super tasty and easy side dish is the perfect pairing for roasted or grilled dinner proteins, but good luck not eating them directly off the baking tray first!

The basics of making perfect smashed potatoes

Smashed potatoes are cooked twice: First, they’re boiled then they’re roasted. Boiling the potatoes first allows the potato to become fully-cooked, while retaining their fluffy insides. Then, after a generous drizzle of olive oil (or avocado oil) and a sprinkle of salt, the potatoes are gently smashed with a fork, drizzled with melted butter, and roasted in the oven until their skins and edges are nice and crispy. The 2-step cooking method produces potatoes that are both fluffy and crispy; the best of both worlds.

I used a baby potato mix that included red and varieties but feel free to use whatever baby potatoes are easily accessible to you. This recipe also works lovely with fingerling potatoes as an alternative.

What kind of blue cheese should I use in this recipe?

Whether you refer to it by its American spelling, blue, or French spelling, bleu, this sharp and salty cheese is my favorite choice to pair with buffalo sauce. The three varieties you will most often come across are the following, and all three are great options for these Buffalo Smashed Potatoes:

• Roquefort – A sheep’s milk cheese originating in southern France, this cheese is lightly tangy, acidic, crumbly, and slightly moist with white flesh and distinctive veins of deep blue. This is one of the world’s best-known bleu cheeses.
• Gorgonzola – A cow’s milk cheese originating in Milan, Italy, this cheese is buttery, crumbly, and quite salty with white flesh and greenish-blue marbling. I find that Gorgonzola is a good option for those who may sometimes find the blue mold flavor of blue cheese overpowering as it tends to be somewhat milder in Gorgonzola, but is still sharp and nicely salty.
• Stilton – A cow’s milk cheese originating in England (produced in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire), this cheese is soft and crumbly, with nutty and salty notes and delicate blue veins expanding from its center.

How to make an easy blue cheese dressing

I know making your own dressing may sound like a lot of extra work, but I swear this one is incredibly quick and simple -- and so much better than the kind you'll find in a bottle!*

To a small bowl, add the following ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon mayo
• 2 tablespoon sour cream
• 4 teaspoon milk
• 2 teaspoon white vinegar (I prefer Champagne or white wine vinegar, but you can also use traditional distill white vinegar if that's what you have on hand)
• ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder -- OR -- 1 teaspoon garlic-infused olive oil
• 1 oz crumbled blue cheese

Once added, mix well with a fork. I like to press the tongs down to make sure I'm breaking the blue cheese down a bit. Allow to rest for at least 5-minutes, give it a final stir and then drizzle away.

*If you insist on using a premade dressing, I strongly suggest choose a quality one from the refrigerated section of your produce section as they are fresher and (in my opinion) taste so much better than the ones preserved to sit at room temperature on the store shelves.

What should I serve these Buffalo Smashed Potatoes with?

I love serving these crispy smashed potatoes with roasted chicken and broccoli in the cool months for a full meal. In the warm months, they're excellent paired with everything hitting the grill, including, chicken, burgers, brats, and steak.

They also make a fun option alongside other appetizers such as chicken wings, dips, and crudite you might find at a Superbowl party. For the latter option, are some of my favorite appetizer recipes to serve alongside them.

• Grilled Chicken Wings with Chipotle Peach BBQ Sauce
• Grilled Chicken Wings with Carolina Gold Mustard BBQ Sauce
• Grilled Corn Salad with Spicy Honey Lime Dressing
• Artichoke Spinach Dip
• Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs
• Deviled Eggs with Smoked Chorizo
• Jalapeno Poppers with Sausage and Cream Cheese

What tools do I need to make this recipe?

Are you looking to upgrade to your cooking tools or replenish your pantry? Check out my kitchen tools shop page and pantry staples shop page to find my must-have kitchen tools, pantry items, and other Whip & Wander favorites.

• A large pot
• A colander
• A clean kitchen towel
• A kitchen scale
• Measuring spoons
• A small bowl
• A regular fork
• A regular spoon (for drizzling the sauce)
• A pair of scissors (for snapping the chives in a bundle -- can use a cutting board and chef's knife if you prefer)

Are you looking to upgrade to your cooking tools or replenish your pantry? Check out my kitchen tools shop page and pantry staples shop page to find my must-have kitchen tools, pantry items, and other Whip & Wander favorites.

Looking for more side dish inspiration?

Love this Buffalo Smashed Potato recipe? Here are some more of my favorite easy side dish recipes:

• Smashed Potatoes with Avocado Chimichurri Sauce
• Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce
• Creamy Dijon Dill Potato Salad
• Roasted Greek Potatoes with Whipped Feta
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Honey Sriracha Sauce
• Pressure Cooker Collard Greens with Smoked Ham Hock
• Spicy Cabbage Slaw

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