Baby potatoes, roasted in the oven until crispy, then topped with garlicky pesto make a delicious side dish, or even an appetizer. These pesto smashed potatoes are so easy to make with either homemade or store-bought pesto sauce.

Pesto smashed potatoes on a round plate with a mini serving flipper.

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

Easy. These make an easy side dish. They're always a hit with both kids and adults alike.
Crispy: What is it about those crispy edges that everyone seems to love?
Full-flavoured garlic pesto!
Potatoes on their own are delicious, but potatoes with toppings, like pesto or chimichurri or blue cheese are even better! Try these Air Fryer Roasted Potatoes with Chimichurri or these Crispy Grilled Potatoes with Blue Cheese in Foil.

🛒 Ingredients and substitutions

You'll find a complete list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But before we get to the full recipe, here are a few notes about the ingredients.

potatoes: I like to use baby potatoes, especially a creamy yellow variety.
garlic: a fresh clove or two.
flaky sea salt: adds a little crunch to these crispy potatoes.
olive oil: to get that crispy texture.
pesto: use my homemade 5-minute Basil Cashew Pesto recipe (so fresh-tasting!) or use store-bought pesto sauce.

🔪 Instructions

Here's an overview of what you'll do to make this recipe perfectly. You'll find complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Boil baby potatoes until fork tender.

Place them on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. Use a drinking glass to gently press down on each potato, one at a time to "smash" them.

Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with minced garlic and flaky sea salt, then roast in the oven until crisp and slightly browned.

Smashed potatoes sprinkled with olive oil, coarse salt and minced garlic.

Transfer to a serving dish and top each smashed potato with a spoonful of fresh pesto sauce.

🔁 Possible Variations

Add a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese during the last 5 minutes of roasting time. More Italian flavours!

👍🏼 Helpful Tips

Make sure the potatoes are completely cooked before removing them from the heat. A fork should slide into them easily. If they're undercooked, they won't smash as easily.

Leftover pesto? Use it to make Pesto Caprese Salad or Easy Vegetarian Pesto Gnocchi.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

These pesto smashed potatoes go well with almost any cuisine, but especially Italian or Mediterranean dishes. Try them with

or simply serve them as finger food along with other favourite tapas like these 20 Easy Finger Food Appetizers.

A single smashed pesto potato on a mini server. — Pesto Smashed Potatoes make a popular side dish or fun finger food.

⏰ Storage Instructions

To store: Store leftover potatoes in the fridge. While these are best straight from the oven, you can reheat them in the oven or your air fryer at 350° and add a little more fresh pesto sauce.

🗒 More favourite potato side dishes

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When you make this recipe for pesto smashed potatoes, please leave a comment and a rating below. I love hearing from you! Thanks in advance. Subscribe to my newsletter and receive new recipes delivered straight to your inbox.

📖 Recipe