Best Ever Homemade Mashed Potatoes 101: if I can do it, so can you!
Best ever homemade mashed potatoes. I promise you this and here is the easy to follow step by step recipe!
My gal pal, Marie, of 50 years of fast friendship this fall, has always made the best ever mashed potatoes. Whenever we have a potluck, I always put her on potato duty. She never asked why. I never really thought about it, either.
I know I made a lumpy mash, so stopped trying eons ago, and simply riced my potatoes. That’s it. Nothing more. I had apparently settled with the “fact” that I couldn’t make a good mashed potato. I could make glue. I could make a lumpy mash, but somehow, it didn’t bother me too much. Riced potatoes were healthier and worked well. Marie made the best mashed potatoes. There was no doubt about it, but I don’t think I had ever told her that.
That was until our last potluck. For some reason, I was in a mash mood. But really. And her potatoes were simply dreamy, as usual. Nothing new. But somehow, it was time. It was time for me to get with the program and conquer my inability. Gosh. How ridiculous. I can make so many things much more complicated than a mashed potato, but had given up on this so long ago, it was almost embarrassing. But, not quite. I used to tell my daughters: stop saying, “I can’t. It isn’t that you can’t. It’s that you have given up trying.” Clearly, I hadn’t heeded my own advice.
I gave Marie a call and asked her how she made her potatoes. She laughed. “You are joking, right?” and gave some kind of sketchy instructions assuming I made them all of the time. I convinced her I needed very specific instructions. She was shocked. Ha! I really hadn’t hid the fact that I couldn’t make them, I had just altered my life to never need to… and it was funny. So, she shared her simple process with me, and it has worked like a charm every time since. Look, ma! I can make perfect mashed potatoes now, and I’ll be 62 this summer! Woot!
Marie’s Best Ever Homemade Mashed Potatoes: Preparing the Potatoes
Vanja is so sweet when it is a special dinner, like this one was. He happily helps, but I am certain he doesn’t enjoy his time with me in the kitchen half as much as I enjoy his time with me! Easter Sunday morning he peeled 5 pounds of red skinned and yellow fleshed firm potatoes. He is fast and doesn’t use a peeler!
They went into a bowl of water until I could chop them up. Meanwhile, I had a big pot of salted water heating on the stove to boil them in.
Into a clean bowl of water went the chopped potatoes during the process. When the water was boiling, I transferred them into the pot with a slotted spoon. This was big. This was really different. I had never chopped my potatoes for a mash. I had either simmer-boiled them whole, or halved and if very large, quartered.
Marie’s Best Ever Homemade Mashed Potatoes: Cooking the Potatoes
Out of the cool water they had been soaking in, and into the boiling hot bath.
Why didn’t I think of cubing the potatoes. Somehow, I imagined nutrients escaping, maybe? What a difference little tip this makes to the mashing process.
Duh! Well, I guess I didn’t think about it. And what a difference it make in the time it takes to simmer-boil them!
As soon as the water begins to boil again, after the cubes are dropped into it, the timer is set for 15 minutes. They are simmer-boiled on medium and perfect every time when the bell rings. Only 15 minutes! They are ready to mash, and must be mashed hot.
Marie’s Best Ever Homemade Mashed Potatoes: Mashing the Potatoes
Without sweat on his brow, Vanja uses a regular potato masher for about a minute to mush up the cubes and enable a texture that will receive an electric beater. Of course I could do it by myself, and so can you, but I love to work together.
Everything gets done faster as I was getting out the mixer and the milk and the cheese while he mashed.
I then put in a quarter cup of whole milk. Marie would use 1/4 cup skim.
Another tip? Cream cheese. You won’t taste it. Not at all. Marie uses lite. I use full fat. (Does it show?)
Whisk all together with an electric mixer. Works like a charm every time. I just whisk and smile. I have been missing this simple pleasure all of my life.
What joy. What fluff! The best ever homemade mashed potatoes are then seasoned and the remainder of the milk is added, as needed. I find I use it all and the texture is perfect. No. You do not need Vegeta. Honestly. I don’t notice it as much as Vanja. Somehow, he can taste when I leave it out and food spells h-o-m-e to him with Vegeta in it.
Whisked to combine all, then tasted and seasoned again, if necessary.
Folded to fluff, and they are ready!
Marie’s Best Ever Homemade Mashed Potatoes: Serving the Potatoes
Just look at that bowl full of soft white Vitamin C filled goodness. Yes, there is cream cheese. You can make it without. I know how, now. But, they would not then be the best ever homemade mashed potatoes! They would just be great mashed potatoes. These, my friends, you will find yourself making happily every after. Let me know, if you do!
Marie's Best Ever Homemade Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2.5 kilograms red potatoes
- 125 grams milk
- 250 grams cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Vegeta
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Materials Required
- 1 Heavy Pot or Dutch Oven
- 1 Potatoe Peeler
- 1 Slotted Spoon
- 1 Sieve or Colander
- 1 Electric Mixer
Instructions
-
Put heavy pot filled with water on stove to boil while peeling potatoes
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Peel potatoes removing all blemishes and eyes; soak peeled potatoes in cool water while peeling
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When finished peeling, change water; cube potatoes into small evenly sized cubes, returning to fresh water until all are chopped
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Water should now be boiling; add a generous amount of salt (about 1 tablespoon)
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Using a slotted spoon, transfer chopped potatoes into boiling water; bring back to a boil
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When water returns to boil; set timer for 15 minutes
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Check potatoes for doneness (easily pierceable with fork); turn off heat and strain through sieve
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Place potatoes back into warm heavy pot; mash with masher until crumbly enough to accept electric mixer; add 1/4 cup of milk and cheese
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Whip potatoes into milk and cheese with electric mixer for 1 - 2 minutes, until creamy; add seasonings and remaining milk, as necessary
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Whisk to combine; taste and adjust seasonings
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Serve immediately, or cover and reheat when needed
Thank you! I too have struggled to make good mashed potatoes!
Petra!
You? I am as surprised to hear that as Marie was to hear it about me! With your massive family, I think that this would be on the Sunday dinner menu often enough – but am so tickled to hear we share yet another “alikeness”.
Love you dearly, my friend, and hope we can get together again soon.
XOXO
Valerie
These mashed potatoes look like sheer perfection. I love the color and the texture totally seems on point.
Lisa Favre
http://marblecrumbs.com
Thank you, Lisa!
You can only imagine that I was tickled pink! Love them!
🙂
Valerie
Love this recipe! Just one question .. how do you warm these up, if making them ahead???
Gerri,
I just put them in an oven proof serving dish in the oven at 300 and reheat.
🙂
Valerie
Dear Valerie,
Here I am again, writing twice in two days!
I am not bragging… Only making a point. I am the best (perhaps, one of the best) cooks I know. (Maybe I should make some new friends!) My mother was a great cook and I have loved to cook since I was “a wee one.” I am a foodie, as are my husband, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. I have a “gazillion” cookbooks. People ask for my recipes… and often don’t make them. I won’t go into my theories about that, but I presently live in Central Florida, (for now, but not forever), land of the “Eater-Outers.” I laughed out loud when I read your admission about making mashed/whipped potatoes! I, too have never mastered those “billowing clouds of comfort” my mom and mother-in-law used to make before they entered the billowing clouds in Heaven! Too late to ask! So, thank you Valerie!… And thanks to your friend, Marie. I’ve even entreated “my Vanja” (Hubby, Jim) to help with the peeling and dicing of the potatoes in the future. Great idea!
Susan
PS: The “Butter Tarts” at the Le Have bakery are addictive. Is there any chance of getting that recipe?
Oh! A kindred spirit! Sweet! Let me know how your potatoes turn out. I don’t know about the Le Have butter tarts, but I will promise you that I have never had one better than my great grandma’s on my own website.
🙂
Hugs
Valerie
I peeled, diced and boiled them. Husband, Jim mashed and whipped them with a hand whip. We partnered in adding the additional ingredients. They were “almost” perfectly fluffy, creamy and delicious! You taught me how to master the mashed potato and I am eternally grateful! Sincere thanks! And Jim plans to do his part whenever I make them!
On a humorous note, I didn’t have a hand mixer. ???? I received one 44 years ago for a shower gift and returned it. As a newlywed, I had a KitchenAid mixer, (I burned the motor out of that one fifteen years into our marriage, and a second one fifteen years later), a Cuisinart Food Processor, a Waring Blender, etc. and felt, “What do I need a hand held mixer for?” And I survived! My daughter-in-law could never believe that this cook never had one. However, when I read that the final step in making “to die for” mashed potatoes, was to whip them with a hand mixer, I suddenly had o have one. No big old KitchenAid for this job, no Sir-ee! I decided it was time. I went to trusty Amazon.com, found a KitchenAid hand mixer that stirred my heart. And… if I ordered right then and there, it would be at my front door by 9 pm! I “Pay-Pal-Purchased and, lo,and behold, it was at my front door by 9 pm! And I know, our next batch of mashed potatoes will be “perfectly” whipped! I also ordered Vegeta, which I’ve never seen in the states before, for next time. I will now search for your great-grandma’s butter tart recipe! Thanks and Hugs again! Susan
The hand mixer note is hilarious. I can completely relate as I had to dig mine out of a drawer that it had been stored in for over 10 years without being used – until this recipe! So glad that you enjoyed the same thrill as me! Nothing like a great homemade mashed potato and it’s not as easy as everyone says it is to make them!
Glad you made it into a “family activity”! I call my husband, Vanja, “Chef Sous”! As he is the best sous chef, ever!
🙂
Big hug,
V
You are indeed a Sweetie Pie! Glad we make each other giggle! Now on to the Butter Tarts!
Hugs right back at ‘cha!
Susan
OMG, you are amazing for sharing this as I am in search for a mashed potato recipe. Just reading this makes me salivating. Adding it to milk and cheese, I just can’t wait to try this on my own. For sure, my nieces will gonna love this version of mashed potatoes.
Let me know how it goes, Taylor! We love them!
🙂
Valerie
And on a final note…. I was not happy with the hand mixer that arrived promptly at my door at 9 pm on a Sunday night. It was not stainless. It sure looked stainless. Caveat Emptor – Buyer beware! Read every word of those ads, Susan! (Me!) (And friends, too!) It was stainless-colored plastic, not well-balanced, and, although light, it was not “comfortable” in my hand. Good quality beaters, though. I read reviews, which I had neglected to do, which for a slightly obsessive-compulsive person, was not a good idea. But sometimes we are “caught in a moment” and do careless things. Ah, such is life! But for a woman celebrating her forty-fifth wedding anniversary this July, I wasn’t about to settle. Heck, this little hand mixer will be it for the duration. How many times will I make “Valerie/Marie’s mashed potatoes over the next twenty years (if I’m lucky.). So back to Amazon it went.
Amazon issued a refund and mailer to return the unaccepted mixer. Research and review told me to order the Cuisinart, and I did, in white, (which would come in a plastic storage box which held all the attachments, as well as the mixer.). No fake looking stainless for me. The next day it arrived – a fake chrome colored one. Oh, no. Would I ever get the right mixer to honor those heavenly mashed potatoes? Amazon representatives are very patient. Again, a return label was issued. I ordered a white Cuisinart, and eagerly awaited. I purchased potatoes and cream cheese.. And the next day a large box arrived… With TWO white Cuisinart hand mixers! I am happy to report, I now own one white highly-rated hand mixer, with a separately purchased balloon whisk. And those heavenly mashed were perfectly perfect! Thank you, Valerie!
What a story! My goodness, Susan! Good for you! Would you believe my own mother (87 this past month) made these potatoes, too, just yesterday, and loves them!
Happy Weekend to you!
Hugs,
Valerie