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40 Perfect Potato Recipes

40 Perfect Potato Recipes

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com

Updated September 03, 2020

Blaine Moats

Hash brown casserole, potato pancakes, double-stuffed potatoes, potato soup, potato salad, mashed potatoes—however you fix it, the potato is a tradition at Midwest tables.

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Roasted Potatoes, Fennel and Lemon

Blaine Moats

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Roasting lemon mellows it out without losing its brightness. All the while, it adds a lemony taste to the potatoes, fennel and sweet shallots.

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Hash Brown Casserole

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An all-time reader favorite, this creamy hotdish is a guaranteed hit at potlucks. (In fact, you may want to make two pans!)

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Creamy Potato Casserole

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A little chopped ham, wedges of potatoes and a cream cheese-Gruyere sauce fill this comfort food casserole. Crushed bagel chips make a crunchy topping.

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Chicken and Corn Hash Brown Bake

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This comfort food hotdish offers a new twist on the usual hash brown casserole. Try it for everyday meals as well as potlucks!

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Perfect Mashed Potatoes

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The classic mashed potato recipe! Cooking tips: If you leave the skin on the potatoes, mash them with a potato masher rather than an electric mixer (because the skin will get caught in the beaters). If you want to use a potato ricer, wait to add the butter until after you've passed the potatoes through the ricer.

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New Potato and Chicken Casserole

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Green beans, mushrooms, leeks, potato and handy rotisserie chicken make this creamy casserole a true one-dish meal.

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Potato Latkes

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Cast iron's heat retention means oil holds a high temperature, so fried foods crisp quickly and evenly. These traditional Jewish potato-onion fritters have tender centers and lacy rims. Top them with sour cream or applesauce.

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Bavarian-Style Potato Salad

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Serve this tangy vinegar-based potato salad with bratwurst and sauerkraut for a meal worthy of a German beer garden.

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Cheesy Potato Soup

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Potato, bacon and cheese--all the flavors you love in a bowl of soup! The American cheese keeps the soup from curdling while it slow cooks. Mashing cooked potatoes a bit gives the soup some body, while the bacon adds a smoky-salty taste.

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Shingled Potatoes with Thyme

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Layering thinly sliced potatoes in a casserole dish means the tops get crisp while the bottoms are meltingly tender.

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Bacon-Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes

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Tangy blue cheese and salty bacon make traditional mashed potatoes even more indulgent.

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German Potato Salad

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Serve this old-fashioned potluck dish warm.

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Chipotle Smashed Potatoes

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This is the ultimate feel-good dish: two kinds of mashed potatoes with bacon. Cream cheese adds richness; chipotle chile brings a subtle smoky flavor.

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Glad Tidings Potatoes

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Drizzle red-skinned new potatoes with a rich, cheesy sauce to make Glad Tidings Potatoes, from western South Dakota's Spearfish Canyon Lodge.

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Best Potato Pancakes

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Our taste panel loved this comfort food from The Echo in Cincinnati. For a crispy crust, cook the potatoes at a higher temperature.

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On-the-Light Side Potato Salad

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This lighter version of traditional potato salad calls for cubed white, red or Yukon gold potatoes mixed with light sour cream and a combination of olive oil, vinegar, garlic and black pepper.

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Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Dipping Sauces

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Use either unpeeled sweet potatoes or russet potatoes for these easy grilled potato wedges. Cook wedges in boiling water first to shorten grill time. Serve with Creamy Chive Sauce or Honey Sesame Sauce.

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Garlic Mashed Potatoes

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Quivey's Grove in Madison, Wisconsin, whips up this version of mashed potatoes that matches plenty of dairy richness with garlic, Parmesan, black pepper and green onion.

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Twice-Baked Potatoes

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Mix butter, sour cream and Swiss or Gruyere cheese into mashed Yukon Gold potatoes to create this rich side dish. Our recipe also gives variations for Bacon-Cheddar Twice-Baked Potatoes and Southwestern Twice-Baked Potatoes.

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Swiss-Potato Breakfast Casserole

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With just 180 calories per serving, this meal is lighter than many casserole options. But it combines favorite flavors, including ham, eggs, cheese and potatoes. It's perfect for brunch.

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Roesti

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The New Glarus Hotel in New Glarus, Wisconsin, serves up a taste of Switzerland with this potato cake -- pure comfort food made from just five ingredients.

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Smoked Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash

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This colorful one-skillet meal lends itself to improvisation; you could trade the red sweet peppers for green, the spinach for kale, the turkey for ham or the fried eggs for scrambled. Of course, we think the original recipe is pretty darn perfect, with a blend of potatoes and tasty browned onions whose caramelly flavor ties the dish together.

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Cranberry-Apple Sweet Potatoes

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Mix pantry ingredients -- canned apple pie filling, canned sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, apricot preserves, orange marmalade and chopped pecans -- for a quick-and-easy side dish with a crunchy nut topping.

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Herbed Egg-Potato Bake

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You can assemble the cheesy Herbed Egg-Potato Bake up to two days ahead and refrigerate it.

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Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Pecans

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Toasted pecans and melty marshmallows top whipped sweet potatoes in this classic special-occasion side dish.

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Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

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This easy-to-make layered cheesy potato dish pairs well with pork chops or ham.

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Bacon and Baked Potato Soup

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Salty-smoky crumbled bacon tops our cheesy potato soup. "I made this soup and we loved it! Best potato soup ever!" writes one of our website reviewers. "I put carrots in mine; made it even better."

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Fire-Roasted Dilled Potato Medley

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Season this colorful potato, carrot and onion combination with just dill, salt and pepper.

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Grilled Potato Packets

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Slice russet potatoes and combine with sweet peppers, onion and fresh parsley for Grilled Potato Packets. Foil packets trap steam that gives potatoes a boiled flavor and texture.

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Nacho Potato Skins

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Whip up this easy appetizer ahead of time, and store it in your fridge. A few minutes before you want to serve them, broil until hot and crispy.

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Grandma's Potato Salad

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This sweet, radish-studded potato salad recipe was handed down from a Cosmos, Minnesota, grandmother to her twin granddaughters.

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Calico Potatoes

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Bacon drippings combine with sizzling onions to give this two-potato side dish an irresistible aroma and flavor.

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Spicy Double-Smoked Mashed Potatoes

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The secret to these potatoes is boiling whole peeled garlic cloves along with the potatoes. Shredded smoked Gouda cheese and finely chopped chopotle pepper in adobe sauce add to the spicy flavor.

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Roasted Baby Potatoes with Herbs

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We play up an assortment of potatoes--such as baby Dutch yellow, fingerlings, baby purple and round red--in this easy-to-fix recipe.

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Fingerling Potato Salad with Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette

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You'll have more Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette than you need for this fresh-tasting potato salad; keep the extra dressing on hand for another potato or pasta salad. The recipe is from Chicago chef Myk Banas.

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Easy Potato Soup

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This quick and easy recipe, from a Halstad, Minnesota, farming family, features just five ingredients and can be on the table in 15 minutes.

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Pick the right potato

Starchy potatoes mash, bake, fry and roast well, while waxy ones work best in casseroles and salads because they hold their shape. Look for smooth, firm spuds without cracks or soft spots. Whether you peel is your choice.

New potatoes: Young potatoes, any variety, have very thin skins, less starch and a waxy texture. Best for boiling, grilling and roasting.

Russets: Also called Idaho or baking potatoes, these thick-skinned tan spuds are mealy with lots of eyes and a high starch content. Best for baking, grilling, mashing, frying.

Round white potatoes: With light beige skin and white flesh, these medium-starch, waxy-textured potatoes work for boiling and frying.

Long white potatoes: The thin-skinned oval spuds' firm, waxy texture and tiny eyes make them an all-purpose choice.

Round red potatoes: Thin-skinned, these rosy-colored potatoes have a firm, waxy texture. Use in dishes where shape is important.

Yellow potatoes: These thin-skinned beauties come in varieties such as Yukon gold and Finnish yellow. They're smooth-textured and buttery--good for any dish.

Sweet potatoes: These spuds fall into two categories: orange, moist and sweet, or yellow, dry and unsweet. Either kind is good for baking, grilling, roasting and boiling.

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40 Perfect Potato Recipes

1 of 37

Roasted Potatoes, Fennel and Lemon

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Hash Brown Casserole

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Creamy Potato Casserole

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Chicken and Corn Hash Brown Bake

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Perfect Mashed Potatoes

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New Potato and Chicken Casserole

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Potato Latkes

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Bavarian-Style Potato Salad

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Cheesy Potato Soup

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Shingled Potatoes with Thyme

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Bacon-Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes

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German Potato Salad

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Chipotle Smashed Potatoes

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Glad Tidings Potatoes

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Best Potato Pancakes

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On-the-Light Side Potato Salad

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Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Dipping Sauces

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Garlic Mashed Potatoes

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Twice-Baked Potatoes

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Swiss-Potato Breakfast Casserole

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Roesti

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Smoked Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash

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Cranberry-Apple Sweet Potatoes

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Herbed Egg-Potato Bake

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Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Pecans

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Creamy Scalloped Potatoes