Homemade Mashed Potatoes Recipe

This easy and delicious homemade mashed potatoes recipe is great with any main dish. Learn how to make mashed potatoes from scratch the easy way!

I love to make mashed potatoes for with things like baked chicken, meatloaf, and of course holiday meals. These simple homemade mashed potatoes go great with anything and they’re nice to have for leftovers. The kids can heat them up without help and you can also use leftovers to make potato cakes which are their own kind of wonderful!

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One of the best things about making mashed potatoes is that they’re a comfort food everyone will eat without complaint. There’s never any frowns around the dinner table when mashed potatoes are involved.

Serving up a hearty and indulgent side dish doesn’t have to be a ton of extra work for you though! It’s actually easier than you think to make really good homemade mashed potatoes.

What do I need to make mashed potatoes from scratch?

You will need a few ingredients that you likely already have on hand. You will need russet potatoes (more on that below), butter, salt and pepper, and some milk and heavy cream! That’s all!

Of course if you want to jazz up your potatoes you can always add some things to make them more flavorful.

Why do we need to use russet potatoes?

Russet potatoes are the best choice for making mashed potatoes because of their texture. New potatoes, red potatoes, and even yukon gold potatoes get really soft when you boil them and they get more a gluey texture when mashed.

They won’t taste bad per-say but they don’t have the best fluffy mashed potatoes consistency that we are looking for! Russet potatoes are the best best for this kind of dish.

How do I make homemade mashed potatoes more flavorful?

You can make this homemade mashed potatoes recipe more flavorful by adding ingredients to the recipe once it’s finished. This is one of those potato side dish recipes that just screams to be altered to suit your personal tastes and preferences.

Add things like garlic, sour cream, ricotta cheese, bacon bits, and of course shredded cheese. You can treat these mashed potatoes like a baked potato and serve them up with toppings for loaded baked potatoes!

Another really simple way to add more flavor to your potatoes is to serve them up with your choice of gravies. There’s nothing better than mashed potatoes with some gravy!

Chives, parsley, even a seasoning blend like Mrs. Dash can help to give your potatoes more flavor and then you also serve them up multiple ways to please everyone with very little added effort.

How do you make mashed potatoes?

You will love this super simple recipe. Mashed potatoes are really easy, I swear! So many people reserve them for special occasions and holidays but truly, they’re a simple side dish recipe that you can serve up anytime. In just two easy steps I’ll show you how to make those regular old spuds into a tasty side dish everyone will devour.

Wash the potatoes, then peel them before cutting into same-sized chunks. That way, they will cook evenly.

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15 minutes.

Next we need to drain the potatoes.

In a large bowl use a hand mixer to whip potatoes, butter, milk, cream, salt & pepper until fluffy and smooth.

Looking for more delicious side dish recipes to try?

If you are looking for even more tasty side dish recipes I’ve got you covered. There’s something for everyone to try, check out some of these other recipes and fill your meal planner in a flash.

• Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe
• Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary
• Cheddar Bacon Ranch Smashed Potatoes
• Rosemary Potatoes {Breakfast for Dinner}
• Baked Acorn Squash Recipe
• Delicious Corn Salad With Bacon
• Balsamic Roasted Asparagus
• Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
• Baked Brussels Sprouts With Bacon And Cheese
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Printable Homemade Mashed Potatoes Recipe: