Restaurant-Style Loaded Smashed Potatoes

Loaded mashed potatoes are the favorite side dish at steakhouses. They're smooth, buttery, and full of all of your favorites. My favorite thing about them is that every spoonful is different! Sometimes you get a hint of sour cream, other times a bite of bacon.

These red potatoes are smashed, not mashed, with the skin intact. This not only saves you the step of peeling, but adds a rustic feel. And double bonus—you don't even need to boil these! Just nuke them in the microwave and you're good to go. Another shortcut is to use precooked and crumbled bacon.

Although this is my basic recipe, I like to fool around with it, sometimes adding cheese or omitting the french fried onions. Get creative with your add-ons—you really can't go wrong here! I like to reserve some of the toppings for garnish. Double the recipe if you need more than 4 servings because trust me, everyone's gonna want seconds!

Restaurant-Style Loaded Smashed Potatoes
Adapted from Pioneer Woman

• 5 whole large red potatoes, quartered
• 1 stick butter, softened And cut into pieces
• 4-5 slices bacon, cooked And crumbled (or precooked crumbles)
• 2 whole green Onions, sliced
• 3/4 cups sour cream (light is fine)
• salt/garlic salt/seasoned salte (to taste-add plenty!)
• fresh ground pepper (to taste)
• 1/2-3/4 cups french fried onions

Nuke potatoes in a large bowl in the microwave for 10-20 minutes or bake in the oven until fork-tender. Smash with a potato masher leaving chunks intact. Immediately add softened butter, green onions, bacon, and sour cream and stir with a rubber spatula. 

Add salt and pepper to taste. Add french fried onions and fold in. Serve hot, sprinkling on a little extra french fried onions, bacon and green onions.

My mom and I took a trip to Ellicott City a few weeks back. It's an adorable town in Maryland filled with antique shops. These days we can't seem to resist dining at Tersiguels while we're there! It's the loveliest french restaurant you've ever set eyes on, and the food is to die for! We filled our bellies with the fluffiest sourdough bread with butter, fish soup, chicken salad, sparkling cider, and coconut sorbet topped with an elephant ear! The grand finale was when our waiter presented us our frozen dessert sitting atop an ice sculpture! What a presentation!