Everyone else has probably already had time to try making the trendy smashed potatoes, but I am late with this food trend. This week, however, I had time to make it and it became such an incredibly tasty version of these, vegan smashed potatoes, that I just had to share!

For some reason, potatoes don't appear in my grocery basket very often, but then sometimes, suddenly, it's as if I re-invent them and wonder why I don’t use more of them in my cooking. Somehow I seem to have leaned towards using sweet potatoes more often. Well, on my last trip to the store, I saw a bag of really good-looking, small summer potatoes - pre-washed, too, and I decided to just buy them and make some kind of potato thingie for dinner.

What are smashed potatoes?

Smashed potatoes are lightly boiled and then smashed, making them "Smashed potatoes", haha! The name is pretty descriptive. So the potatoes are first boiled, then smashed or squished with a flat bottomed glass/mug/other flat-bottomed utensil, and then fried in the oven until crispy with at least oil, preferably with the amazing vegan parmesan mixture from this recipe!

In many recipes, the potatoes are coated with parmesan when baking but since I try to avoid cheese these days, I used a super simple and tasty mixture on the surface of these potatoes, which gives quite them a great crispy and “cheezy” taste. It just perfects the recipe!

Smashed potatoes would go well with any food, but they are really delicious on their own. For example, something as simple as vegan aioli, fresh guacamole or something similar would be a great companion for these crispy potatoes.

What kind of potatoes to select?

I would rather choose small or medium-sized and fairly firm potatoes for these mashed potatoes than very floury and large potatoes. To my taste, floury potatoes are mostly suitable for mashed potatoes or baked potatoes. In addition, smashed potatoes are best when they stay together a bit like thick chips and don't crumble or become all mushy, so that's why firmer potatoes work better here. In terms of size, smaller potatoes are actually better (for my taste), because they make more dip-sized bites, instead of huge ones! This time I bought a regular bag of pre-washed summer potatoes, which made the preparation super easy.

Vegan Smashed Potatoes

Yield: 1 sheet pan

Ingredients

• 1/2 kg (1 pound or so) of potatoes (this would yield about 1 sheet pan full of smashed potatoes)

Vegan “parmesan”

• 4 Tbsp nutritional yeast

• 2 Tbsp of cornstarch

• 7 Tbsp of olive oil

• 3 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar

• 1 clove of garlic, chopped

• salt and black pepper (grit on top)

Toppings

• Fresh coriander

• Vegan aioli (for serving)

Preparation

1. Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are soft (test with a fork). I boiled these small summer potatoes for about 20 min.

2. Drain the potatoes and let them cool for a while so you don't burn your fingers. Put the potatoes on a tray and use a sharp knife to cut a cross on their surface. Then press/smash the potatoes (aiming at the cross mark) with a flat-bottomed mug or glass.

3. Mix the ingredients of the vegan parmesan mixture and spread it with a spoon on the surface of each potato. Don’t be modest! Sprinkle salt and black pepper on the surface. (I personally like to use salt flakes, but that's just a matter of taste).

4. Bake at 200°C (395°F) in a convection oven for about 30 minutes, or until their surface is crispy and golden brown.

5. Sprinkle e.g. fresh cilantro on the surface of the finished smashed potatoes and serve them with some guacamole or vegan aioli. They also taste great as a side dish to many dishes!