How To Make Mashed Potatoes

Prep time: 30 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Mashed potatoes have been a staple of a good old-fashioned home cooked meal in countries like the United States and Ireland for possibly three hundred years. There are those that believe they were invented in France as the result of a potato recipe competition. But no matter where their origins, no Thanksgiving dinner in America would be complete without fluffy homemade mashed potatoes drenched in turkey gravy. But these buttery delights don’t have to be drowned with gravy as long as you know how to make mashed potatoes the right way. The basic recipe for mashed potatoes is easy and you don’t have to be a gourmet cook to make them. What makes one batch distinct from another are the things you can add either right before or right after they are mashed. Let’s start with the fundamentals of making mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

6 russet potatoes
1 cup of heavy cream*
1/2 cup of salted butter at room temperature
salt
You can substitute plain milk or buttermilk.

Instructions

Peel the potatoes and remove the eyes, then place them in a bowl of cold water so they don’t turn brown as you are cutting them up.
Cut the potatoes into approximately 1-1/2 inch chunks.
Put the potatoes in a large pot and completely cover them with water. Over high heat bring the water to a boil and then turn down so they can simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove them from the heat and drain long enough to remove all of the water.
Put the potatoes in a bowl and add the butter and milk or cream. Heating the milk first will help make your potatoes nice and creamy.
You can use either a potato masher or an electric mixer to mash your potatoes. Never use a food processor. If you use a hand masher, use an up and down technique rather than a stirring motion. If you use an electric mixer, be careful not to over mix them. No matter what method you use, mix the potatoes well enough to get rid of any lumps but not so much that your potatoes end up sticky or gluey.
Add salt to taste.

Notes And Extra Tips

Here are some ways to dress up your potatoes so they are sure not to need gravy. For garlic mashed potatoes, roast about 5 cloves of garlic for every 6 potatoes you have used. Add the garlic plus 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese before you mash.
For something a little zingy and exotic, add about 1 tablespoon of wasabi powder for every three potatoes. You can find this either at an Asian market or in the Asian section of upscale supermarkets.
Now that you know how to make mashed potatoes, you can use the same technique to make mashed sweet potatoes , but add a little brown sugar while mashing.

Mashed potatoes

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Comments (18)

18 Comments »

AMAZING THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im goin to use this recipe from now on ;)

Comment by awesome — October 3, 2010 @ 3:05 pm
i love mashed potatoes!!!!
thank you so much….

Comment by Natasha — October 5, 2010 @ 9:39 pm
for how many serving is this recipe for ?

Comment by jasmin — October 8, 2010 @ 11:26 am
I boil my spuds with about 1/2 a med onion and 5-6 garlic cloves, use “Kerry Gold” unsalted butter, sour cream, heavy cream, swiss cheese and cream cheese, sea salt and seasoned pepper to taste.

The trick is to add bullion cubes in place of the salt while boiling your spuds. We use chicken, parsley, cilantro, mushroom etc., depending on the main course.

Also for a quick gravy, skip the packets folks, and use demi-glaze. Commercial demi-glaze is available at most upscale or gourmet stores and comes in various flavors including traditional veal and beef, roasted chicken, lamb and vegetarian.

Keep smashin!

Comment by Rick S — October 13, 2010 @ 5:16 pm
my lil girl has her first lose tooth..all she wants 2 eat is mashd potatoes lol

Comment by anna — October 13, 2010 @ 8:29 pm
Thank you!!!! It tastes awesome!!

Comment by Awesomer — October 13, 2010 @ 8:35 pm
my kids will love it! thanks!

Comment by connie — October 24, 2010 @ 9:02 am
This is my favorite dish! I can live without eating rice but i cant live if i cant eat mashed potato!

Comment by anne — October 30, 2010 @ 3:25 am
i’m gonna make this one tomorrow for my nephew’s birthday. i’m sure he’ll love it.

Comment by jen — October 30, 2010 @ 4:51 am
Awsome Recipe!!!!:)

Comment by mayra — November 9, 2010 @ 12:40 pm
These taters really tooted my horn! If you make this for your annual shindig, people will say, “This stuff is the S#@t!” Then they will give you money so you can fuel your crystal meth addiction.

Comment by poop face Mcgee — November 24, 2010 @ 2:30 am
I’m about to try it so wish me luckk.

Comment by Raven — November 25, 2010 @ 1:48 am
Can you put left over mashed potato in the fridge?

Comment by Katie — December 10, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
Ummmm….about how much milk do you add? I’m making some for just myself and I used 5 potatoes so I could have left over but…I dunno how much milk I need lol.

Comment by Josh — December 29, 2010 @ 10:11 am
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!this is my first tryout in the kitchen.Good beginning

Comment by veena — December 31, 2010 @ 9:33 am
Sweet baby jesus i nvr thought u culd do so much with mashed potataoes. these recipees is fly!

Comment by Max — February 4, 2011 @ 1:32 pm
awsome mashed potatoes made it 4 da fam well appreciated cheers

Comment by aditya mehra — February 27, 2011 @ 10:20 am
yay! I tried for the first time.. It was great! delicia.. yum yum! nice and thanks for this recipe! muah muah haha

Comment by Diana — October 3, 2011 @ 3:30 am