Creamy Mashed Potatoes

These Creamy Mashed Potatoes are full of amazing flavor and completely homemade! They are perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas and will have everyone coming back for more!

This post is sponsored by Challenge Butter, but all opinions are my own.

Homemade Creamy Mashed Potatoes

There are few things better at Thanksgiving than alllll the potatoes. We have them in pretty much every form possible, but there’s no doubt that the most classic way of all is the mashed potatoes. I will honestly take them any time of year, but particularly at Thanksgiving I’m all about them and totally want to make them special.

This homemade version of creamy mashed potatoes is seriously the way to go. They are totally addicting. If you sample them after making them, which you have to because you have to test them (duh!), you might eat them all and not have any left for anyone else. Consider this your warning.

One of the most important things with these potatoes are the ingredients. You want the right potatoes and plenty of fat to make sure they’re creamy. Let’s dive in to how to make them.

Ingredients for Mashed Potatoes

You only need a handful of ingredients for these creamy mashed potatoes, so they are nice and simple to make!

• Potatoes – Yukon Gold potatoes are definitely necessary here. They have such a natural buttery flavor and soft texture that makes them perfect for mashing. Russet potatoes are also good, but they don’t have that same natural buttery flavor and you definitely miss it. I did a mix of the two because I think it’s a nice balance. You could also use all Yukon Golds for an extra-rich and buttery flavor.
• Heavy Cream – I went all in with the cream here. It adds richness and creaminess to the potatoes that you don’t get the same way from regular milk. If you prefer it though, you can use regular milk, it just won’t be quite as creamy.
• Unsalted Butter – Naturally I used my favorite butter, Challenge Butter. Challenge Butter is a wonderful, creamy butter that goes from farm to fridge in just two days, so you know it’s fresh. It has no added hormones, artificial flavors or filling, which I love because you can feel good about feeding it to your family. If you haven’t tried it before, you definitely need to. And since we are using a good bit in these potatoes to add flavor, Challenge Butter is the way to go!
• Salt and Pepper – This recipe makes a decent amount of potatoes so don’t hold back on the salt and pepper. You want plenty of it to accentuate the awesome flavor of these potatoes.
• Parsley – More of a garnish here, so it’s optional.

How to make Homemade Mashed Potatoes

These potatoes are fairly straight forward to make. The only thing I’d recommend to have is the potato ricer. It 100% makes these potatoes come together super quickly and easily. You can definitely make the potatoes without one, but it will take a little more work.

Also keep in mind that you want to work quickly once the potatoes are done boiling. They are much easier to mash while still warm. If they cool down too much, you may have trouble getting your potatoes as smooth and they become kind of sticky from having to work them so hard to mash them.

1. Boil Potatoes. Put the peeled and chopped potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil and boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until fork tender. Don’t over boil them or they can get too much water in them, which can mess up the final texture of the potatoes.
2. Dry the Potatoes. Drain the water from the potatoes in a colander, then set the colander with the potatoes over the warm pot on the stove. Let the potatoes sit over the hot pot for about 5 minutes or until dry. The heat from the pan and stove will help them dry out more quickly while also keeping things warm.
3. Warm Cream and Butter. White the potatoes dry, heat the cream and butter until melted and warm and stir together. Set aside.
4. Rice the Potatoes. Add the potatoes to a potato ricer and rice them all into the hot pot that was used to boil them, which should still be hot/warm. We don’t want the potatoes to cool down too much.
5. Add the Warm Cream and Butter. Pour the riced potatoes into a mixer bowl and add the hot cream and butter.
6. Mash the Potatoes. Use the whisk attachment of your mixer to mix and blend and smooth the potatoes. They should come together and smooth out quickly. You don’t want to over mix them. You could just do this part by hand with a wooden spoon as well, but I find the mixer does a great job and doesn’t break my arm.
7. Add Seasoning and Serve. Add salt and pepper and gently stir to combine. Sprinkle with parsley and serve warm.

How to freeze and reheat mashed potatoes?

While potatoes aren’t always known for freezing well, mashed potatoes are often ok because of all the fat in them from the cream and butter (yay for fat!).

To freeze them, add them to an airtight container and then thaw them in the fridge when you’re ready.

To reheat them, you can do so over low heat on the stove or at half power in the microwave, stirring regularly either way to help them heat evenly. Once heated through, add additional butter or cream as needed.

What to do with leftover mashed potatoes

You can always repurpose mashed potatoes as a side with another meal, but one casserole that they go great in is Shepherd’s Pie. It’s a staple for us and not terribly hard to make.

Alternatively you could also freeze your mashed potatoes for later.

More Great Sides for the Holidays

Classic Homemade Stuffing
Classic Green Bean Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole
Chunky Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Honey Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash and Cranberries
Easy 4 Ingredient Cranberry Sauce

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