RECIPE: Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes (2024)

FAQs

When should I start the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving? ›

You can make the mashed potatoes a few hours before dinner, and then keep them warm on the stovetop. When you should start cooking: A couple hours before dinnertime.

Plan on 1/3 to 1/2 pound potatoes per person for your feast.

Sour cream adds a little bit of tangy flavor and a boost of richness to mashed potatoes. It's a fun change from the standard milk or cream and butter combo usually flavoring mashed taters. You can even try your hand at making homemade sour cream from heavy cream!

Make-ahead mashed potatoes are a great option for the holidays. You can do nearly everything — boil, peel, and mash; stir in milk and salt — up to two days ahead. Before serving, reheat. Adding butter at the last minute makes them taste freshly mashed.

If you're here, you'll probably be glad to know that yes, you can peel and cut potatoes the day before you plan to serve them — and that it's super easy! All you have to do is submerge the bare potato pieces in water and refrigerate (more on that later).

Instead of regular milk, pro chefs generally use a generous helping of buttermilk and plenty of half-and-half or (even better) heavy cream in their potatoes. If you think the bartenders up front are pouring heavy, they've got nothing on the cooks in the back who are in charge of the mashed potatoes.

Plus, the buttery richness of the yolks will pair perfectly with the earthy savoriness of the potatoes in a classic recipe and offer a perfect complement to more elaborate recipes like roasted garlic mashed potatoes. There's no need to temper the egg yolk when you add it to a mashed potato recipe.

Mash potatoes with half-and-half or milk using a potato masher. Add in the cream cheese and smash until the cheese melts into the potatoes. Add chives or scallions. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Once boiling, reduce heat, adjusting as needed to maintain a simmer. Cook potatoes until they offer no resistance when pierced: 10–12 minutes for baby potatoes, 15–20 minutes for small potatoes, or 30–40 minutes for large cubed potatoes. Drain potatoes in a colander and let cool 10 minutes.

How many pounds of potatoes per person for mashed potatoes? A 5-pound bag of potatoes makes 10 to 12 servings of mashed potatoes.

How many potatoes to peel per person for mashed potatoes? ›

Serving Size: As a side dish, you should plan on ½ pound of potatoes per person. That means if you are planning on 10 people, use 5 pounds of potatoes. 4 people, use 2 pounds of potatoes. To freeze leftover mashed potatoes, allow them to cool then place them in a freezer-safe bag.

Sour Cream: The sour cream helps keep the mashed potatoes fluffy. Cream Cheese: This adds a bit of creaminess without being too overpowering.

Milk – It smooths the starchy potatoes into an incredibly creamy mash. Use whole milk for the creamiest results. Sour cream – Technically, this ingredient is optional. If you skip it, the recipe will still come out great.

Heavy cream will make for the creamiest mashed potatoes, but whole milk or half and half will also work. Don't use anything with less fat than whole milk, otherwise, your potatoes won't be as flavorful or creamy.

The short answer is yes, you can make just-as-delicious mashed potatoes ahead of time. Guests won't even be able to tell the difference between fresh-off-the-stovetop potatoes and the same creamy version made days in advance.

Stir it gently together until combined, and that's your make-ahead mashed potatoes made! These can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days, OR if you're making them the morning of, you can just slip them into a crockpot (set to the lowest heat) and keep them warm until you're ready to serve them.

If you're making the potatoes only a couple of hours ahead, you can keep them warm. If you're making them a day in advance, you can put them in the fridge. When you're ready to serve the potatoes, heat the cream (or milk or stock, as the case may be in your recipe) in a saucepan until it comes to a boil.

If mashed potatoes are on the menu — and oh, we hope they are! — you may have wondered if you can shave off some party-day stress by making them ahead of time. We've got good news: You can prep the potatoes themselves a few days beforehand — and actually mash them up to 1 day before.