Simple Creamy Mashed Potatoes
potatoes
Updated 24th November 2024
These perfectly fluffy and creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes are really easy and quick to make and turn out perfect every time. They require very basic pantry ingredients and no special tools required. The perfect side dish for all your stews and great with chicken, turkey or steak and gravy or sauce! They are infused with garlic flavor, creamy buttery and rich.
There’s no real rocket science behind great mashed potatoes - butter, cream or milk and some elbow grease is really all you need but you might need a few tips to make your current recipe for them even better. Ultimately a potato ricer is prime for achieving completely lump free mashed potatoes but not everyone has that handy tool in their kitchens. Don’t worry - a good sturdy masher will get you just about close enough. Ofcourse processing in a food processor or blending the potatoes will get you there fast but more often then not those methods over blend/mash the potatoes so that instead of creamy they end up gummy - not so good. It’s a fine line so I usually DO NOT recommend it.
Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe Ingredients
- POTATOES: Really and truly you can mash any potato and some people love to use a variation of a few for extra texture but I have found that using Yukon Gold Potatoes or russet potatoes yield the creamiest mash potatoes. The russet are slightly starchier but absorb seasonings, butter, and cream really beautifully - yielding fluffy mash. The Yukon gold ones are more expensive but have a naturally more buttery flavour and texture. Feel free to do a combination if you would like.
- GARLIC: I use 3 small cloves of garlic for this recipe - feel free to add more for extra glaricky mashed potatoes or less for more subtle flavors.
- SALT: Used to salt the water and flavor the mashed potatoes - adjust to taste
- BUTTER: I use unsalted butter cubed and room temperature - no need to melt it. Add more to taste.
- CREAM: I like to use heavy cream or half and half because I love the richness the cream adds to these - if you prefer to use milk I recommend whole milk or you could do a combination of both. Add more to taste and to get the texture you desire.
- EXTRA ADD INS: Feel free to finish these mashed potatoes by mashing in or stirring add in ¼-12 cup of sour cream or creme fraiche. You could also stir in some cheese or cooked crumbed bacon.
Extra flavorings to add to your potatoes
I love to keep things simple with the add ins to my mashed potatoes but there are plenty of things you can add to them for extra flavour and tang. Feel free to use sour cream, buttermilk or even cream cheese for extra flavour and tang. You can add garlic and herbs to them too. Some people like to roast their garlic or boil it in with the potatoes to soften it and make it mash-able which is a great option and what I like to do for this easy quick version. I also love infusing those extra flavours into the milk or cream while I heat it up. Just throw your cream on the stove with some thyme, rosemary, minced garlic, or whatever other aromatics you enjoy. Simmering the cream on low heat will infuse that flavor directly into the liquid. Strain it after you’re done and ditch the aromatics to keep the texture of the mashed potatoes pure. I have full details in recipe notes below about how to roast your garlic if you would like to take that route.
How To Make These Easy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- COOK POTATOES & GARLIC: Place chopped potatoes and whole peeled an smashed garlic cloves in large pot and fill with cold water with salt - bring to a boil then reduce and simmer until tender
- DRAIN POTATOES & RETURN TO POT: Drain cooked potatoes and garlic and place back into hot pan off the heat.
- ADD CREAM & BUTTER: Drizzle in the warm cream and add in the room temperature butter.
- MASH POTATOES: Mash potatoes combining them with the cream and butter until smooth and creamy
- ADJUST FLAVOR & TEXTURE: Add more cream/milk or butter to taste or to reach desired consistency and taste and adjust for salt and pepper.
Tips to make great mashed potatoes:
- It’s always a good idea to cook the potatoes in cold water: This ensures that the potatoes cook evenly instead of putting them into boiling water.
- Cut potatoes before boiling. Don’t boil them whole for this recipe because large, whole potatoes cook unevenly. So instead, cut your ptatoes into evenly sized smaller pieces for quick and even boiling. I usually peel mine because I don’t want to have to worry about peeling them while they are hot unless you are use a ricer.
- Don’t let the potatoes cool before mashing - you want to start mashing as soon as possible after they’ve been boiled and drained for easy and effective mashing.
- Always use warm milk or cream - Milk straight out of the fridge will cool down otherwise piping-hot potatoes. The cold liquid will not absorb into the hot potatoes very well
- Do not melt butter before stirring it into the potatoes because the milk solids and fat will separate. Room temperature butter to your hot potatoes is ideal because the butter will melt as a whole and distribute the fat and milk solids evenly.
- Do salt the water the potatoes are boiled in as they will absorb it and will make them more flavourful and do check seasoning throughout the whole process. You’re going to need to use plenty of salt—starchy and fatty foods need a lot of it to really come through
- After draining the cooked potatoes put the potatoes back in the hot pot, and let them sit there shaking them up a bit in the pot for 1 minutes. This lets the potatoes dry out a bit which leads to more flavorful and less waterlogged potatoes. Then start adding the butter and cream.
Of course you could add cheese and bacon bits and other yummy toppings that you can also stir into the mash too. There are loads of options. Feel free to play around with the flavours and add ins. This is a great staple recipe that you can build on and one I think you will love.
Garlic Mashed Potatoes Storage & Freezing
- STORAGE: You can typically mash the potatoes and keep them refrigerated for about two to three days. Same goes for leftovers. Which actually makes this a good side dish to make ahead. Be sure to store them in an airtight container otherwise they will oxidize and turn gray.
- REHEATING: Mashed potatoes can be reheated in the microwave, oven, or a hot water bath. Make sure to reheat them covered to retain moisture and make sure to stir in some melted butter, milk or cream to loosen them up before serving.
- FREEZING: I don’t typically like to freeze mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes can become grainy if they’re made with high-starch potatoes like russets or baking potatoes, and then frozen and reheated. A good tip if you plan on freezing your mashed potatoes is to use waxy potatoes like red potatoes or Yukon Golds. Mashed potatoes also freeze best when they’re made with lots of butter and cream, and not just broth and oil. Make sure to freeze in an airtight container or in smaller portions in ziplock bags with air pressed out of them. (some like to flash freeze portions on a lined baking sheet until portions are frozen solid then transfer frozen portions into sealed bag or container then into the freezer). Freeze up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the fridge then reheat as stated above.
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Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lb potatoes, peeled and cubed (approx 1 inch pieces)
- 3 small cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
- 1 tbsp salt (for boiling)
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed and room temperature (plus more for topping potatoes)
- ⅓ cup heavy cream or full fat milk, warmed (plus up to ¼ cup more if needed)
- Salt to taste
Directions
- Place potatoes and garlic cloves in a large pot with 1 tbsp salt. Add cold water so it’s covering potatoes by approximately 4-5 inches.
- Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce heat so it’s at a rapid simmer. Cook approx 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are very soft, tender and falling apart easily when pierced with fork.
- Drain well, return to hot pot off the heat. Allow them to sit in dry pot for for 1 minute, shaking them around the pot a few times, to help remaining moisture evaporate.
- Add the butter and the cream then mash potatoes and garlic really well, adding a little extra cream as needed to loosen up the mash.
- Transfer to serving bowl, drizzle over some extra melted butter sprinkle with some pepper and fresh chives or fresh herbs of choice then serve!
Recipe Notes
- Storage, reheating and freezing instruction details in post above.
- Roasted Garlic Version: Trim the top bulbs off of 1 small/medium head garlic so that the tops of the garlic cloves are exposed. Drizzle oil over garlic head, then wrap in aluminum foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. When the garlic has baked for approximately 35 minutes, start boiling your potatoes. Once the potatoes are drained. Remove garlic from the oven. Cut garlic head in half and squeeze softened cloves into the pot. Then add rest of the ingredients and mash as written in recipe.
- Using A Ricer or Food Mill: This produces the smoothest texture without overworking the potatoes - so if you have one please use it. Run the potatoes through it hot then stir in remaining ingredients
- Adding More Milk Or Cream: I have seen recipes out there for mashed potatoes (same amount of potatoes) with 1½ -2 cups of liquids (milk and heavy cream) and 2 sticks of butter - that is more then double what this recipe calls for. I personally think that is a bit excessive at least to start with. Each batch of potatoes you boil or cook and each time you make a recipe (despite using the same weight in potatoes) will absorb liquids differently every time - so my general rule is start with what the recipe calls for then add in a little more as needed to get the texture you prefer. if you need a little extra cream just quickly heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up before adding it.
