You can make these smashed potatoes without bacon. Simply swap the bacon fat for olive oil, coconut oil or other favorite fat (butter works, too).
1 pound baby red or yellow potatoes, scrubbed
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
4 slices thick-cut bacon
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried
Sour cream and sliced scallions for serving
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Add potatoes to a large pot and cover with about 2 inches of water. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to a simmer and cook until fork tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain.
In the meantime, lay a cooling rack inside a sheet pan with edges. Then place bacon slices on to the cooling rack. Bake in the oven until crispy, 15 to 20 minutes; reserve cooked bacon slices and remove cooling rack from sheet pan. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of baking fat from the sheet pan.
Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Add cooked and drained potatoes to sheet pan with bacon fat then toss so the potatoes are well coated.
Using a potato masher, lightly press down each potato, rotate the masher 90 degrees and press down again. You should be left with discs of potato.
Drizzle the tops with a small amount of olive oil (or spray with non-stick cooking spray). This makes sure the potatoes are extra crispy. Season with salt, pepper and rosemary.
Bake until crispy and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.Serve with sour cream, green onion and crumbled bacon from earlier.