These are the best mashed potatoes, creamy, flavorful and the perfect side dish for any meal!
Hot mashed potatoes with gravy are one of those ultimate comfort food meals. They’re the perfect side dish for your favorite dinner, and of course perfect for the holidays.
These mashed potatoes are delicious served with some garlic steak kabobs, or slow cooker turkey breast, a western bacon cheeseburger for your new favorite side dish.
These mashed potatoes are creamy, rich, and buttery. They’re delicious eaten even without gravy, though of course topping them with your favorite turkey gravy, beef gravy, etc is sure to make these mashed potatoes your new favorite side dish!
Make sure to read the full post to get some extra tips and tricks to give you the best homemade mashed potatoes you’ve ever had.
Ingredients needed to make Mashed Potatoes:
- Potatoes
- Heavy Cream
- Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Salt
How to make the best Mashed Potatoes?
Start by cleaning your potatoes, peeling them, and cutting them up into cubes. Add them to a large pot and fill the pot with water up to about an inch above the top of the potatoes.
Heat the water over medium high on the stove top until it is boiling, then lower the temperature a bit to keep it simmering. Let the potatoes continue to cook once the water is boiling for about 15 minutes, or until you can pierce the pieces with a fork. Drain out the water.
While they are cooking add your cream and butter to a small pot and heat them up until the butter is melted, or microwave them in a bowl till melted.
Add the potatoes to a clean bowl and mash them with a potato masher or whatever you have on hand. Then add in the warm cream and butter, and room temperature cream cheese, and salt. Fold it together until it’s all combined. Taste if you need more seasonings.
Top with chives, salt and pepper, cheese, butter, etc. to serve! And serve with gravy if desired.
Tips for making the best Mashed Potatoes:
- You can leave your potato peels on if you want, you’ll just have the chunks of them in the mashed potatoes. If you like that texture, then it’s a great way to save a step.
- Make sure to cut your potatoes in pieces as even as you can to ensure they cook evenly so you don’t end up with huge chunks of under cooked potatoes in your mashed potatoes.
- Avoid using a mixer or stand mixer (unless you’re experienced with this and have done it before) it’s very easy to overwork the mashed potatoes and they end up in a sticky gummy mess. Instead use a potato masher, ricer, or even a couple forks.
- Instead of cream cheese you can substitute sour cream, or greek yogurt instead.
- You can substitute half and half, or whole milk for the heavy cream. The higher the fat content the richer your mashed potatoes will be. But you can use the lower fat options if you want to cut calories, or use what you have on hand.
- Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature, and warm up your heavy cream and butter so they don’t cool down your potatoes and cause them to seize when they’re added.
- You can also add in some shredded cheese (parmesan or cheddar are delicious) for some extra flavor.
- Minced garlic or garlic powder are also a delicious flavor addition to these potatoes.
What type of potatoes are best for mashed potatoes?
Yukon Gold potatoes are the best choice for classic creamy, rich, and dense mashed potatoes. They’re flavorful with a natural almost buttery flavor to them, making them the perfect choice for mashed potatoes.
If you want more pillowy and soft mashed potatoes the best option is Russet Potatoes. These potatoes are higher in starch so you need to make sure not to over mash them when mixing or you’ll end up with gluey gummy potatoes.
How many pounds of potatoes should you use?
Depending how large of serving you expect people to make, or if you want leftovers of course, it’s hard to know exactly how many pounds of potatoes to get to serve a group. You should plan on 1/3 to 1/2 pound of potatoes per person. That means if you’re planning on serving 10 people, I would get 4 to 5 pounds of potatoes. If you’re planning on serving 6 people, then you’ll probably want 2 to 3 pounds of potatoes.
This mashed potato recipe makes enough mashed potatoes for about 6 to 8 people, so it’s perfect for a large family, or when you want leftovers. If you’re making these mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner with alot of people then you might want to double or even triple the recipe. But only because everyone will be coming back for seconds.
How to store leftover mashed potatoes?
Leftover mashed potatoes should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. They can be stored for up to 4 days. When you’re ready to reheat the mashed potatoes microwave them until warm, stirring half way through.
Mashed potatoes can also be frozen. Keep them in a freezer safe bag or container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge overnight, then reheat them in the microwave or oven till hot.
Or if you are reheating a whole family serving of mashed potatoes, then you can reheat them straight from frozen in the oven in an oven safe baking dish at 350 F for about 25 minutes. Stir after 20 to 25 minutes, adding in a couple Tablespoons of milk or heavy cream as needed, then reheat another 10 to 15 minutes, or until hot throughout.
These mashed potatoes are so delicious, perfect served on the side of turkey, ham, or a pot roast. They’re delicious on their own, or served with your favorite homemade gravy.
More Side Dish Recipes:
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Candied Pecans
- Loaded Mashed Potatoes
- Green Bean Casserole
- Savory Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Frog Eye Salad
Connect with Like Mother, Like Daughter
Be sure to follow us on social media, so you never miss a single post!
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
For Boiling the Potatoes:
- 3 lbs potatoes
- 1 tsp salt
For Mashing the Potatoes:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 TBS salt (to taste)
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
- Scrub and clean your potatoes, peel them and chop them into even 1-2 inch sized pieces.
- Add your potatoes and salt to a large pot and cover them with cold water, at least one inch over the top.
- Bring the water to boil over medium high heat, then lower the temperature to medium low to maintain a simmer. Let the potatoes cook for another 10-20 minutes, or until they are fork tender.
- When the potatoes are almost done boiling, add the heavy cream, and butter to a sauce pan and heat them until the butter is melted. Or microwave them together in a microwave safe bowl for about 1 minute, in 30 second increments. Set it aside.
- Drain the potatoes and place them in a large bowl.
- Mash the potatoes with a couple forks or a potato masher to your desired consistency.
- Add the warm heavy cream and butter mixture, cream cheese, and salt to the mashed potatoes and fold them until just combined. Don't overbeat them or your potatoes will end up gluey.
- Add more salt as needed for your desired flavor.
Nutrition
These mashed potatoes were first posted on November 13, 2014. The photos and text were updated for clarity on November 16, 2021.
Kara says
It must have been the parmesan that made these over the top delicious! I’ll have to add it to my recipe, which is almost exactly the same except for that addition. 🙂
Melissa says
Wow! These sound dangerous! But if I’m going to die, I hope I will have eaten these potatoes just before!