20 Easy Potato Side Dishes

Potato side dishes are easy to come by. Restaurants are always serving fries or mashed potatoes, usually with an array of spices, cheeses, and sauces. But there’s nothing quite like making potato sides at home.

Homemade side dishes with potatoes may sound complicated, but they certainly don’t need to be. And there are so many potato dishes to choose from, including potato wedges, scalloped potatoes, and roasted potatoes.

These 20 easy potato recipes are simple and sure to wow your crowd. So let’s dive right in and take a look at the easiest potato side dishes you’ll ever find.

1. Mashed Potatoes

There’s nothing quite like a classic mashed potatoes side dish. This homemade recipe is easy to follow, and your dish will taste far better than anything store-bought.

This recipe will make the potatoes shine with their mix of flavors, including butter, garlic, and of course, the best potatoes.

One of the best suggestions we can give is to mix up your potatoes.

Try using an equal part of both Yukon gold potatoes and Russet potatoes. This will add a balanced flavor.

Also, instead of using a ton of salt when serving, add your salt throughout the cooking process.

2. Air Fryer Roasted Potatoes

Air fryers save so much time and take away so much of the hassle of normal cooking, and these air fryer roasted potatoes are so easy to make.

When it comes to roasted potatoes, you’ll want to be sure to wash your potatoes thoroughly. Because the potato skins will stay on for this dish you’ll want to take away any dirt or grime from your potatoes.

Perhaps the best thing about this recipe is that these roasted potatoes will last in the freezer for six to eight months.

3. Seasoned Baked Potato Wedges

Potato wedges are surprisingly healthier than your average helping of fries, and they’re actually easier to make. This recipe will take about 50 minutes to make, with most of that time keeping them in the oven.

Be sure to keep your eye on how much oil you’re using. Adding too much or too little can really change the recipe by making them soggy, or they could stick on the tray.

For extra flavors, try adding on sour cream, tomato sauce, relish, or sweet chili sauce. Honestly, you can add anything you’d like to your potato wedges. Play to your tastes.

4. Garlic Roasted Potatoes

This recipe is simple and will take a little over an hour to make. Most of that time is spent in the oven so it’s pretty much hands-off for you, although the potatoes will have to be flipped twice while in the oven.

The best part about this recipe is the garlic. While we recommend using two tablespoons of minced garlic, it’s really up to you. If you’d like to add a little more or a little less, that’s fine.

It’s also important to keep your potatoes the same size, whether you’re having them or cutting them into quarters.

5. Scalloped Potatoes

Scalloped potatoes go way back. With a perfect blend of cheese and potatoes, this dish is always better when homemade. With ingredients like butter, paprika, and cheese, this dish is sure to please a crowd.

When it comes to cheese, this recipe calls for cheddar cheese. It’s recommended to use sharp cheddar cheese. This will add more flavor, although any cheese will work.

It’s also important to cut your potato slices really thin. Thick potatoes can become tougher to eat and season.

6. Baked Potatoes

Easy potato side dishes for a crowd? It must be baked potatoes. This recipe will take an hour to make, but it only has six ingredients and only three steps! This recipe will make very crispy-skinned potatoes, but keep the insides light and fluffy.

The secret ingredient to this recipe is a good helping of sea salt. The sea salt on this dish will be a coating on the outside of the skin. It will make your potatoes extra crispy.

There will be variations in the cooking time due to the size of your potatoes.

7. French Fries

You may think of french fries as a restaurant-only dish, but you’d be sorely mistaken. Homemade french fries are easy and taste so much better. This recipe recommends double-frying the potatoes, which will make them extra crispy.

It’s important that you remove the starch and moisture from your potatoes. Soak your potatoes in cold water to remove the starch. And then cook them twice to remove the moisture.

The best potatoes you can use for this recipe are russet potatoes. Any waxy potatoes will hollow out when they’re fried.

8. Mashed Sweet Potatoes

While most sweet potato recipes call for brown sugar or marshmallows, this dish will be ripe with butter, herbs, and sour cream. Any extras such as bacon bits, extra garlic, more sour cream, or cheese can be added if you’d like.

If you’d like a substitute for sour cream, Greek yogurt is just as good. And if you’d like to make this potato side dish dairy-free, replace the sour cream, and then use extra-virgin olive oil to replace the butter.

Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge for three to four days.

9. Baked Sweet Potatoes

Baked sweet potatoes are just one of many easy potato side dishes. For this dish, there will be no brown sugar or marshmallows. These will be sweet enough all by themselves.

A big tip for this recipe is to not use foil. Wrapping the sweet potatoes in the foil when cooking will make the skins too moist to the point where they may feel slimy. If you really want them to be crispy, just place them directly onto the baking sheet.

If you’re running out of time, halve the potatoes and cook them for a half-hour.

10. Au Gratin Potatoes

This is one classic dish that makes the best of both worlds, cheese and potatoes. It’s recommended to serve this dish with other classic dishes such as beef tenderloin or roast pork loins. This recipe is simple to make but will take two hours, so be sure to clear an afternoon.

A tip for this dish to keep your sauce lump-free, smooth, and creamy is to add your milk slowly as the sauce is stirred. And if you want something new for this dish, try a new kind of cheese. Play to your tastes.

11. Roasted Red Potatoes

Red potatoes may not always come to mind when making side potato dishes. Usually, Yukon or russet is the go-to potatoes, but it’s definitely time to try something new. This recipe can be broken down into a few ingredients, spices, oil, and the red potatoes themselves.

The most important ingredients are the spices you’ll be adding. This includes garlic powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper which will give it a bit of a kick.

It’s recommended to add fresh dill and white wine vinegar as garnishes to this dish.

12. Baked French Fries

Oven-baked french fries are easier to make than fried french fries and only take five steps to make and only require three ingredients, making them incredibly simple and delicious. And oven-baked french fries are far healthier than fried french fries.

Bigger potato pieces will take longer to cook, while thinner ones can quickly burn. Keep an eye on your potatoes to make sure they come out crispy.

These baked french fries can be kept frozen for about four months! This is far longer than fried french fries will keep. And they can be reheated with a microwave, stovetop, or oven.

13. Twice-Baked Potato Casserole

This may be the best potato side dish we have. This recipe will make ten servings which are better for a larger crowd. This casserole dish can be made both in the oven or in the crockpot.

And it can be made two days in advance if you’d like.

The secret ingredient to this casserole is the bacon. There is a lot more bacon in this recipe than you may realize, and when added with the cheese and potatoes, it becomes one great mix.

14. Potato Salad

This is one of many potato side dish recipes that don’t require a lot of extra work. It actually takes less time than most potato dishes, at 40 minutes, with half of that being cook time. And this dish will make eight servings.

You’ll want to peel the skins off for this recipe and quarter the potatoes as well. They’ll cook better and more evenly. They’ll also be easier to eat.

The best part about this recipe, aside from the potatoes, is the green onions, which really go well with any dish, but adds something special to this recipe.

15. Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

If you’ve never heard of Hasselback sweet potatoes, that’s not surprising, but we assure you that they are so delicious.

You’ll need at least four sweet potatoes, although if you’re serving a bigger crowd, you’ll want to double or triple the recipe.

The most important step in this process is to add your mixture of butter, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and oil heavily into your potato slices. You’ll want to get deep into the slices to make sure each bite gets all the flavor.

16. Smashed Potatoes

You’ve heard of mashed potatoes. Get ready for mashed potatoes! These are far crispier than any mashed potato could ever be and still has soft insides like mashed potatoes.

This recipe can work well with any kind of potato, although we recommend using baby potatoes. High-starch potatoes will be lighter and fluffier.

Waxy potatoes end up creamier and have less fluff and lightness.

Your smaller potatoes will be crispier than larger potatoes. Small potatoes will feel more like finger food too.

17. Fondant Potatoes

Fondant potatoes sound rather fancy, as if you’d only find them in a high-end restaurant, but we assure you they can be made just as easily at home. They go especially well with a roast.

You’ll have to go on a bit of a hunt for the right potatoes, but we recommend Maris Piper potatoes. They add a flavor that doesn’t come from Yukon or russet. And the best part about this dish is most definitely the herbs and spices that are added.

Be careful when adding your ingredients. Hot butter could splash out and burn you.

18. Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

If you’re looking for quick potato side dishes, these instant pot mashed potatoes only take 20 minutes to make, with half of that being cook time.

And with an instant pot, this recipe can easily be doubled.

For this recipe, be sure not to overcut the potatoes. Cutting them into small chunks can actually make them harder to cook or overcook. It’s better to cut these into large rounds.

The secret ingredient to this recipe is the sour cream, which is mashed right into the potato mix. The sour cream and garlic give this dish a lot of flavors.

19. Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Rosemary roasted potatoes are yummy and so easy to make. With only three steps and six ingredients, it will take just over an hour to make, with about 90 percent of that time being cooking time.

This recipe calls for the potatoes to be cut in quarters or halved. This decision is up to you. Halved potatoes will take longer to cook and can end up mushy if not cooked enough.

Meanwhile, quarter potatoes are more likely to burn. Keep an eye on both your cook time and heat when making this dish.

20. Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

Roasted sweet potato wedges can be made with both an air fryer and an oven.

And this recipe only calls for four ingredients! And best of all, there are only three steps. This is definitely the easiest version of potato wedges you’ll ever make.

The crispiness will depend on your cook time. The average time in the oven is about 25 minutes.

However, keeping them in the oven a bit longer will make them even more crispy.

It’s also important to toss your potato wedges in olive oil thoroughly to be sure they cook well.