Baby potatoes smashed and roasted to a crisp, drizzled with zesty buffalo
sauce, tangy ranch, and a shower of fresh chives!
inspiration
Football has never been my thing. I don’t see the appeal of watching tight-panted dudes body-slam each other in order to see how far they can yeet a ball across a field. (That’s my understanding of football. If I’m wrong, don’t correct me.) While I cared marginally more than usual this year because Taylor Swift’s boyfriend was playing, it still wasn’t enough for me to actually watch.
But whether you’re a football fan or not, the end of the Super Bowl is no reason to say goodbye to the best part: the food. Mozzarella sticks! Dips! Sliders! I could live off all that. I am particularly fond of buffalo sauce and potatoes in pretty much any form.
Chrissy Teigen has a spectacular recipe for buffalo bleu cheese smashed potatoes. Don’t get me wrong—I’ve made them and loved them. But making my own sauces from scratch is more work than I usually want to put in when good alternatives are available, and long COVID has changed my tastes a bit and stole any fondness I had for bleu cheese. Buffalo ranch smashed potatoes are an adaptation geared for lazy, bleu-cheese-hating people.
why i love this recipe
If you haven’t tried smashed potatoes, I am begging you to do it now. They’re one of the best potato forms: brown and crispy with little crunchy bits, kind of giving French fry energy without having to actually fry anything. Chives are always perfect for a little bit of green and freshness. Buffalo sauce and quick homemade ranch make this a great game day snack, but I love making them for parties and movies or just because it’s a Tuesday. They are also spectacular on a vegetable night plate.
Buffalo ranch smashed potatoes may be small but they pack a powerful flavor punch. And they only take a few ingredients! I wish I had more of them while I’m writing this. Alas, I ate them all for dinner the day I made them. So really, if you’re being smart, you’ll make a double batch.
details
Potatoes are, in fact, important to this dish, so you’ll want to choose the least weird-looking ones you can find, preferably the gold ones. You’ll want to wash them thoroughly and cut off any eyes or weird bits, but don’t peel them! Even if you don’t like potato skin. Baby potatoes have delicate, paper-thin skin that you won’t even notice. Adding them to a pot with cold water rather than warm or hot helps them heat and cook evenly. You want to boil them until you can pierce them easily with a fork.
Smashing them is definitely fun, but now is not the time to get out any pent-up rage or aggression. We are aiming for a gentle smash—we want the potatoes to be a little flat but not fall apart. In the interest of keeping them together, you’ll drizzle oil on the pan rather than tossing it with the potatoes, and then sprinkle everything with a generous amount of salt. (If using kosher. If you’re using table salt, be less generous.)
While I often don’t flip things halfway through cooking, it is crucial here. It’ll make every potato crisp up beautifully. Baking sheet type matters here—I used a light one. If you use a dark one, keep an eye on them and be ready to take them out early. Don’t be tempted to use foil or parchment paper; they won’t get nearly as good a color or crisp.
I don’t wait for them to cool before adding the sauces. I find that by the time you’ve drizzled the buffalo sauce, dotted little dollops of ranch on the pan and chopped and sprinkled the chives on top, they’re just about cool enough to eat.
notes
ranch dip packet: use Ranch DIP seasoning, not ranch DRESSING. There is a difference and they are not interchangeable. I learned the hard way.
baby potatoes: you can usually find these in both yellow and multicolored varieties. I think the yellow look nicer and tend to be more uniform in size. If the bag smells strongly of dirt, pick a different bag.
buffalo sauce: whatever brand you like! I am a Frank’s or Sweet Baby Ray’s girl.
chives: fresh! If you don’t like chives, parsley or green onions would be good.
I hope you love buffalo ranch smashed potatoes! If you’re in the mood for snacks, try garlic parmesan fries & fry sauce, guacamole, or spicy scallion wontons.
buffalo ranch smashed potatoes
Ingredients
- 16 oz sour cream
- 1 ranch dip seasoning packet
- olive oil
- salt
- 1 ½ lb golden baby potatoes
- buffalo sauce
- fresh chives
Instructions
- Boil potatoes. Wash them well and cut off any eyes or weird bits. Put them in a medium pot and add cold water—this helps them cook evenly! When the water comes to a boil, set a timer for 20 minutes and let them cook until they are tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and pour onto a baking sheet to cool.
- Make ranch. Combine sour cream and ranch dip seasoning. Chill.
- Smash and roast potatoes. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, gently smash them with the bottom of a glass or the heel of your hand. Don’t be too aggressive! We want them to be smashed but not pulverized and falling apart. Gently move the potatoes to one side of the baking sheet and drizzle the other half with olive oil. Gently move the potatoes to the olive-oil side, then drizzle the other half where the potatoes used to be with oil. Arrange the potatoes in one layer on the baking sheet, making sure oil is under all of them. Sprinkle with salt and roast for 15 minutes.Flip, sprinkle with salt, and roast another 15-18 minutes, or until the potatoes look brown and crispy.
- Dress the potatoes. Drizzle with buffalo sauce and dollop with ranch. Shower with a bunch of chives. Serve immediately.