We often preach about not straying too far from tradition when it comes to feeding your family and friends on the holidays.

To this point, we’ve shared three of our recipes for potato side dishes that we think you’ll really enjoy and given our wide variety of Salvaggio’s Tradition Spices, these sides will yield some amazing results.

These three recipes use three different potatoes: Baby Fingerlings, Sweet and Yukon Gold.

You can substitute other potato options (or vegetables) for the potatoes listed in these recipes. For example, a good substitute for Baby Fingerlings is small Red Skins. For the Sweet Potato, you can actually use Pumpkin, and for the Yukon Gold, an Idaho or Michigan Russet will do nicely.

That said, here are our three recipes.

Maple Roasted Baby Fingerling Potatoes with Bacon, Green Onions and Fresh Thyme

Serves 4

1 lb.                  Fingerling Potatoes

6 Strips             Bacon, cut in ¼” pieces across the width

¼ Cup               Green Onions, cut ¼” on the bias

1 tsp                 Fresh Thyme Leaves, chopped

2 TBSP              Pure Maple Syrup

To Taste            Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

1. Roast fingerling potatoes at 400 F approximately 20 minutes or until softened to the touch. Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. In a large sauté pan, cook bacon until crisp and then remove all but 2 TBSP of bacon grease, leaving the bacon pieces in the pan.
3. Add potatoes and maple syrup, and sauté 5 minutes.
4. Add remaining ingredients and sauté 3 minutes to cook green onions and thyme.
5. Season to taste and serve.

Sweet Potato & Ham Hash Browns

Serves 8 persons

2 lbs.                 Sweet Potatoes

¼ Cup                Vegetable Oil

1 Cup                 Sweet Onion, chopped

1 TBSP                Fresh Garlic, chopped

1 Cup                  Smoked Honey Ham, julienned

2 TBSP                Chives, chopped

To Taste               Salt & Pepper

1. Rub whole sweet potatoes (with skin on) with 2 TBSP of the oil and then roast in a 375 F oven until tender. Cool, remove skins and dice into ½” cubes. Set aside.
2. In a large skillet, sauté the onions and garlic on medium heat in the remaining oil until softened.
3. Turn the heat to medium high and add the sweet potatoes and ham. Allow the mixture to rest, unstirred, for 2 minutes at a time to promote browning. Then, gently fold over and repeat until the potato mixture has some color. Avoid stirring to keep potato pieces intact.
4. Just before serving, season with chives, salt and pepper.

Twice Baked Yukon Gold Mashed Potato with Crispy Onions

Serves 8 persons

3  lbs.                    Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled, large dice

As Needed              Water

1/4 Cup                  Egg Yolks (approximately 5)

8 Strips                  Bacon, cut ¼” pieces across width

½ Cup                    Green Onions, chopped

1 Cup                     Cheddar Cheese, shredded

½ Cup                    Sour Cream

To Taste                  Salt & Pepper

2 Cups                    French’s® Crispy Onions

1. Sauté bacon until crisp and reserve with its resulting grease.
2. Cook potatoes in gently simmering water until softened. Drain and keep warm.
3. Beat together potatoes, bacon (and grease), egg yolks, green onions, cheese and sour cream.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Spray a 9” x 13” casserole dish with vegetable spray and fill with potato mixture.
6. Bake at 400 F until top is lightly browned and mixture is heated through.
7. Sprinkle crispy onions over top and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and serve.

The potato is a wonderful food that offers so much flexibility and variety. We hope you give these fresh takes on potato side dishes a shot!

Check out our full library of recipes HERE.