18 Potato Side Dishes To Make Again and Again

Potatoes are the starchy side dish that you can count on to please. These 18 potato side dish recipes are ones Simply Recipes readers turn to on repeat.

crispy parmesan potatoes (close-up) — Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

A friend I worked with as a line cook introduced me to the concept of a dinner plate as a three-point landing: there's the meat, the veg, and the starch. For dinners that are classic three-point landing menus, potatoes are the side you just can't go wrong with. There's a potato dish for every cooking method and every cuisine. There are creamy potato dishes and crispy potato dishes. Some sop up sauce; others beg to be snatched up with your fingers and devoured.

Make any one of these potato side dish recipes for a special meal and see the smiles as people arrive at the table. None of the recipes below are afterthoughts. They are all stars, enough so that they just may eclipse the protein portion of your three-point landing.

1. Potato Confit

Potato confit in white casserole dish. — Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

Slowly cooking miniature Yukon gold potatoes submerged in olive oil renders them creamy and rich inside. Flavor the oil with rosemary; you can strain it and reuse it, so there's no waste. To serve the potatoes, you can brown them in a skillet or just gently warm them in some of the oil and sprinkle with herbs.

2. Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Honestly, everyone in my family prefers this rich make-ahead version of mashed potatoes to the made-on-the-spot ones. Pack the cream cheese-enriched mashed potatoes in a dish and refrigerate it for up to 2 days. Or bake and freeze for up to two weeks.

3. Potato Croquettes

Potato Croquettes on a Plate with One Croquette Broken in Half, and Next to the Plate, a Small Saucer with Sauce — Simply Recipes / Frank Tiu

Golden-brown and crispy on the outside, potato croquettes are steamy and creamy inside. Look out as you are frying batches, because they are also very snackable. Be sure to leave some for the table!

4. Crispy Parmesan Potatoes

Contributor Kayla Hoang says, "If you’re grating the Parmesan yourself from a block, you can either process two ounces of Parmesan in a food processor with the blade attachment until very fine pebbles form (almost powdery) or use the zesting side of a box grater—the side with the tiny spikes."

5. Sweet Potato and Yukon Gold Bake

Sweet Potato Yukon Gold Bake — Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Slices of Yukon golds, orange sweet potatoes, and purple-red beets make a dazzling presentation that'll quite likely upstage the main event.

6. Mashed Potato Pancakes

Leftover mashed potato pancakes stacked on a plate and topped with sour cream and chives. — Simply Recipes / Nick Evans

Humble as their rep may be, mashed potato pancakes are so tasty that they're worth making extra mashed potatoes beforehand just so you can pan-fry a batch. They're especially tasty with sauerbraten.

7. Fondant Potatoes

Garlic rosemary sauce spooned onto fondant potatoes (both are in the same skillet) — Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe

Browning on the stove and then braising in the oven in stock flavored with garlic and herbs makes these russet potatoes meltingly tender.

8. Twice Baked Potatoes

Twice baked potatoes on a piece of parchment paper — Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe

A baked potato is just a baked potato. A twice-baked potato has cheese, bacon, and a mashed potato filling going for it. Steaks are sad and lonely without them.

9. Scalloped Potatoes with Caramelized Onions and Gruyere

Scalloped Potatoes Gruyere Caramelized Onions — Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

These elegant scalloped potatoes are flecked with thyme and rendered luxurious with Gruyere and caramelized onions. Reader Tanya raves, "This is our family’s absolute favourite potato dish. I don’t change a thing! It is perfect as is. I also love that it isn’t too rich, as we often serve it with meats and other heavy foods. Thanks for a keeper!"

10. Crispy Hasselback Potatoes

The trend a few years back of making accordion-sliced potatoes rendered crispy after a roast in a hot oven perhaps got played out, but not on your dinner table. Hasselback potatoes are an evergreen favorite for a beef roast, baked fillet of salmon, or roasted chicken.

11. Batatas a Murro

Plate of batatas a murro — Simply Recipes / Laurel Randolph

These Portuguese potatoes are boiled, lightly smashed, and then tossed in a pan with oil and a ton of garlic. Try them for a memorable change of pace.

12. Pommes Duchesse

Duchess Potatoes — Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

I learned how to make this classic French potato dish in cooking school and quickly fell in love. You mix mashed potatoes with egg yolks and pipe them into rosettes, then bake until their edges brown. What you wind up with is an adorable savory potato cake that's make-ahead friendly.

13. Smashed Potatoes

Smashed Potatoes and Two Small Bowls (One with Cracked Pepper and Another with Flaky Salt) on a Baking Pan — Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

The random breaking patterns of smashed potatoes on a hot sheet pan entice the cook for what's coming up. It's nearly impossible to wait for these, but the payoff is giant.

14. Too Much Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Too Much Garlic Mashed Potatoes in a brown bowl with a spoon on the side — Simply Recipes / Shilpa Iyer

Our recipe editor Laurel Randolph amped up the garlic in our mellow roasted garlic mashed potatoes to make it a triple garlic whammy: there's roasted, fried, and sautéed garlic in this recipe. It's guaranteed to delight garlic lovers!

15. Funeral Potatoes

Funeral Potatoes with Real Potatoes — Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas

Cheesy funeral potatoes are a welcome sight at big gatherings. They're just right for meals when you're asked to bring a side dish or need a make-ahead option.

16. Crispy Parmesan Potato Stacks

A close-up of three potato stacks — Simply Recipes / Lisa Lin

Thinly slice potatoes, layer them in a muffin tin with Parmesan and herbs, pour oil over the stacks, and then bake to make these cute little structures of potato goodness.