Full of flavor and zest, these slow cooker potatoes are one of the most delicious and easiest side dishes you will ever make! These are perfect for any weeknight dinner and your family will enjoy the velvety tenderness in every bite! These pair amazingly well with Pot Roast!
New potatoes are the best side dishes and that’s exactly what you are going to get with these slow cooker potatoes. These are made with gemstones which are a mixture of purple and red potatoes and then slow cooked for several hours with fresh minced garlic, butter, and the most flavorful seasonings. Simply put, this is about to become one of your family’s favorite new potato recipes.
Why This Recipe Works
- This is a slow cooker recipe which means it gets to do all the hard work, not you.
- It only takes 5 minutes to prepare these slow cooker potatoes.
- The texture of these potatoes have a smooth and velvety finish, have an amazingly savory flavor, and pair well with just about anything.
This is one of those potato recipes you need to have in your collection. They are that delicious!
Ingredients You’ll Need
I buy a 1.5 pound bag of gemstone potatoes when making these. You will typically get a combination of yellow, red, and purple potatoes. If you’re not a fan of that variety, you can use baby red potatoes or small yukon gold potatoes. If you have a flavored olive oil on hand, use it. While extra-virgin olive oil works great, using a flavor infused oil really enhances the flavor. And talking about adding flavor, if you like rosemary potatoes, you can add in some dried rosemary to the seasoning.
Different Types of Potatoes
You can use any small potato of your choice for this recipe, and there are several potato varieties that work well with this recipe. But I love these little Gemstones the most. I like the variety and each type of potato provides different nutritional value which is a plus. But my favorite thing about using these is how tender they become when they are slow cooked. We’re talking velvety smooth texture! You can find these at your local grocery store, but I’ve also been successful in finding these at Costco and local health food store like Sprouts or Trader Joe’s.
Step-by-Step Recipe Instructions
Cooking potatoes is easy. To start, rinse the potatoes and then add them to your slow cooker. Next, add the olive oil, butter, garlic cloves, dried oregano, basil, dill, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to the slow cooker. Expert Tip: I like a lot of garlic so I use at least 5 cloves, but add more if you want a stronger garlic flavor.
Stir all the ingredients together with a large spoon so the ingredients are well combined. Set the slow cooker to low heat and cook for 4 hours. When done, remove them from the slow cooker and place them in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and stir so the cheese slowly melts while the potatoes are still hot.
Many people prefer to top this side dish with fresh chopped parsley, but I like topping these with chopped green onions. The flavor of the green onions mixes well with the garlic and dill seasoning.
And there you have it! You now have a small potatoes recipe full of flavor and zest!
Main Course Pairing
This small potatoes recipe goes so well with so many main course dishes. For example, my husband loves when I serve these with my 10 Garlic Clove Marinated Grilled Filet. Personally, I like them with chicken and my favorite recipes to eat these are my Chicken with Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce as well as my Lemon Thyme Chicken with Garlic Rosemary
Regardless what dish you serve these with, I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to love them!
Expert Tips and FAQs
- Check the potatoes 4 hours into the slow cooking process. The goals is for a fork to be able to slide smoothly into the potato. Make sure you don’t overcook these because they will start to dry out.
- While the potatoes are slow cooking, stir occasionally so the garlic herb mixture doesn’t stick or burn to the bottom.
- When moving the cooked potatoes from the slow cooker to the bowl, ensure you include all the flavorful juices from the slow cooker. That’s where a lot of the flavor lives.
- If you are going to double the recipe, you have to double the cooking time.
- A lot of people ask me what size slow cooker they need for this recipe. I have 2 crock pots; I have a 3 quart and a 5 quart crock pot. As long at the 1.5 pound potatoes fit in your crockpot, your crockpot size should not matter. This is the crockpot I own.
More Red Potato Recipes
If you love all things potatoes, then I think you should check out my Homemade Mashed Potatoes. These are made with red potatoes and have that same velvety texture like this recipe does. If you own a smoker, try making my Garlic and Herb Smoked Potatoes. My Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes are also a family favorite and work well with so many main dishes!
I can’t wait to hear how these turned out, so leave a comment below letting me know! When you make this, use the hashtag #recipesworthrepeating on INSTAGRAM so I can see how your dish looks!
Make sure to FOLLOW ME on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. I’m always posting recipes that I know you will love.
Slow Cooker Herb Roasted Garlic Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 bag mini potatoes (I used a 1.5lb bag of Gemstone Potatoes)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (use a flavored olive oil like garlic or basil if you have it on hand. It enhances the flavor)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- fresh chopped chives
Instructions
- Wash the potatoes and place in a slow cooker.
- Add in the olive oil, butter, garlic cloves, dried oregano, basil, dill, salt, Italian seasoning and pepper.
- Stir all the ingredients so they mix well with the potatoes. The butter should be soft enough to mix well with all the other ingredients and coat lightly.
- Set slow cooker to low and cook for 4-5 hours.
- When done, remove the potatoes from the slow cooker and place them in a large bowl. Stir in freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
- Top with the chopped chives.
- Serve immediately
Notes
- While the potatoes are cooking in the slow cooker, stir occasionally so the garlic herb mixture doesn't stick or burn to the bottom.
- Check the potatoes 4 hours into the slow cooking process. The goals is for a fork to be able to slide smoothly into the potato. Make sure you don't overcook these because they will start to dry out.
- When moving the cooked potatoes from the slow cooker to the bowl, ensure you include all the flavorful juices from the slow cooker. That's where a lot of the flavor lives.
- If you are going to double the recipe, you have to double the cooking time.
- A lot of people ask me what size slow cooker they need for this recipe. I have 2 crock pots; I have a 3 quart and a 5 quart crock pot. As long at the 1.5 pound potatoes fit in your crockpot, your crockpot size should not matter. This is the crockpot I own.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published in October of 2016, but was re-published with updated step-by-step instructions, pictures and tips in September of 2020.
These look delectable! I’m always roasting little (and normal sized) potatoes, but I’ve never tried doing them in the slow cooker. Have fun in London! I’m heading there soon myself to visit family.
Thanks! Yes – such an easy recipe and so full of flavor!! Have fun in London! It’s so amazing here, especially as we enter into the holiday season!
no water?
Correct! No water is needed because your potatoes are going to naturally “make” water. Plus, the olive oil will help with the moisture and that’s how they cook all the way through. STart checking these at 3 hours…mine were 100% done right at 4 hours on low in the crock-pot.
Love to try these, but could you use fresh basil as dried has no flavor to me.
Yes!! Using the fresh version of the herb in the recipe would be amazing!! Let me know how you like it and I’ll try that next time I make these!!
Directions don’t mention adding the butter. Should it be melted and do you add it with all the rest of the ingredients or at the end?
Hi – good catch! I added the specific steps about the butter to steps 2 and 3! Thanks! Let me know if you need more info here!
this recipe looks yummy. How many pounds in a small bag? I have a very large Costco bag so wanted to know the weight recommended or the number of potatoes.
The bag I used was 1.5 pounds. I used gemstone potatoes. If you weigh out your small potatoes you got at costco, use 1.5 pounds. I hope that is helpful!
This looks so yummy! The number of servings and calories are different in the recipe and nutritional information, which one is correct?
Hi there – It’s 4 servings not 6. So the servings size is 1 cup of cooked potatoes to make a total of 4 servings. 275 calories per serving. Let me know if that helps or if you have any questions on this! And yes – they are SO yummy!!
This looks/sounds so yummy, but my “print” button won’t produce copy of the recipe. Any suggestions how I can get much desired copy?
Hi there – my print button is working with no problem. Make sure all your pop-up blockers are not blocking the print functionality. Also – what browser are you on? I would suggest trying to print in FireFox or Chrome. Let me know if you have any other issues and we can troubleshoot.
can you double this recipe? I am cooking for a larger crowd.
the potatoes look delicious!
I have not tried to double the recipe but yes you could. Just do the fork test around 4 to 5 hours in the crockpot and see if the potatoes are done. They may need more around 5-6 hours to get all the way done if you double the recipe! Let me know how it turns out!
What is the size of your crockpot? I have a small one and will probably have to make adjustments to the recipe.
Hi – I have the large oval crockpot but I also have to regular tall one that’s of average size and 1.5 pounds of the potatoes that this recipe calls for should work fine in any crockpot you have without having to adjust the recipe. As long at the 1.5 pound potatoes fit in your crockpot – you should be good!! I hope that’s helpful!
I doubled the recipe (3 pounds potatoes) for our Christmas Eve buffet but the potatoes were far from done after four hours. I had to put them on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven. I only had time to leave them in for 25 minutes and they still needed more time. I wonder if adding a small amount of water would help? And I suppose they would need to cook 8 hours or so in the crock pot? I think the idea is great for dinners or buffets with a lot of people because it frees up space in the oven for other things.
Doubling the recipe and cooking them in the crock-pot for 4 hours total is not going to get the potatoes done. If you double the recipe, you need at least 5-6 hours to get the potatoes all the way done…probably the full 6 hours if not more. But like I mentioned, I have not doubled the recipe before so I don’t know the actual cooking time for that quantity. When testing a recipe for a large group of people, I’d allow up to 8 hours to ensure they are fully cooked. You can always put them in them in the oven to “re-warm” them.
When I make these, I don’t use any water and they turn out great! But I only use 1.5 lbs of small gemstone potatoes.
My recommendation is for you to double the recipe and let them cook for 6-8 hours and really test out how long it takes to ensure they are done. I’m thinking probably around hour 7 or 8 they will be done.
I hope that helps!