This is pretty much as simple and as good as it gets. Easy. Delicious. Creamy mashed potatoes. And for some reason I get asked how to make these more than other potato dish out there. The secret to the ultimate creamy mashed potatoes will blow you away. Plus learn my trick how to make these ahead of time and still have them perfectly creamy when serving a crowd.
You want to know the secret? Butter. Dry potatoes. And salt. Really that’s it. Potatoes are pretty boring and useless without salt. But when you add salt and butter to it along with a silky texture…you get magic on a spoon. There is one more…the creamy aspect. Sour cream.
I make these for my munchkin almost every Saturday morning. She loves potatoes and I enjoy licking the spoons after she is done eating.
For her I typically just mash them up by hand since I only make one potato for her. However, when I make a buttload for guests, I use my food mill. I find that give it the perfect silky smooth texture and gives my arm a rest from doing all the smashing.
OHHH here is a make ahead tip. Make the potatoes the night before per the recipe with HALF the sour cream and butter. Then before serving, heat up the potatoes in the microwave and the sour cream and butter in another pot. Add the mixture into the potatoes right before serving and you will have luscious creamy potatoes. Keep them warm by placing them into a pot, covering with a foil, top with a towel and then place a lid on top of that. Then you will have your nice warm potatoes waiting for you until you are ready to serve them up.
(It of course is listed in my 2016 Thanksgiving & Christmas Dinner Plan Extravaganza! Make sure you check out all the other yums that go along with it!)
I always add some sour cream to the potatoes as well to give it that…hmmmm what’s in here flavor? And nothing makes them as creamy as sour cream. Duh.
- Another secret to potatoes, make sure that the potatoes are drained. Well. Get all the water out of them after they are done cooking. Otherwise you end up with watery potatoes. And no one likes that!
I was making these one Saturday morning for the munchkin and of course decided to photograph them. As I turned my back to get the camera…the munchkin had ran up to my staging area…and went to town on them tators.
Munchkin caught in the act.
No shame…none at all.
Crazy Good Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 pounds potatoes peeled, cut and washed
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup of half and half
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- salt and pepper to season
Instructions
- Boil potatoes until they are fork tender.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the half and half on a low flame; keep warm.
- Strain the potatoes so that there is not water left.
- For the actual mashing process, I have found that using a food mill is by far the most effective way to get the creamiest mashed potatoes, with minimal effort. If you do not have a food mill then use a smasher or a mixer if you have it.
- Add all the sour cream and half of the butter mixture to the potatoes. Combine and see the consistency. Add in more butter and half and half if necessary. I like mine super creamy so I added it all in. Just add it in a bit at a time so the potatoes get a chance to absorb the liquids.
VITA says
April 4, 2015 at 10:39 pmLooks delicious and homey, can’t beat homemade mashed potatoes 🙂 If I were to sub the half and half for whole milk instead, it would still be 1/4 cup do you think? Or a bit less
Mila says
April 4, 2015 at 11:09 pmHi there vita! You know try it with less first. You can always add more 🙂