Easy patatas bravas with garlic aioli
Patatas bravas is a Spanish dish, and it’s always something I gravitate towards when I go out for tapas – which admittedly isn’t often, but it should be. This stuff is good. If you’re not aware, patatas bravas is basically crispy potatoes served in a spicy tomato sauce… which kind of sounds a bit boring. But trust me, it’s amazing.
As usual, when preparing for this recipe, I read about twenty different patatas bravas recipes online – and as usual, I realised that everyone has a different way of doing it. So this is my own way. The easy way! But despite cutting a few corners, I ended up with crispy potatoes, a rich and spicy tomato sauce, and creamy garlic aioli to drizzle on top. Which I view as a pretty good result.
The potatoes in patatas bravas are often boiled and then deep fried, but that sounded far too labour-intensive for my liking, so I roasted them instead. They still end up nice and crispy, and fluffy in the middle, but with much less effort involved (and much less washing up to do afterwards).
To make the spicy tomato sauce, I blended up a red pepper with a tin of tomatoes and a few spices, then simmered it until it became thick and rich. Of course I used my favourite Cirio tomatoes – I guarantee that the cheapy supermarket own brand tomatoes won’t give a sauce that’s anywhere near as tasty. The Cirio tinned tomatoes are infinitely richer and more tomatoey, if that makes any sense. Using great quality tomatoes means that you can get away with a really simple recipe – you don’t need to add tons of other ingredients to get a tasty sauce.
Of course… a drizzle of garlic aioli is always welcome, whether you’ve got a super tasty tomato sauce or not. As you might expect, I cheated, and didn’t make mine from scratch – I just flavoured some mayonnaise with garlic and fresh parsley. Simples.
Patatas bravas is sometimes served with the tomato sauce mixed through the potatoes, rather than just spooned on top. Both ways are equally delicious, but I personally enjoy serving it up neatly and then making a mess of it on my own. You could serve these patatas bravas as a side dish, or tapas-style, with a few cocktail sticks for poking!
If you like the sound of this easy patatas bravas recipe, just grab yourself a couple of potatoes, a tin of Cirio tomatoes, and a jar of mayo, and you’re most of the way there.
Easy patatas bravas with garlic aioli
Ingredients
For the crispy potatoes:
- 2 large potatoes
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil
- Salt
- Black pepper
For the tomato sauce:
- 1 red pepper, cut into quarters
- 400 g tinned tomatoes (~ 1 1/4 cups)
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- Salt
- Black pepper
For the garlic aioli:
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled
- 1 small handful fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/2 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Cut the potatoes into 2cm dice, and toss with some oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a baking tray, and roast for around 45 minutes at 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F), or until the potatoes are soft in the middle and crispy on the outside.
- While the potatoes are roasting, make the tomato sauce. Add all of the sauce ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a pan, and place over a medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, and cook for around 15 minutes, until the mixture has thickened to your desired consistency.
- To make the garlic aioli, add the garlic to a mini food processor with the fresh parsley. Blitz until finely chopped. Add the mayonnaise and a dash of milk, and blitz again.
- When the potatoes are cooked, serve them topped with the tomato sauce and garlic aioli.
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose.
Thought this was really tasty! It didn’t take long to make and was fairly simple. Was able to get the sauces on with whilst the potatoes were in the oven, I actually managed to pack the two sauces separately and take them with me for lunch the next day.
Glad you enjoyed it Jasmin, thanks for the comment! :)
I have eaten these a few times in Spain and they are yummy. I really must try making your recipe ;-)
I’ve never had this before so I might try it out! It looks delicious!
This is bringing back happy memories of Barcelona for me. We always make this for our tapas nights too.
Barcelona is one of my favourite cities in the world!
I will be trying this recipe out once I have the ingredients. Sounds delicious.
This dish look divine! It a simple dish and one that i would make my husband and I when are looking for new alternative recipe/meal. xx
Patatas bravas is one of my favourite dishes in the world so I am definitely going to give your recipe a try xx
Thanks Charli, let me know how you like it :)
I absolutely LOVE ordering patatas bravas whenever we visit a tapas restaurant but Ive never made it at home. Now I will! xxx
Do it, it’s so easy!
These looks so delicious! I make a lovely spicy tomato sauce but never thought of making this with it! I’ll need to try it!
Mmmmm, patatas bravas – si, si , si! One of my favourite tapas dishes and yours look fantastic!
Don’t think I have ever had a dish like this but now I definitely want too!!
Patatas Bravas is always one of the things I swing towards during tapas too. Regardless of where I have it it always tastes good x
This is one of my favourite dishes! I never make it myself though – this looks great though so I should try!
Definitely, I love recreating my favourite dishes at home – and they’re usually easier than I expect!
Oh yum! This looks like an amazing dish. Both the sauce and the garlic aoili sound really nice and they’re easy enough for me to make.
I don’t do difficult ;)
I love batata bravas , I ate this almost every day when I was on holiday on the canary island.
That sounds like heaven! ;)
I looked at the name and thought, I have not idea what Patatas bravas is. In actuality I have been having this dish for longer than I can remember. I didn’t know it was a spanish dish too. Looks delicious
Haha it’s the sort of thing you always get at tapas restaurants. If you’ve ever been out for tapas you’ve probably had it there! :)
We love having patatas bravas at our local tapas restaurant. Fabulous dish! Great instructions and recipe too :)
Thank you! I need to go out for tapas more often, I love little picky meals :)
Oh yes! this sounds gorgeous. I love crispy potatoes and the sauce looks so nice!! will have to make this one day
I’ve never heard of this dish before but it sounds and looks delicous
I’ve never heard of this dish before but it looks delicous
I always go for patatas bravas when I have tapas as they are so moreish
Potatoes are dangerously moreish! There’s no such thing as leftover potatoes in my house ;)
Oh potatoes I’m a sucker for them!!!! This dish looks delicious, I could cook this, this evening x
Ooh this looks so good, might give it a try as have lots of aioli and Cirio tomatoes at the moment:-)
Haha this would be a great way to get through all your aioli!
I actually started drooling when I saw that all stacked up. In fact still drooling! Shared x
Yum! I love patatas bravas and this simplified version is perfect! I need to look out for those Cirio tomatoes.
You definitely should, they’re fab! :)
The aioli sounds wonderful! I’ve never had patatas bravas!
I love Patatas Bravas, I’ve always found it interesting how there seems to be a bit of a divide in Spain about how it’s done. In Seville I encountered something similar to this and yet Barcelona, Valencia and Mallorca have something more akin to a spicy ketchup and aioli on theirs. I wonder if it is a north south divide?
Could be, all the recipes I looked at were so different! I bet they’re all delicious though :)
This looks sooooooo good. I love the smokey tomato sauce piled on top, too. Gorgeous.
These looks so simple to make and delicious too :)
I’d be perfectly satisfied with this dish. Nicely done.
I have never heard of this dish…it looks amazing with the spices and potatoes.
I’ve never heard of this but it sounds delicious! Potatoes and tomato sauce and aioli together sound amazing.
Heck YES. That needs to be in my belly!!! I’ve had this dish before, but never made it. Guess that will have to change!
Anything that is made with potatoes is NEVER boring! That’s the Scottish part of me talking, but the Italian part loves the tomatoes, too!
I totally agree, adore potatoes – especially when they’re nice and crispy :)
Patatas bravas is one of my favorite dishes. I could eat a plate of of your version it looks delicious.
In what way are the Cirio tomatoes better than other brands / supermarket own-brands? Just want to make sure I’m not wasting my money if I switch to the expensive ones!
You definitely won’t be wasting your money! I always used to use the own brand ones since I’m a bit of a cheapskate, but they’re usually quite watery and they don’t have a particularly rich flavour – you end up having to add lots of other ingredients to make a decent sauce. The Cirio ones are much, much richer and more tomatoey (you can tell the difference the second you open the tin) and you can pretty much make a great tomato sauce just using a tin of tomatoes and some salt and pepper. Give them a try :)