We’re guessing you’ve probably already experienced (and fallen in love with) crispy smashed potatoes and their creamy centers and crunchy edges. These crispy smashed Buffalo potatoes from Chrissy Teigen take those starchy delights to a whole new level. After experiencing them tossed in fiery Buffalo wing sauce and drizzled with a cooling blue cheese, sour cream, and buttermilk sauce, you may never go back to plain smashed potatoes again. We certainly won’t.–Angie Zoobkoff

Smashed Buffalo Potato FAQs

How spicy are these potatoes?

If you’re familiar with the Scoville scale, the spiciness of Frank’s Red Hot Original is at 450 SCU, which is roughly the same level of spice as pepperoncini or pimiento peppers. You can adjust the spice level of the recipe by changing up the hot sauce used, using a bit less than 1/4 cup, or serving the sauce on the side. The sour cream/blue cheese sauce definitely has a cooling factor – so don’t forget to add a dollop of that.

What should I serve with Buffalo potatoes?

This time of year, we’re thinking about juicy burgers, brats, hot dogs, grilled or smoked chicken, and summer salads. If you can’t get enough buffalo flavor, serve them with classic Buffalo wings! Make sure you have lots of carrots, celery, and ranch and/or blue cheese for dipping. And napkins!

Do I need to peel the potatoes before roasting?

No. This recipe calls for baby potatoes, which have thin skins, so it’s not necessary to peel them. Plus, the crispy skins are the best part!

A white plate filled with crispy smashed buffalo potatoes with a bowl of blue cheese sauce on the side and a spoon resting inside.

Crispy Smashed Buffalo Potatoes

5 / 3 votes
We all know and love crispy smashed potatoes. Adding fiery hot sauce and a creamy blue cheese sauce takes that experience to a whole new level.
David Leite
CourseSides
CuisineAmerican
Servings4 servings
Calories441 kcal
Prep Time25 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients 

For the potatoes

  • 1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes (the smallest you can find: 16 to 24 potatoes)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste

For the blue cheese sauce

  • 1/4 cup full-fat sour cream
  • 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons buttermilk, shaken
  • Freshly ground black pepper

For the Buffalo sauce

  • 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 1/4 cup hot sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Fresh chives, chopped, for garnish

Instructions 

Make the potatoes

  • Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
  • Put the potatoes in a large microwave-safe bowl and fill the bottom with 1/2 inch (12 mm) of water. Cover with plastic wrap and poke the wrap a few times with a fork. Microwave on high until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes, stirring once, and replenishing the water as needed. Remove, uncover, drain well, and cool until just warm.
  • Using the heel of your hand, smash the potatoes into rounds. (You want them to hold together, so be gentle. Love your potatoes, even when you’re smashing them in the face.)
  • Pour the oil onto a large rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle the oil with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper. Arrange the smashed potatoes on the sheet and sprinkle the tops with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Put it on the floor of the oven and roast until the undersides are crispy but not burnt, 10 to 20 minutes.
  • Remove the baking sheet from the oven and use tongs or a spatula to flip the potatoes, then return to the oven and roast until the undersides are crispy, 10 to 20 minutes more.

Make the blue cheese sauce

  • In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, blue cheese, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons buttermilk, and black pepper, to taste. If the sauce is too thick, whisk in more buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

Make the Buffalo sauce

  • In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the butter and garlic and cook until the butter melts and the garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes.
  • Whisk in the hot sauce, cayenne, and black pepper, to taste, and return to the heat just to warm it back up. Cover to keep warm.
  • When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven and dump them onto a serving platter. Pour the warm Buffalo sauce over the potatoes and drizzle with the blue cheese sauce. Season to taste with black pepper and garnish with chives.
Cravings: Hungry for More Cookbook

Adapted From

Cravings: Hungry for More

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Nutrition

Serving: 1 portionCalories: 441 kcalCarbohydrates: 32 gProtein: 6 gFat: 33 gSaturated Fat: 11 gMonounsaturated Fat: 15 gTrans Fat: 1 gCholesterol: 41 mgSodium: 1144 mgFiber: 4 gSugar: 2 g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe?Mention @leitesculinaria or tag #leitesculinaria!
Recipe © 2018 Chrissy Teigen. Photo © 2018 Aubrie Pick. All rights reserved.

Recipe Testers’ Reviews

I love smashed potatoes and can usually have them on a platter in 35 minutes. This recipe intrigued me by the use of the microwave to steam the potatoes and the oven floor for crisping. I also loved the idea of spicing them up and then serving them with the tangy and cooling blue cheese sauce.

A plate of Chrissy Teigen's crispy Buffalo smashed potatoes with a fork stabbed into one potato and a glass of rose on the side.

But wait, these warm little taters with creamy exposed centers absorb flavour like sponges. The heat level is fiery. While I’m giving this a testers designation, I’m shaving a point. These are not for everyone. Even though most recipes that have the said “Buffalo” flavour are expected to be spicy, the spice hit in these will bring water to your eyes and a good tickle to your throat.

I did have to rewarm my Buffalo hot sauce. Since there was some separation of the butter from the sauce, I fixed this by whisking in 1 teaspoon of chilled butter. This re-emulsified the sauce. The blue cheese sauce was perfect as described in flavour, texture, and amount. It was so good and really served to cool down the palate.

With attention to the cooking method as described herein, and some toning down on the spice level, the 1 hour required to platter these little morsels is so well worth it! I served mine as an appetizer topped with two tablespoons total of finely chopped parsley. The blue cheese sauce was freshened up with 1 tablespoon of chopped chives. I paired my smashies with a crisp rosé wine and extra cooling sauce for each of my party of eight.

Chrissy Tiegen’s crispy smashed Buffalo potatoes are a fun, different preparation and makes an interesting and tasty side dish. Prep was easy but it looks and tastes like you spent a lot more time on it.

It was a delicate balance to flatten the potatoes enough so they would crisp in the oven but not so much that they fell apart. Having said that, the very crispy crumbs from the crispy smashed potatoes that fell apart were really good. Very tasty dish but go easy on the Buffalo sauce, it packs a punch. I served them with grilled chicken and green salad.

One thing I didn’t really need was another potato recipe. Or another smashed potato recipe. Or another crispy potato recipe. And yet there I found myself, eagerly putting Chrissy Teigen’s crispy smashed Buffalo potatoes together, happily digging into the finished potatoes, and savoring every last bite. I love potatoes and found the glory of smashed/flattened/squashed potato recipes years ago.

One thing that was different from any of the other potato recipes I have tried was cooking these potatoes on the bottom of the hot oven. The only other time I have ever cooked anything on the bottom of the oven was placing a pie there, as suggested by David Leite himself. I needed to get the bottom crust browned and it wasn’t working in the oven itself. Well, it worked with the pie and it worked with these potatoes. The potatoes came out with a deep, golden, crispy deliciousness. It is said that we eat first with our eyes, and these tasted wonderful even before putting them in our mouths.

Instead of pouring the sauces over the potatoes, I put the potatoes on our plates and spooned dollops of the sauces next to them. That way the potatoes retained their crispness, and we could control how much sauce we wanted for each bite. It also made a difference with the leftover potatoes. They were not at all soggy. They crisped up beautifully in our air fryer, and there was plenty of leftover sauce for dipping.

Speaking of the sauces, the blue cheese sauce was not blue cheese-y enough to our taste. I added an additional 1/3 cup of blue cheese, in this case Stilton, (hey it’s what we had) which was perfect.

The first time I made these we had them with homemade Shake Shack burgers. The second time I made them, not even a week later, we had them with St. Louis-style ribs. And then there were the leftover, crispy pieces we enjoyed just using our fingers as a vehicle to get them into our mouths. I made a note for this recipe that says, “Make many more than you think you will even be able to eat.” I didn’t follow my own advice the last time I made these potatoes, and kicked myself the next day when I was craving them, and we did not have enough. I hope that I have better luck next time.

These crispy/spicy (but not too spicy) little nuggets of goodness got two thumbs up from all of us. I served the sauces on the side so everyone could personalize the potatoes to their taste. I had equal amounts of both sauces on my serving and it was perfect with the heat from the Buffalo Sauce and the cool creaminess of the blue cheese sauce. These smashies would also be delicious dipped in sour cream or just on their own. They are great as an appetizer as well as a side dish. This recipe will definitely be going into my permanent rotation.




About David Leite

I count myself lucky to have received three James Beard Awards for my writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appรฉtit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and more.


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Recipe Rating





4 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    A smash hit!! I kept it simple and used Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Wing Sauce and Trader Joe’s Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing & Dip, then garnished with crosscut green onion. Served with beef satay dusted with sesame seeds. Superb!!

    Reno Dave

    Note the “smiley face” potato in the foreground!

    1. Wow, Reno Dave. Those look fabulous! And that smiley face is hilarious! It looks like you had a wonderful meal. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

  2. 5 stars
    Holy cow. These might have been the best potatoes I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot. At least in this format. I thought all that high-heat roasting would make the potatoes stick and then all the good, crunchy bits would stay on the pan. Fortunately, I was wrong! Honestly, I’ve never had as much success getting a nice crispy crunch on potatoes (ex deep frying, of course). And the sauce just took them to another level. I just loved the crispy creaminess of the potatoes against the spicy buffalo sauce offset with the blue cheese. Mmmmm.

    1. Thanks, Greg. We’re so pleased that this was such a success for you. Thanks for taking the time to let us know.