Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce

Looking for a delicious and easy-to-make side dish that's perfect for any occasion? Try these Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce! Baby potatoes are boiled until tender, coated in salt, and smashed before roasting to a golden crisp. The resulting dish includes fluffy and buttery potatoes with delightfully salty and crispy skin. A creamy and tangy lemon dill cream sauce is drizzled over top, ensuring that this easy side dish becomes the highlight of your dinner!

Jump to:

• Ingredients needed for Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce
• How to Make Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce
• What kind of potatoes are best for smashed potatoes?
• Tips for Perfect Smashed Potatoes
• How to Make Lemon Dill Cream Sauce
• Serving Suggestions for Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce
• A note for special diets
• What tools do I need to make these smashed potatoes?
• Looking for more side dish recipes?
• Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce

Ingredients needed for Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce

• Baby potatoes - I like to use a tri-color of red, gold, and purple but you can use whatever baby potatoes you like best. Fingerling potatoes also work well!
• Unsalted butter
• Sour cream
• Mayonnaise
• Dijon mustard
• Lemon - Just the lemon zest is used so you'll want to have a citrus zester like this one on hand!
• Fresh dill
• Olive oil
• Garlic-infused olive oil - fresh minced garlic or garlic powder can also be used if you prefer!
• Kosher salt

How to Make Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce

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

What kind of potatoes are best for smashed potatoes?

Baby potatoes are best for smashed potatoes because they can be boiled and roasted whole, which helps ensure that the texture of the inside of the potato stays soft and fluffy and the outside crisp. Larger potatoes will not cook as evenly when boiled whole and slicing a large potato before boiling will not yield the same texture as the skin helps create a barrier to steam the inside of the potato and prevent them from disintegrating.

For this smashed potato recipe I usually use a mix of red, gold, and purple baby potatoes, but feel free to use whatever baby potatoes are easily accessible to you. This recipe also works really well with fingerling potatoes as an alternative.

Tips for Perfect Smashed Potatoes

• Use baby potatoes of a similar size - Potatoes of a similar size will roast and crisp more evenly than those that are oddly sized.
• Gently pat potatoes dry after boiling - After boiling the potatoes I like to gently pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel so they are not water-logged. Water will encourage the potatoes to steam in the oven rather than crisp, and will make it that much harder for olive oil to coat the skins. Be gentle when patting dry or your potato skins are likely to peel off the flesh.
• Coat the potatoes in oil and salt - After the potatoes have been pat dry to remove excess water, I like to lightly coat them in olive oil and then generously sprinkle them with kosher salt -- This is my go-to kosher salt! The olive oil will help the skins crisp and brown better and helps the salt stick to the skins.
• Roast them in one even layer - The smashed potatoes will take up most of the space on a baker's half-sheet pan, but they should all fit in one even layer.
• Use unsalted butter - I prefer to use unsalted butter for drizzling the insides of the smashed potatoes for two reasons. One, because the skins are already generously coated in salt, and second because the lemon dill cream sauce will add additional salt once added to the potatoes. If you feel that the potatoes would benefit from additional salt, I find that it's best to add it to taste once fully assembled.
• Drizzle with a creamy sauce - The lemon dill cream sauce is one of my favorite ways to enjoy smashed potatoes. Other favorite smashed potato recipes are these Buffalo Smashed Potatoes or these Smashed Potatoes with Avocado Chimichurri Sauce.

How to Make Lemon Dill Cream Sauce

The lemon dill cream sauce is creamy, bright, and tangy owing to a balance of creamy mayo and sour cream, Dijon mustard, lemon zest, garlic-infused olive oil, fresh dill, and just a pinch of kosher salt. Simply mix the ingredients together until combined and top your smashed potatoes!

I prefer to use lemon zest rather than lemon juice in this creamy lemon sauce because the natural oils of the peel offer a pure lemon flavor that nicely balances the flavor of the sauce without overpowering it with acidity. Lemon juice, on the other hand, has a sharp acidity that can sometimes overpower a creamy sauce like this. Although most traditional graters come with a fine grating side, I find that a citrus zester makes a world of difference when zesting citrus -- This is a good citrus zester!

Some of my other favorite easy sauce recipes that would be delicious on smashed potatoes:

• Avocado Chimichurri Sauce
• Romesco Sauce
• Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing
• Lemon Herb Tartar Sauce
• Special Sauce
• Basil Walnut Pesto

Serving Suggestions for Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce

These Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce pair perfectly as a side dish to main courses such as roasted chicken, steak, or fish -- I particularly love serving these potatoes with roasted salmon! If there happens to be any leftover sauce, I love to drizzle it over roasted veggies like asparagus, broccoli, or Brussels sprouts.

A note for special diets

These Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce are easily enjoyed as a grain-free, gluten-free, and vegetarian dish. If you opt to use garlic-infused olive oil and lactose-free sour cream, they can also be considered friendly for low-FODMAP diets.

What tools do I need to make these smashed potatoes?

• A cutting board
• A chefs knife
• A citrus zester
• A kitchen scale
• Measuring spoons
• A large pot
• A colander
• A clean kitchen towel
• A small bowl
• A regular fork (or potato masher)
• A regular spoon (for mixing and drizzling the sauce)

Are you looking to upgrade 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 recipes?

Love this Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dill Cream Sauce recipe? Here are some more of my favorite easy side dish recipes to make your dinner extra delicious!

• Smashed Potatoes with Avocado Chimichurri Sauce
• Buffalo Smashed Potatoes
• Twice-Baked Colcannon Potatoes
• Creamy Dijon Dill Potato Salad
• Roasted Greek Potatoes with Whipped Feta
• Roasted Cinnamon Garlic Sweet Potatoes
• Charred Broccolini with Lemon, Pine Nuts, and Parmesan
• Za'atar Roasted Carrots with Labneh, Honey, and Pistachios
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Honey Sriracha Sauce

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