Grilled Smashed Potatoes with Chipotle Ranch

These Grilled Smashed Potatoes with Chipotle Ranch are a fun and unique way to enjoy red potatoes. Simply boil the potatoes, smash, and grill them until crispy and slightly charred. Then, top the smashed potatoes with a smoky and spicy chipotle ranch dipping sauce for an out-of-this world summer side dish.

While perusing the Shoreview Farmers Market last week, red potatoes seemed to be the common denominator among most of the booths. My absolute favorite way to prepare red potatoes is to coat them in olive oil and dried onion soup mix and then roast to perfection. So classic. But for this recipe, I wanted to switch things up a bit and try a new way to prepare the red potatoes.

An American sports bar favorite, at least in Minnesota, are waffle fries with seasoned sour cream. The combination of crispy fried potatoes with a cool, creamy, ranch-like sauce is pure heaven and it was the inspiration for these Grilled Smashed Potatoes with Chipotle Ranch. I obviously reworked the dish completely, but the end result is just as crave-worthy —crispy, smashed, and slightly charred potatoes served with a zippy, smoky homemade ranch sauce. Just think of these smashed potatoes as the fresher, healthier, summery farmer’s market version of waffle fries with seasoned sour cream. I think you’re going to love them!

How to Make Smashed Potatoes

Smashed potatoes are cooked baby potatoes that are slightly mashed down leaving a potato that is in tact, but with little nooks and crannies that will become nice and charred when grilled and act as little pools to soak up all the seasoning and chipotle ranch! 

To prepare the potatoes, give them a good scrub and a quick boil in a pot of water for 10-15 minutes until tender. Be sure to let them cool before smashing. Then, transfer the potatoes to a large baking sheet and use a potato masher, the bottom of a glass, or the palm of your hand to smash in the potatoes just enough to break the skin and flatten it a bit. Then, drizzle with plenty of olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning.

How to Make the Chipotle Ranch

While the potatoes are cooling, it’s time to make the super easy homemade chipotle ranch. Start with a base of either sour cream, Greek yogurt, or a combination of the two. Add in fresh cilantro, garlic, green onion, lime juice, and chipotle peppers. If you’re not familiar with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, they’re dried and smoked jalapeño peppers that are soaked in tangy, smoky red sauce. You can find them in the Hispanic foods section of the grocery store. The chipotle peppers add a kick of heat and a wonderfully smoky flavor to this ranch. Give all the ingredients a whirl in the food processor until smooth and creamy. 

How to Make the Grilled Smashed Potatoes

The actual grilling of the potatoes is a cinch, but you’ll want to take care when transferring the potatoes to/from the grill and flipping midway. To transfer the potatoes onto the grill, I recommend using a thin metal spatula. For flipping, I found it easiest to gently grip the sides of the smashed potatoes with tongs. A couple of the potatoes will inevitably crumble a bit, but don’t worry. They’ll still taste delicious! Just try your best to keep them together. Once the potatoes have cooked on both sides for 4-5 minutes, use your tongs to carefully lift the potatoes back onto the baking sheet. 

Before serving, drizzle some light dollops of the chipotle ranch over the crispy, charred beauties and end with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and green onion. I made that sound so elegant, right? In all actuality, when I was done taking the photos I smothered those potatoes in so much ranch, you wouldn’t have known there were red potatoes underneath. Words of wisdom: Serve the rest of the chipotle ranch on the side because when it comes to ranch, you can never have too much, only too little.

Farmer’s Market Shopping List:

• Red potatoes
• Cilantro
• Green onion
• Garlic

I’m so excited to be showcasing my produce finds from my local market, the Shoreview Farmer’s Market, for this recipe series. If you are local to the Twin Cities of Minnesota, specifically the northeastern suburbs, be sure to visit to the Shoreview Farmer’s Market on Tuesday evenings through mid-October. Local fresh produce, handcrafted artisan items, and live entertainment are featured each week!

Check out the other recipes in the Farmer’s Market series:

• Asian Kohlrabi Salad
• Strawberry Cucumber Caprese Salad
• BBQ Chicken Zucchini Boats
• Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Corn and Tomatoes
• Sheet Pan Veggie Tacos with Avocado Lime Crema
• Autumn Brussels Sprouts Cobb Salad

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