Garten's rosemary roasted potatoes couldn't be easier to make. All you need are small red and white-skinned potatoes, fresh rosemary leaves, garlic, and olive oil.

And after tossing all the ingredients together, you just need to throw the potatoes in the oven for an hour.

Just because they're in sixth place doesn't mean Garten's rosemary roasted potatoes aren't delicious — the competition is just that fierce when it comes to "Barefoot Contessa" potato dishes.

The potatoes develop a beautiful golden color in the oven, and the pop of rosemary makes for a lovely Instagram photo. Plus, this dish makes your kitchen smell incredible.

Garten's rosemary roasted potatoes are also deliciously crispy, with a soft and creamy middle. Both of my parents were huge fans of the dish and liked that it was a lighter alternative to mashed potatoes or a gratin.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's rosemary roasted potatoes here.

Garten loves to give a new twist to a classic dish, and her Parmesan smashed potatoes are no different. Her recipe involves smashing the potatoes with an electric mixer, a great time-saving technique. It features unpeeled red potatoes, half-and-half, sour cream, butter, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

"The key to mashed potatoes is what you add to them to make them have great flavor," Garten told Al Roker while demonstrating this dish on his podcast, "Cooking Up a Storm with Al Roker," in November 2021. "Two things people really miss a lot, in almost every recipe, is the salt. It needs a lot of salt to give it flavor."

I love the texture of these thick and creamy potatoes, and the salty sharpness of the Parmesan pairs really well with the subtly sweet red potatoes. I made these for the first time at a Friendsgiving, and they were a huge hit with my boyfriend and friends.

"The smashed potatoes were deliciously salty and also not overcooked," my boyfriend said. "They still had a bit of texture to them — it wasn't just like a bowl of soup."

"The best mashed potatoes I've had!" our friend Kayla added. "So creamy and thick."

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's Parmesan smashed potatoes.

I know what you're thinking: How can store-bought mashed potatoes be so high on this list?

But if anyone can elevate something from the supermarket, it's the Barefoot Contessa.

Garten developed this recipe, a spin on her Parmesan smashed potatoes, for The New York Times in 2022 after declaring that she was burned out from cooking.

"Mashed potatoes are an essential Thanksgiving side dish but can be time-consuming," she wrote. "Instead of starting with raw potatoes, then peeling, cutting, and boiling them, start with these prepared potatoes, and no one will know you didn't make the dish from scratch."

Garten's recipe features a pack of refrigerated mashed potatoes, plus butter, sour cream, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. All you have to do is heat the refrigerated potatoes over a pan of simmering water and then throw in the extra ingredients.

Garten's elevated mashed potatoes were super creamy, with the Parmesan cheese infusing each bite with a lovely richness. I made these for my parents when I was home for Thanksgiving and they couldn't tell the mashed potatoes were store-bought.

What's really great about the recipe is how quick it is. You could easily whip up these mashed potatoes in less than 20 minutes and have a side dish everyone will love.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's elevated store-bought mashed potatoes here.

Garten uses diced instead of shredded potatoes for her hash browns, and Jeffrey — her husband of 56 years — is a huge fan.

"When my husband tasted them, he wanted to know if he could have them for dinner!" Garten writes. "Hey, why not? What makes him happy is just fine with me."

Garten's hash browns feature boiling potatoes, chopped yellow onions, butter, scallions, and fresh flat-leaf parsley.

Garten's hash browns were a huge hit when I whipped these up for brunch with my boyfriend and our friends.

The potatoes have a deliciously crispy exterior that gives way to the soft and creamy middle, and the parsley and scallions add so much extra flavor. One friend loved these so much they declared they could've eaten the whole pot.

I served the hash browns with Garten's sweet banana pancakes (also very delicious), but I think they'd also pair well with chicken, turkey, or any other holiday centerpiece.

Get the full recipe for Garten's hash browns here.

Emily Blunt's English roasted potatoes were such a hit that the "Barefoot Contessa" website temporarily crashed when Garten shared the recipe in May 2020.

Blunt taught Garten how to make her family's special recipe for roasted potatoes on a 2018 episode of "Barefoot Contessa." The simple dish only requires two main ingredients — Yukon Gold potatoes and parsley — and features some helpful cooking tips.

After parboiling the potatoes, Blunt shakes them in the pot to help roughen up the edges.

"If you rough up the edges, once you roast them, it just gives a really nice, sort of crispy, crunch," Blunt explained to Garten during the episode.

Blunt also lets the potatoes dry for 15 minutes before baking them, which she said creates "such a fantastic crust on the outside."

I will always love my dad's recipe for Greek roasted potatoes above all, but these English roasted potatoes are a close second.

Blunt's two quick tricks really pay off in terms of texture. There's such a satisfying crunch on the crust of the potatoes, which are deliciously soft and creamy in the middle.

These potatoes go great with just about everything, but you'll definitely have a lot of happy guests if you make them for the holidays.

Get the full recipe for Emily Blunt's English roasted potatoes here.

Garten's potato-fennel gratin is the first dish I cooked for my family's holiday menu. The recipe, which appears in "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," features russet potatoes, fennel, yellow onion, heavy cream, and Gruyère cheese.

"I love to make potato gratin and fennel gratin, so I decided to combine the two," Garten writes in the recipe description. "If you make this in an old French gratin dish, it looks wonderful and can go from the oven to the table with style."

Garten's potato-fennel gratin is just so creamy, comforting, and delicious. The potatoes always come out perfectly cooked, the combination of heavy cream and cheese is a dream, and the sautéed fennel cuts through with some lovely sweetness.

The dish couldn't be easier to assemble, especially if you want to hand off a holiday cooking task to a younger chef in the family (or that cousin whose most-used app is DoorDash).

I make Garten's potato-fennel gratin every holiday season, and it's always one of my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's potato-fennel gratin here.

Fieri's recipe had some ingredients that made his roasted fingerling potatoes stand out.

For one, it contained nearly as many mushrooms as it did potatoes. But I love mushrooms, so this wasn't a problem for me.

The recipe also said to include thyme and rosemary, but I subbed thyme for oregano because I really dislike thyme.

Fieri's recipe instructions were simple.

I tossed all of the ingredients together except the butter, spread the potato and mushroom mixture on a sheet pan, and then placed little cubes of butter all over.

Although I expected the little fingerling potatoes to cook fairly quickly, I was skeptical they'd be done in 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

I was right.

After 20 minutes in the oven, my potatoes couldn't be pierced by a fork at all. They needed closer to 40 minutes at this lower temperature.

These potatoes tasted good, but they needed to be paired with a mushroom in every bite for the full flavor effect. The mushrooms seemed to absorb most of the herbs.

Fieri's potatoes weren't crispy — like I usually prefer — thanks to the added moisture from the mushrooms and butter. But these were a tasty alternative to my usual side dish.

Garten's garlic-roasted potatoes sounded delicious to me.

Aside from garlic and potatoes, other ingredients included salt, pepper, olive oil, and some fresh parsley.

Garten called for small red or white potatoes. I like both, but I used white for this recipe.

Because I have a mincing tool for garlic, it took very little time to prep this recipe.

I just needed to mix all the ingredients (minus the parsley) in a single bowl and lay the potatoes in a flat layer on a sheet pan.

Once my oven preheated to 400 degrees, I baked the potatoes for about 45 minutes. I turned them a couple of times while cooking, which helped make sure they got crispy all around.

When they were done, I quickly tossed them with a bit of fresh parsley.

After 45 minutes, the potatoes were nice and crispy, just how I like them.

I loved the texture, and the parsley added some freshness. But I would have loved even more herbs, like rosemary, for a more vibrant flavor.

Ray is known for her 30-minute recipes, and this hearty side dish is no exception.

The prep time only took me about five minutes, and there were only five ingredients.

Ray said to mix the ingredients right on the sheet pan rather than dirtying an extra dish, which made the prep even easier.

Then I popped the potatoes in the oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Ray's potatoes turned out to be a good balance of crispy, salty, and herby.

I could taste the rosemary in every bite. I also liked that the exteriors were slightly crisped, but the insides were really soft.

These didn't get quite as crispy as Garten's, but I still enjoyed them — especially since they only took 20 minutes.

It was really difficult to choose a favorite because I loved each recipe for different reasons.

Garten's potatoes were extra crispy, which I loved. And the mushrooms and herbs in Fieri's potatoes made them very flavorful.

If I had to choose a favorite, I'd go with Ray's roasted baby potatoes with rosemary. They were flavorful, and I liked that they were a little crispy but still really soft inside. Plus, they were super quick and easy.

This story was originally published on December 23, 2023, and most recently updated on December 20, 2024.

The recipe calls for four medium Idaho potatoes, which are tasty and easy to find, but I actually prefer russets.

Pretty much all of the prep work is just slicing the potatoes. Although Flay peels his spuds, I prefer skin-on for a rustic taste and feel. But it's probably worth the extra time and effort if you prefer a smoother consistency.

The slicing can absolutely be done with a sharp knife, but a simple kitchen mandoline makes it immensely easier and faster.

The final step of prep work is just washing and drying the slices.

I've developed a method of layering my potatoes between sheets of paper towels and pressing them down as hard as I can to remove all the moisture.

Once the potatoes are dried, the rest of the recipe is incredibly easy.

I like to use a sturdy casserole dish to begin layering the potatoes. Once the first layer is done, I drizzle a few tablespoons of cream over the potatoes, finish with salt and pepper, and move on to the next layer.

This creates the "11 layers," but it's more of a figure of speech than an actual number. I just continue with as many layers of potatoes as I can without overloading my casserole dish.

When the dish is full, I cover it with foil and pop the whole thing in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes — which gives me just enough time to polish off the rest of the recipe.

The caramelized shallots — basically fancy crispy onions — make this dish.

After thinly slicing the shallots (a mandoline is also incredibly time-saving here), I toss them in a pan with butter and a pinch of sugar. They cook on medium heat until they're gorgeously brown and fragrant.

Afterward, I place the shallots on a paper towel to drain the excess oil for maximum crispiness.

After finishing off the shallots, I check on the gratin and pop it back in the oven for an additional 30 minutes.

This time, while it's cooking, I focus on frying sage leaves in some oil until they're crispy.

When the casserole comes out, I sprinkle my delicious caramelized shallots on top in an even layer and crumble the fried sage over everything.

Flay recommends placing whole sage leaves on top, but my family found that overwhelming. Over time, I've discovered that crumbling the sage provides just enough texture and flavor to balance each bite.

This recipe has everything. It's visually beautiful and has a delicious holiday flavor profile.

Best of all, no one would ever guess the entire dish takes very little prep and about an hour to bake.

This story was originally published on November 20, 2023, and most recently updated on November 27, 2024.

The recipe has just six ingredients: Yukon Gold potatoes, unsalted butter, whole milk, salt, pepper, and lemon zest.

It serves four to six people, so I cut all the measurements in half for my household of two.

I was interested in Garten's choice of potato for this recipe. Some mashed potatoes call for russet, others call for Yukon Gold, and others still include a combination of both.

Russet potatoes have a higher starch content, which makes for lighter, fluffier potatoes. Yukon Golds have a medium starch content, which makes for denser, creamier potatoes with a natural buttery flavor. 

I figured with all of the butter in this recipe, plus the creamy Yukon Gold potatoes, the lemon zest would be pretty handy in balancing the richer flavors.

The cooking directions were straightforward and similar to many other recipes I've made.

I started by peeling and cutting the potatoes into about 1 ½-inch chunks.

I placed them in a pot and covered them with cold water and salt before bringing everything to a boil. Once boiling, I cooked them for 20 minutes until they were soft enough to pierce easily with a fork.

Garten calls for a food mill to puree the potatoes. I don't have one, so I used my trusty ricer for that step. 

Just before the potatoes were done cooking, I put ½ cup of whole milk in a small pot to simmer on the stove.

By using warm milk instead of cold, the potatoes can absorb the liquid better, which evidently keeps them from becoming too gummy.

While the potatoes were cooking, I cut a full stick of butter into ½-inch pieces and kept them in the fridge.

Unlike the milk, the butter was meant to be whisked into the potatoes while it was still very cold and fresh from the fridge.

Had I warmed up the butter like the milk, it might have separated.

After ricing the potatoes, I started whisking in a little bit of butter at a time.

It was impressive to watch how quickly the potatoes became silky and creamy even before I started pouring in the warm milk.

Once the full stick of butter was incorporated, the instructions said to pour in just enough milk to make the potatoes "creamy but still thick." 

Ultimately, I only needed about ¼ of the milk to reach my desired consistency before stirring in the salt and pepper. 

Once the salt and pepper were thoroughly mixed into the potatoes, I whisked in the zest of one lemon.

Unsurprisingly, the full stick of butter and warm milk turned the potatoes into a silky-smooth, buttery-soft pile of fluff on my plate.

They were ultra-creamy without being soupy, and they were still able to hold their shape and form peaks when I spooned them into a dish.

These potatoes had an amazing texture that was both light and decadent at the same time.

Including salt, fat, acid, and heat in a recipe has become a common adage, so I couldn't believe I'd never thought to add lemon to my mashed potatoes before.

Mashed potatoes always include plenty of salt and fat from the butter or heavy cream, and there's a hint of heat when you add black pepper. 

But the lemon zest adds just enough acidity to cut through all of the rich textures and flavors, adding a nice brightness and freshness to help balance out the heavier ingredients.

I loved the taste and texture of Garten's mashed potatoes. They were somehow both rich and creamy and light and vibrant.

Although I loved the addition of lemon, I'd cut back slightly and use the zest of about ½ to ¾ of a lemon for a slightly more subtle brightness. I also think some fresh herbs, like chives or parsley, would complement the lemon and make the potatoes even better.

Overall, thanks to Garten's recipe, I'll keep a lemon handy anytime I want to make mashed potatoes.

This story was originally published on November 15, 2022, and most recently updated on November 25, 2024.