Mashed Potatoes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is milk or cream better for mashed potatoes? ›

As always, better quality ingredients equals better tasting food. Heavy Cream - While you, hypothetically, could use whole milk or something, I don't recommend it. Part of what makes these the creamiest mashed potatoes is the CREAM! Use the cream, we aren't eating mashed potatoes for our health.

Garnish With Herbs

Speaking of delicious green things, both woody herbs like sage, rosemary, and thyme, and leafy herbs like dill can add freshness to this starchy side. A herb-based sauce like pesto swirled into mashed potatoes is another way to add vibrant flavor.

Overworking the potatoes will cause them to get gummy, potatoes should still be light and fluffy. 6. Add the butter first. Adding the butter first helps to coat the starch in the potato, resulting in a creamier potato.

Sour Cream: The sour cream helps keep the mashed potatoes fluffy. Cream Cheese: This adds a bit of creaminess without being too overpowering. Heavy Cream: Increases the creaminess and helps thin out the potatoes a bit.

Mash potatoes with half-and-half or milk using a potato masher. Add in the cream cheese and smash until the cheese melts into the potatoes. Add chives or scallions. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Adding egg yolks to a pot of mashed potatoes is an easy, dairy-free texture and taste upgrade that doesn't require any special techniques. The yolks harbor all the flavorful fats and emulsifying components and will thus effectively unify the fat and water in potatoes, translating to a smoother, uniformly creamy pot.

The secret weapon, a good potato ricer (affiliate). This pushes the potatoes into strings, which helps them soak up every bit of the cream and achieve maximum fluffliness.

The mayonnaise gives the mashed potatoes a smooth, velvety texture, with a slightly tangy flavor. It's also slightly white in color and blends in well. It helps to thicken the mashed potatoes. It also makes the potatoes moist without an overpowering mayo taste.

Sour cream adds a little bit of tangy flavor and a boost of richness to mashed potatoes. It's a fun change from the standard milk or cream and butter combo usually flavoring mashed taters. You can even try your hand at making homemade sour cream from heavy cream!

How many potatoes per person to make mashed potatoes? ›

Plan on 1/3 to 1/2 pound potatoes per person for your feast.

Always Warm the Dairy First

For the very best result every time, always gently warm the butter and milk before adding to the potatoes, rather than adding cold dairy straight from the fridge. Here's why: Warm dairy is absorbed faster and more easily, with less stirring than its cold counterpart.

Always start cooking potatoes in cold water and mash them while still warm.

This comes down to personal preference. Potato skins have great potato flavor. Not only do they add flavor, but some really like the texture of potato skins in mashed potatoes. If, however, you are looking for a super-light and fluffy mash with no color contrast, then you may want to consider peeling the potatoes.

Is milk or cream better for mashed potatoes? I use half-and-half: it gives the potatoes the perfect creamy texture and rich taste. As a half-and-half substitute, you could also use heavy cream or whole milk. Whichever you use, just start with a little and add more as you need it.

Heavy Cream: Makes these potatoes extra rich and creamy. Whole Milk: Adds moisture and flavor. Unsalted Butter: Enhances the richness of the potatoes. Salt + Pepper: Enhance the natural flavor of the potatoes.

If you don't have heavy cream, what are good alternatives for mashed potatoes? I can't think of a single reason to waste good cream on mashed potatoes—especially since a little milk of any fat percentage (I use whole milk), or a little butter with some chicken stock will do just as well.

Whether you like your mashed potatoes country style, extra smooth, or covered with gravy, you can't go wrong with the addition of butter and cream. Without the two ingredients, you miss out on a lot of flavor and richness, not to mention it just doesn't taste the same.