Duck Fat Crispy Smashed Potatoes

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Brushed with a generous amount of duck fat, flakes of sea salt, and a touch of garlic powder, these Crispy Smashed Potatoes are golden on the outside, and tender and creamy on the inside. Ultra easy to make, these potatoes are perfect for busy weeknights!

This recipe was originally published in February 2017. It has been updated with refreshed content and photos. For a good laugh, scroll down below the recipe card and check out the old photo!

These potatoes are life. I made them the other day just randomly at 9 AM, and they were devoured. I think these Crispy Smashed Potatoes have ruined me for all other potatoes.

Browned and crispy on the outside, light and creamy on the inside, I have fallen hard for these little morsels of deliciousness. The duck fat adds a dimension to the potatoes that is just incredible - it's rich and buttery and just lip-smacking good.

And they're so easy to make, it's hard to come up with excuses not to make them every day. They're almost as easy as our favorite air fryer baked potatoes!

Plus, you can make these sous vide potatoes, which are a perfect start to making these potatoes instead of parboiling them!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Step By Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• More Potato Recipes
• Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Ingredients

Duck fat is one of my favorite fats to use when cooking savory dishes (affiliate link). It is silky smooth, provides a touch of umami to dishes, and is a wonderful aid in browning and/or crisping up meats and potatoes. Duck fat has a high smoking point, making it perfect for frying. It also keeps for a long time in the freezer and is reusable.

If you make this Roasted Duck at home, you will have plenty of reserved duck fat to use in this recipe, along with these Duck Fat Fries.

What Kind of Potatoes to Buy?

Small (mini) gold potatoes are the best for this recipe. They crisp up perfectly in the oven. You can also use mini red potatoes, purple potatoes or white potatoes.

A good quality salt adds great flavor to the smashed potatoes. A salt like Maldon Sea Salt or Diamond Crystal work perfectly (affiliate links). Note Diamond Crystal salt is less salty so you may need to use more. 

I add garlic powder in this recipe because I think a nice garlic flavor goes so well with potatoes. Fresh garlic tends to burn when you cook it with the potatoes, which is why I use the powder version.

Step By Step Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 12 minutes until tender and drain.

Place potatoes on a large baking sheet. Gently smash the potatoes with a flat surface (like the bottom of a ramekin), being careful not to break them apart.

Let them sit for about 15 minutes to ensure the moisture dries out. The drier the potatoes, the crispier they will be. **You could even hit them with a hairdryer....

Put the (melted) duck fat in a dish. With a pastry brush, brush each smashed potato with a generous amount of duck fat and lightly sprinkle with the garlic powder and salt.

Bake the potatoes in the oven for 30-40 minutes until crisp on the outside. Make sure to use the middle or upper rack in the oven to ensure the bottoms don't burn. Check the bottoms periodically to ensure they are not burning. 

Variations

If you want to spice these up a little bit, try some of these toppings and variations (may contain Amazon affiliate links):

• Top each with a dab of sour cream or creme fraiche;
• Drizzle them with this incredible Cajun Remoulade Sauce - it's super easy to make and you might just eat it with spoon;
• They are also wonderful served with a little homemade Chimichurri Sauce or this Homemade Ranch;
• Mince up 3-4 cloves of garlic and fry them in a skillet with about 2-3 tablespoons of butter until the garlic starts to lightly brown. Remove from heat and drizzle over the potatoes.
• Do the same as above, but with minced onions. Get really wild and add both...
• Crumble some crispy fried bacon over the top.

Expert Tips

1. Bake on the middle rack or higher to avoid burning the bottoms of the potatoes.
2. You can substitute avocado oil, peanut oil, ghee (clarified butter), grapeseed oil or canola oil for the duck fat if desired (affiliate links). Only replace it with a higher smoke point oil as you don't want it to burn. Learn more about smoke point.
3. Make sure the potatoes are dry before brushing on the duck fat - the drier they are, the crispier they will be;
4. You can omit the garlic powder if you prefer not to use it.

Serving Options

SO. MANY. OPTIONS. But here are a few of my favorites:

• Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage - this recipe calls for potatoes, but just omit them and serve it with these smashed potatoes instead!
• They are awesome with these Maryland Crab Cakes or these lemon pesto Salmon Cakes;
• Instant Pot Pork Ribs and Grilled Flank Steak both scream for a nice side of crispy potatoes.
• Instant Pot Coq Au Vin or these Grilled Lamb Chops would also be delicious.

More Potato Recipes

• Hasselback Potato Recipe;
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes;
• Crispy Roasted Potatoes;
• Lyonnaise Potatoes;
• Easy Scalloped Potatoes.

Did you make these crispy smashed potatoes? Rate the recipe in the recipe card and leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Recipe

Check out this old photo: