Mashed Potatoes

This is a recipe for classic Mashed Potatoes, with a handful of ingredients that always results in the most delicious potatoes, totally whipped and fluffy. Learn How To Make Mashed Potatoes that are incredibly delicious, creamy and buttery. You can’t go wrong with my mom’s version!

My Mom’s Mashed Potatoes

I can’t believe that after all these years of blogging and sharing recipes with you, I’ve never shared my mom’s classic recipe for mashed potatoes. And I say classic because she’s been making these all my life. Mashed potatoes really are my favorite side dish, no ifs and/or buts about it. But this is the way my mom has been making these potatoes for years and it’s a no fail recipe. 

What makes my mom’s recipe different? Well I’m sure it’s not different than many of the mashed potatoes recipes out there, but it is a bit different than how I make mine, not so much in the ingredients, but the way we mash them.

Ingredients In Mashed Potatoes

Here’s what you’ll need to make this incredible and easy recipe:

• Potatoes – I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes or Russet Potatoes.
• Salt & Pepper – I usually use white pepper but black pepper works as well, especially if you like to see the black specks in the potatoes.
• Butter – I always use unsalted butter in most of my cooking and baking because this way I can control the amount of salt that goes in my food.
• Half and Half or Milk – My mom usually uses milk but if you would like these potatoes to be a bit creamier go with half and half cream which contains 12 % fat. You can even go ahead and use heavy cream which usually contains 38 % fat.

What Makes My Mom’s Mashed Potatoes Special

Mom usually goes all out when she makes our Sunday suppers and her mashed potatoes are always light and fluffy and totally whipped. She always uses a mixer to whip them up. I’m a bit lazier than her and I just use a potato masher. Granted, my mashed potatoes aren’t as fluffy, but still good.

What Potatoes Are Best

Best potatoes for mashing are higher starch potatoes like Yukon golds, my favorite, or Russets. These potatoes will result in the fluffiest, smoothest and most flavor-packed mash.

Of course you can use other varieties of red or white skinned potatoes, but they will require more mashing in order for them to become creamy.

How To Make The Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Peel and cut your potatoes. Make sure you cut your potatoes in cubes of equal size so that they cook at the same time. Place them in a large pot and wash the starch off until the water is clear. Did you know that removing the starch reduces the carbohydrate content, which is perfect if you’re on a low-carb diet!

Fill the pot with cold water, enough that it fully covers the potatoes and add about 1 tsp of salt. Boil them for about 15 minutes or until fork tender.

Drain the potatoes, add the required ingredients such as butter, milk or half and half, salt and pepper. User a mixer to get them nice and fluffy and until they start to form peaks. Always taste for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper as necessary.

Some Tips

Potatoes: Use the right potatoes as Yukon golds or Russets.

Salt your water: Just like you always salt your pasta water, you need to salt the water that the potatoes cook in. The starch granules swell and absorb water and salt. If you add salt while cooking the potatoes, you won’t need to add as much later on.

Drain your potatoes well after cooking to avoid mushy potatoes.

Butter: Let the butter come to room temperature before melting it into the hot potatoes.

Although you can store leftovers mashed potatoes in the fridge, they are best when made fresh.

Other Ingredients You Can Add

This is a very basic recipe I’m sharing with you here, however, you can add so many other ingredients, almost anything and they will taste incredible! Here are some options:

• Cheese – any cheese like cheddar cheese or parmesan cheese
• Chives
• Other fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme or parsley
• Bacon – yes bacon does make everything better
• Sour cream – it will make super creamy mashed potatoes
• Eggs – raw eggs that is. This is my husband’s favorite, it totally adds a little extra richness

How To Serve

When we made these mashed potatoes, we served them with my Garlic and Paprika Chicken as you can see in the photo above. It was a match made in heaven! Here are a few other suggestions:

• Baked Chicken Breast
• Prime Rib Roast
• Beef Bourguignon
• Crock Pot Roast
• Meatloaf
• Honey Mustard Glazed Ham
• Pork Schnitzel
• Balsamic Pork Loin

Leftovers

Store leftover mashed potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.

You can also freeze them in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 10 months.