The Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes is one sided dish that is a must at a holiday dinner. These Perfect Mashed Potatoes are smooth, creamy, fluffy and sure to earn a permanent spot on your holiday menu.

Mashed Potatoes

No matter what holiday you are preparing for, mashed potatoes is a side dish that must always be on the table. 

There is nothing better next to turkey, ham, or Prime Rib than a scoop of soft, fluffy, comforting mashed potatoes. It gets even better when those mashed potatoes are smothered in gravy.

I like to make a different dinner menu for every holiday and different dishes every year but there is one thing that never changes and that is my homemade mashed potatoes. It’s a simple, classic, and comforting side dish that makes you feel like home.

These mashed potatoes are even more comforting made by the fact that my grandmother and my mom make these potatoes the same way. Each bite bring all the family dinner memories with it. I hope these mashed potatoes will make your family dinners just a cozy so you can make your own family memories around the dinner table. 

Tips for the best mashed potatoes:

When cooking potatoes, start with cold water and add potatoes to cold water.

Leaving the skin on or taking it off is a personal preference. Potato skin does have a lot of nutrients in it so leaving them on is not a bad idea.

If you leave potato skins on, make sure to wash them well. Otherwise, peel potatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes so they cook faster.

Cook potatoes with seasoning and herbs so that the flavors cook into the potatoes.

Remember to take out the bay leaf once potatoes are done.

Make sure to reserve some cooking water from cooking potatoes, don’t drain it all off completely.

Mash potatoes while it’s still hot.

Add liquid a little at a time, checking the thickness while mashing potatoes. If you add all liquid at the same time, you might add too much and mashed potatoes will be too runny.

Always taste as you cook (and mash) to check if more seasoning is needed.

Try Mashed Potatoes With Peas and Onions

If you’d like to spruce up your mashed potatoes and add more flavor, you can make them with peas and caramelized onions.

I love the flavor that caramelized onions add to the mashed potatoes.

To get a nice caramelization on the onions, preheat the pan on medium-high heat with some butter or oil. Add your diced onions and saute, stirring often, until the onions get that nice golden-brown color (and smell incredible).

You can also cook the peas in the water that you saved from mashed potatoes.

Some More Recipes for Holiday Dinner:

Collection of Turkey recipes

Scalloped Potatoes

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Creamy Italian Asparagus

Thanksgiving Stuffing

Green Beans with Molasses

If you made any of my recipes and shared them on Instagram, make sure to tag me @willcookforsmiles and #willcookforsmiles so I can see all the things you tried!

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5 from 2 votes

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The Perfect Mashed Potatoes

These Perfect Mashed Potatoes are smooth, creamy, fluffy and sure to earn a permanent spot on your holiday menu.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword mashed potatoes, potatoes

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4 (Makes about 4-5 cups of mashed potatoes so make that judgement if you need to double your recipe depending on size of your family.)

Calories 413 kcal

Ingredients

• 3 lbs Idaho potatoes peeled or not
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dry dill weed
• salt
• Save the cooking water from potatoes
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• Start with 1/4 cup of cooking water from above might have to add more
• Salt to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

1. Start by peeling your potatoes and cutting them in about 1 inch chunks. Cutting the potatoes will make it faster to cook and easier to mash. (If you want to leave skin on, make sure to wash potatoes well.)

2. Add the potatoes to the pot and add enough water to cover the potatoes comfortably.

3. Add the bay leaf, some salt, and dill weed. Bring to boil over medium-high heat and lower the heat to medium. Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are cooked all the way through and starting to fall apart.

4. Drain the potatoes and save some cooking water.

5. Place the potatoes back into the pot. Add butter, heavy cream, sour cream, about 1/4 cup of cooking water, and salt. Start mashing potatoes. When potatoes are mostly mashed and combined, see if you might need to add a little more water. If you do, add another 1/4 cup at a time until you reach a desired consistency. (You might only have to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup.)

6. Mash it for a while until it's nicely smooth. Taste to see if you need to add more salt.

Recipe Notes

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have a slight variation.

Nutrition Facts

The Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Amount Per Serving

Calories 413 Calories from Fat 144

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 16g 25%

Saturated Fat 10g 50%

Cholesterol 47mg 16%

Sodium 105mg 4%

Potassium 1442mg 41%

Total Carbohydrates 62g 21%

Dietary Fiber 4g 16%

Sugars 2g

Protein 7g 14%

Vitamin A 10.8%

Vitamin C 23.5%

Calcium 6.6%

Iron 16.3%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on November 12, 2013.