Perfect Potato Recipes

Smashed Potatoes with Arugula Pesto

Pesto gets an assertive makeover when you trade the basil for peppery arugula. Toasting the walnuts adds depth to the pesto's flavor.

Roast Potatoes

Crispy outside and floury inside, English roast potatoes are typically cooked very simply—water, salt, hot oil. The fat-crisped nuggets have a light, floury interior. But British-born Chef Kieron Hales, now working in Michigan, dresses his up with herbs, garlic and Worcestershire sauce.

Seeing Green Potato Salad

Slice boiled new potatoes, then toss with blanched green beans, fresh mozz and pine nuts. Dress in purchased pesto, brightened with red wine vinegar. Brilliant!

Shingled Potatoes with Thyme

Layering thinly sliced potatoes in a casserole dish means the tops get crisp while the bottoms are meltingly tender.

Mexican Potato Soup

A favorite comfort food gets a bit of a kick with spicy chorizo sausage and chiles. This recipe is quick enough for a weeknight.

Roasted Potatoes, Fennel and Lemon

Roasting lemon mellows it out without losing its brightness. All the while, it adds a lemony taste to the potatoes, fennel and sweet shallots.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Orange and Mascarpone

A pat of butter and a sprinkle of black pepper is all it takes to crown this rich and creamy sweet mash.

Potato Latkes

Cast iron's heat retention means oil holds a high temperature, so fried foods crisp quickly and evenly. These traditional Jewish potato-onion fritters have tender centers and lacy rims. Top them with sour cream or applesauce.

Hash Brown Casserole

An all-time reader favorite, this creamy hotdish is a guaranteed hit at potlucks. (In fact, you may want to make two pans!)

Bavarian-Style Potato Salad

Serve this tangy vinegar-based potato salad with bratwurst and sauerkraut for a meal worthy of a German beer garden.

Chicken and Corn Hash Brown Bake

This comfort food hotdish offers a new twist on the usual hash brown casserole. Try it for everyday meals as well as potlucks!

Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Dipping Sauces

Use either unpeeled sweet potatoes or russet potatoes for these easy grilled potato wedges. Cook wedges in boiling water first to shorten grill time. Serve with Creamy Chive Sauce or Honey Sesame Sauce.

Spring Potato Salad

This lightly sweet potato salad is a great way to use up leftover Easter ham.

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

The classic mashed potato recipe! Cooking tips: If you leave the skin on the potatoes, mash them with a potato masher rather than an electric mixer (because the skin will get caught in the beaters). If you want to use a potato ricer, wait to add the butter until after you've passed the potatoes through the ricer.

New Potato and Chicken Casserole

Green beans, mushrooms, leeks, potato and handy rotisserie chicken make this creamy casserole a true one-dish meal.

Cheesy Potato Soup

Potato, bacon and cheese—all the flavors you love in a bowl of soup! The American cheese keeps the soup from curdling while it slow cooks. Mashing cooked potatoes a bit gives the soup some body, while the bacon adds a smoky-salty taste.

German Potato Salad

Serve this old-fashioned potluck salad warm.

Bacon-Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Tangy blue cheese and salty bacon make traditional mashed potatoes even more indulgent.

Chipotle Smashed Potatoes

This is the ultimate feel-good dish: two kinds of mashed potatoes with bacon. Cream cheese adds richness; chipotle chile brings a subtle smoky flavor.

Smoked Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash

This colorful one-skillet meal lends itself to improvisation; you could trade the red sweet peppers for green, the spinach for kale, the turkey for ham or the fried eggs for scrambled. Of course, we think the original recipe is pretty darn perfect, with a blend of potatoes and tasty browned onions whose caramelly flavor ties the dish together.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Quivey's Grove in Madison, Wisconsin, whips up this version of mashed potatoes that matches plenty of dairy richness with garlic, Parmesan, black pepper and green onion.

Swiss-Potato Breakfast Casserole

With just 180 calories per serving, this meal is lighter than many casserole options. But it combines favorite flavors, including ham, eggs, cheese and potatoes. It's perfect for brunch.

Herbed Egg-Potato Bake

You can assemble our cheesy Herbed Egg-Potato Bake up to two days ahead and refrigerate it.

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

This easy-to-make layered cheesy potato dish pairs well with pork chops or ham.

Bacon and Baked Potato Soup

Salty-smoky crumbled bacon tops our cheesy potato soup. "I made this soup and we loved it! Best potato soup ever!" writes one of our website reviewers. "I put carrots in mine; made it even better."

Spicy Double-Smoked Mashed Potatoes

The secret to these potatoes is boiling whole peeled garlic cloves along with the potatoes. Shredded smoked Gouda cheese and finely chopped chopotle pepper in adobe sauce add to the spicy flavor.

Roasted Baby Potatoes with Herbs

We play up an assortment of potatoes—such as baby Dutch yellow, fingerlings, baby purple and round red—in this easy-to-fix recipe.

Fingerling Potato Salad with Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette

You'll have more Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette than you need for this fresh-tasting potato salad; keep the extra dressing on hand for another potato or pasta salad. The recipe is from Chicago chef Myk Banas.

Creamy Potato Casserole

A little chopped ham, wedges of potatoes and a cream cheese-Gruyere sauce fill this comfort food casserole. Crushed bagel chips make a crunchy topping.

Pick the Right Potato

Starchy potatoes mash, bake, fry and roast well, while waxy ones work best in casseroles and salads because they hold their shape. Look for smooth, firm spuds without cracks or soft spots. Whether you peel is your choice.

New potatoes: Young potatoes, any variety, have very thin skins, less starch and a waxy texture. Best for boiling, grilling and roasting.

Russets: Also called Idaho or baking potatoes, these thick-skinned tan spuds are mealy with lots of eyes and a high starch content. Best for baking, grilling, mashing, frying.

Round white potatoes: With light beige skin and white flesh, these medium-starch, waxy-textured potatoes work for boiling and frying.

Long white potatoes: The thin-skinned oval spuds' firm, waxy texture and tiny eyes make them an all-purpose choice.

Round red potatoes: Thin-skinned, these rosy-colored potatoes have a firm, waxy texture. Use in dishes where shape is important.

Yellow potatoes: These thin-skinned beauties come in varieties such as Yukon gold and Finnish yellow. They're smooth-textured and buttery--good for any dish.

Sweet potatoes: These spuds fall into two categories: orange, moist and sweet, or yellow, dry and unsweet. Either kind is good for baking, grilling, roasting and boiling.