Learn these easy tricks to make the absolute best creamiest roasted garlic mashed potatoes that make for the perfect side dish to any main entrée. You should definitely try serving these up with my Grilled T-Bone Steak Recipe with Lemon Butter or my Black and Blue Steak Recipe.
Believe it or not, there’s an art, even to making something as simple as mashed potatoes. It’s understanding these simple techniques so that you can make absolutely anything homemade, which only takes a few more minutes and steps while always rendering the best food out there.
If you are always on the hunt for great potato side dishes then you have to check out my potatoes au gratin recipe and sweet potato casserole.
What Is the Best Potato for Mashing
Here are a list of the best potatoes for mashing.
- Golden Yukons – These potatoes are a cross between the North American white potato and a South American yellow potato. They have the perfect combination between dry and moist and make for a fantastic mashed potato.
- Russets – These large brown potatoes, which are often referred to as Idaho potatoes, are high in starch, on the drier side but still make a great mashed potato as well as French fries.
- Red New Potatoes – These are smaller potatoes with red skin and have the highest sugar content of these 3 potatoes and are a great combination of dry and moist. I love using these with the skin on in a mashed potatoes recipe.
How to Make Garlic Mashed Potatoes
1. Cook together garlic cloves and olive oil over low heat until browned and tender, about 20 minutes. This process is called garlic confit
2. Strain the oil from the garlic cloves and set both aside.
3. Heat heavy cream and unsalted butter sticks together in a small saucepot over low heat until melted. You just want to keep the cream and butter warm.
4. Peel and quarter Yukon gold potatoes and place them in a large pot with water.
5. Add garlic cloves and salt to the pot with the potatoes and water.
6. Cook the potatoes over medium-high heat and at a low boil until they are soft and tender, about 10-12 minutes.
7. Strain and transfer the potatoes to a food mill and rice the potatoes along with the roasted garlic cloves until they are mashed through the food mill.
8. Add the hot cream and butter, some of the drained roasted garlic olive oil, sour cream, salt and pepper to the mashed potatoes and mix until incorporated.
9. Serve with more melted unsalted butter and chopped chives for garnish.
Mashed Potatoes With the Skin On
You can absolutely use potato skins in your recipe. I advise you to wash and scrub the outside skins of them before cutting them and boiling them.
There are some significant nutrients such as iron and potassium found in potato skins and are certainly an added health benefit to leaving them on in a garlic mashed potatoes recipe.
How Do You Make Them Thicker
The absolute biggest contributor in ensuring you can make mashed potatoes thicker is making sure they are cooked properly. If you overcook them while boiling them, they will only be able to hold so much added ingredients such as butter, cream or sour cream.
With that being said if you really love thick garlic mashed potatoes you can add in any of the following until the desired amount of thickness is achieved:
- Flour
- Potato Flakes
- Potato Starch
- Corn Starch
- Arrow Root
- Tapioca
- Cheese
Just cook them correctly and add anything you want to it and they will remain thick.
Healthy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
A way to keep this recipe on the healthier side would be to swap these ingredients.
Butter <-> Yogurt
Heavy Cream <-> Fat-Free Milk
Garlic Olive Oil <-> Plant-Based Oil or Butter
These are a really fantastic side dish to just about any main entrée whether it’s for the family during the week, serving some guests on the weekend or for a holiday spread! No matter the occasion, you will love them!
What to Serve It With
Recipe Chef Notes + Tips
How To Reheat: To reheat the garlic mashed potatoes simply add your desired portion to a small saucepot with a little bit of butter or milk and heat over low heat until hot. In addition, you can simply add them to the microwave and heat until hot.
Storing and Freezing: They can be stored in the refrigerator covered in plastic for up to 4 days. They can also be frozen covered for up to 2 months, however, they will lose quite a bit of moisture and flavor if frozen.
If you notice the mashed potatoes have sucked up all the cream and oil and are really thick, feel free to add more oil and sour cream to help thin out a little bit
You can absolutely use a stand mixer, hand mixer or a manual hand masher when mashing the potatoes.
In my own humble opinion, the best potato out there for mashing are Yukons because of their balance of sugar to starch
More Amazing Side Dish Recipes
Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Pinterest and if you’ve had a chance to make this then definitely drop me a comment and a rating below!
Video
Creamy Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Equipment
- hand masher or food mill
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups olive oil
- ½ cup trimmed garlic cloves + 10-12
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 sticks unsalted butter + 4 tablespoons melted
- 4 pounds peeled and quartered Yukon potatoes
- ¼ cup sour cream
- sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
- chopped fresh chives for garnish
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and ½ cup of garlic cloves to a small pot and heat over low heat until brown and tender, about 20 minutes. Strain and keep both to the side.
- Next, add the cream and sticks of butter to a separate small saucepot and keep warm over low heat. It should be melted before using it.
- Add the potatoes to a large pot of salted water along with the 10-12 garlic cloves and cook over medium-high heat to a low boil for 10-12 minutes or until they easily fall off a fork when piercing.
- Strain the potatoes and transfer along with the roasted garlic cloves to a food mill, stand mixer, hand mixer or hand masher and mash the potatoes until smooth.
- Fold in the hot cream and butter, ½ cup to ¾ cup of roasted garlic olive oil, sour cream, salt and pepper using a rubber spatula to completely combine. See Note.
- Serve the potatoes with extra melted butter and chopped chives for garnish.
Notes
- In my own humble opinion, the best potato out there for mashing are Yukon potatoes because of their balance of sugar to starch, but you can absolutely use russet or red new potatoes in this recipe.
- If you notice the mashed potatoes have sucked up all the cream and oil and are really thick, feel free to add more oil and sour cream to help thin out a little bit.
- How to Reheat: To reheat the garlic mashed potatoes simply add your desired portion to a small sauce pot with a little bit of butter or milk and heat over low heat until hot. In addition you can simply add them to the microwave and heat until hot.
- How to Store: Garlic mashed potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator covered in plastic for up to 4 days. They can also be frozen covered for up to 2 months, however they will lose quite a bit of moisture and flavor if frozen
Judy says
Hey Billy, I want to make ahead and refrigerate. Can I warm up in the oven before serving? What would be the best way to do this?
Chef Billy Parisi says
Check out my chef notes for all of these querstions 🙂
Chef Billy Parisi says
Check out my chef notes for all of these questions 🙂
Peter says
Hi Chef, do start with tap or tepid water when you start the boil? I’ve heard different opinions on the subject. Thanks
Chef Billy Parisi says
Tap
Tina Carey says
You just took garlic mashed potatoes to another level for me. Thanks for the recipe. Love that the garlics are infused in the olive oil. I was roasting them in the oven…
Valerie says
Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite dishes ever and I could eat them almost every day. These look so good I wish I could grab that bowl in the picture through the screen right now!
Katie says
Garlic Mashed Potatoes are the BEST! I am excited to try your recipe!
Rachael Yerkes says
Mashed potatoes are my weakness and these ones are so good!
Alli says
These have literally the best flavor. My go to potato recipe from now on!