14 Easy Potato Recipes That Prove Why They're Comfort Food's Finest Vegetable (2024)

The Easiest, Fastest Way to Microwave a Sweet Potato

Potato Tot Breakfast Casserole

The fluffy, tender-crisp tater tots in this breakfast casserole put a surprise spin on the standard breakfast casserole. And while there's certainly plenty of creamy, browned cheese topping, it's not so much that it overwhelms the potatoes. Add eegs, breakfast sausage, bell pepper, onion, and a hit of hot sauce, and you've got peak comfort food perfection. Serve this casserole at a holiday brunch, or enjoy some breakfast-for-dinner tonight (and eat the leftovers tomorrow morning).

Get the recipe: Potato Tot Breakfast Casserole

Creamy One-Pot Mashed Potatoes

For these one-pot mashed potatoes, we use Yukon Gold potatoes to lower the starch content in the dish, which makes for a deliciously tender texture. What else makes them so luscious, you ask? Four cups of half and half and a stick of unsalted butter. Also, using a potato ricer transforms the baked potatoes into creamy, airy fluff rather than the gluey mashed potatoes you might be used to.

Get the recipe: Creamy One-Pot Mashed Potatoes

Cheesy Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes With Black Beans and Avocado

Nothing's better than a plain baked potato (said no one, ever). Here, we kicked up the flavor and protein content with plenty of black beans, avocado slices, raw pepitas (aka pumpkin seeds), and grated pepper Jack cheese. Broiling your potato skins before packing them with the sweet potato mixture helps crisp them up so they can serve as a super sturdy base.

Get the recipe: Cheesy Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes With Black Beans and Avocado

Fingerling Potatoes With Parsley-Pistachio Crumble

Try this new take on roasted potatoes, no cooking skills required. Fresh parsley, crunchy pistachios, and zingy garlic get tossed with hot-out-of-the-oven roasted fingerling potatoes. A great potato dish for any night of the week, this recipe could also serve as a vibrant (and healthy!) holiday side.

Get the recipe: Fingerling Potatoes With Parsley-Pistachio Crumble

Mini Twice Baked Loaded Potatoes

Kids and adults alike will love these pint-sized baked potatoes. After all, they're loaded with butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese, chives, and (yup) bacon. Though they're best fresh out of the oven, we still love munching on them long after they've cooled. Serve them as a party-starting app or as a side dish for dinner.

Get the recipe: Mini Twice Baked Loaded Potatoes

Scalloped Potatoes

Perfection in a dish = thin-sliced potatoes tucked between heaps of warm cream and fresh herbs with an ooey-gooey inside and golden-browned crust. If you want to really kick it up a notch, add a rich, salty cheese, like Gruyere or cheddar, on top before baking (like we did here).

Get the recipe: Scalloped Potatoes

Roasted Garlic and Sweet Potato Polenta

A creamy polenta recipe gets a major flavor upgrade with the addition of roasted sweet potatoes and garlic. A whole head of garlic roasts in an aluminum foil packet alongside sweet potatoes to yield a creamy garlic paste as smooth as butter. Stir both into instant polenta and top with crispy sage leaves for a winning potato polenta you'll want to make year after year.

Get the recipe: Roasted Garlic and Sweet Potato Polenta

Smashed Red Potatoes With Miso

We figured out the best way to cook red potatoes: boil them with onion for big flavor, then mash in a miso-scallion butter and lots of freshly ground black pepper for irresistible mashed potatoes made without milk or cream. Miso paste, a fermented condiment made from soybeans, is a gut-friendly ingredient that tastes delicious. Mashed potatoes without milk never tasted so good.

Get the recipe: Smashed Red Potatoes With Miso

Colombian Chicken and Potato Soup

This Colombian potato soup recipe is studded with chicken, corn, and plenty of toppings such as cilantro, avocado, capers, and lime wedges, which makes it as healthy and hearty as it is flavorful. Serve it as a starter, or let it stand on its own as a warming main dish.

Get the recipe: Colombian Chicken and Potato Soup

Herb Potato Salad

It's a summer staple for a reason. Potato salad is one of the best barbecue-slash-picnic side dishes, and forgetting to serve it—or worse, screwing up the recipe—is punishable by law (we wish). This rendition gets mixed in with fresh herbs, scallions, and grainy mustard for a perfect creamy-tangy side of spuds.

Get the recipe: Herb Potato Salad

Slow Cooker BBQ Sweet Potato Bakers

A game-day favorite fit for those who like to set-and-forget. These hearty baked potatoes get the slow cooker treatment, then you'll load them with shredded chicken, barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, and plenty of chopped chives and sour cream.

Get the recipe: Slow Cooker BBQ Sweet Potato Bakers

Sweet Potato Pie With Candied Nut Cream

Who says you can't have potatoes for dessert? Here, we use sweet potatoes as the filled for a top-notch holiday pie. Bake them, then puree the potatoes with sweetened condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and a pinch of salt until smooth. Pour the mixture into your homemade graham cracker crust and bake—you'll wow holiday guests for years to come.

Get the recipe: Sweet Potato Pie With Candied Nut Cream

Pommes Anna

This elegant French dish is as classic as it gets, combining just potatoes, salt, pepper, and lots of butter. The result is a side that highlights the flavor of spuds, and goes well with roast chicken or grilled steak. Peeling, slicing, and layering the potatoes can take a while, but we promise the end result is well worth it.

Get the recipe: Pommes Anna

Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

You will want a double scoop of these mashed potatoes. Brown butter is made by melting butter in a saucepan until it becomes a golden brown color and develops a nutty aroma. When mixed with creamy ingredients like half-and-half and sour cream, the potatoes become earthy-flavored and velvety.