Creamy New Potatoes with Bacon and Chives

If you want to feel good about your gardening skills, you should grow potatoes. They don’t give you any trouble, don’t need staking or thinning, and yield a good crop at the end of the summer – or earlier.

My boys grow our potatoes, taking care of everything from cutting the seed potatoes and placing them in the earth – ‘eyes at the sky’- to weeding and occasionally hilling around the plants. Undoubtedly, though, the best fun is at harvest, when they climb into the raised beds with their toy shovels and fling dirt everywhere like a couple of pirates searching for treasure.

When they’ve collected a small bucketful of potatoes and hosed them off, we always head for the kitchen, especially if these are the first spuds of the summer. A freshly-dug potato, boiled and buttered, is one of life’s little pleasures.

Mateo is already wondering aloud when it will be time to dig for potatoes, but with all of our rain and cool temperatures, the garden is slow to mature this summer. In the meantime, we’re enjoying new, locally grown spuds and I have a favorite new side dish that’s made with them.

Creamy new potatoes with bacon and chives on www.simplebites.net #sidedish #recipe

I realize I am probably the very last person in North America to douse my baby boiled potatoes in ranch dressing, but just in case there is one reader who has yet to discover the satisfying combination, I am posting this simple recipe.

In it, tender potatoes are coated in tangy, buttermilk ranch dressing (homemade, of course) then finished with crispy bacon bits and minced fresh garden chives. It has all the flavors of a loaded baked potato, only you didn’t have to turn your oven on.

I don’t have to tell you this makes a killer side to your summer barbecue, and when it grows cold, just add a little diced celery and shaved radishes and you have a potato salad. You may want to make a double recipe and plan for leftovers. After all, isn’t summer cooking supposed to be simple?

ceamy new potatoes with bacon and chives

Creamy New Potatoes with Bacon and Chives

An ideal side dish to accompany summer barbecue with the flavors of a loaded baked potato.
4.43 from 7 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Side Dishes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 214kcal
Author: Aimee

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lbs new potatoes red or white
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 Tablespoons ranch dressing homemade or otherwise
  • 3 slices cooked bacon crumbled
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped chives or green onions

Instructions

  • Quarter potatoes and place in a medium pot. Cover with cold water, add salt and place on the stove top. Partially cover with a lid and bring to a boil.
  • Boil gently until fork tender. Drain and cool slightly.
  • Add ranch dressing to potatoes and stir to coat. Place in a serving bowl and sprinkle the bacon bits and chopped chives on the top. Serve hot.

Nutrition

Calories: 214kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 817mg | Potassium: 746mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 65IU | Vitamin C: 34.7mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1.5mg

 

How do you prepare potatoes in the summer? Salads? Grilled? Baked in the campfire?

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25 Comments

  1. I am so into these!! They are the perfect side dish for any summer meal

    And maybe I should plant some potatoes – because my gardening skills are in SERIOUS need of help!

  2. Aimée,
    The potatoes look yummy, and how great that the kids are in charge.
    Our garden is slow with everything except the weeds–they are sprouting up like crazy!
    Luckily the cool wet weather means weeding is easily accomplished of a morning.

    I’m intrigued by the idea of shaved radishes–I chop radishes from the farm share for many things, and tomorrow I’m posting a shaved beet open faced sandwich–so now I’m going to have to try shaving radishes in it as well.

    Thanks!

  3. Sounds yummy. And you’re not the last one to put ranch on your potatoes. I never have, but it sounds good!