Creamy Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe

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. 

Believe it or not, there’s an art, even making something as simple as mashed potatoes.  It’s understanding these simple techniques so 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 is 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 and 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 them with the roasted garlic cloves until they are mashed through the food mill.

8. Add the hot cream and butter, some 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 to 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 many 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 them, and they will remain thick.

Healthy Garlic Mashed Potatoes

A way to keep this recipe healthier would be to swap these ingredients.

Butter <-> Yogurt

Heavy Cream <-> Fat-Free Milk

Garlic Olive Oil <-> Plant-Based Oil or Butter

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: You can make these up to 1 hour ahead of time. Just keep covered and warm over very low heat.

How To Reheat: To reheat the garlic mashed potatoes, add your desired portion to a small saucepot with a little butter or milk and heat over low heat until hot.  In addition, you can simply add them to the microwave and heat them 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 and covered for up to 2 months. However, they will lose quite a bit of moisture and flavor if frozen.

chef notes + tips

• If you notice the mashed potatoes have sucked up all the cream and oil and are thick, feel free to add more oil and sour cream to help thin out a little bit
• You can 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 Side Dish Recipes

• Cauliflower Au Gratin
• Oven Roasted Root Vegetables
• Creamy Polenta Recipe
• Scalloped Potatoes
• Corn Fritters

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.

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Creamy Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe

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5 from 18 votes

Learn the tricks to make the absolute best creamiest roasted garlic mashed potatoes that make for the perfect side dish to any main entrée.

Servings: 10

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Equipment

• hand masher or food mill

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

• 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 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 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, add your desired portion to a small sauce pot with a little butter or milk and heat over low heat until hot. In addition, you can simply add them to the microwave and heat them 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 and covered for up to 2 months. However, they will lose quite a bit of moisture and flavor if frozen

Nutrition

Calories: 238.65kcalCarbohydrates: 25.65gProtein: 5.7gFat: 13.56gSaturated Fat: 6.75gCholesterol: 36.03mgSodium: 33.03mgPotassium: 802.56mgFiber: 4.68gSugar: 0.26gVitamin A: 385.68IUVitamin C: 22.95mgCalcium: 88.53mgIron: 6.01mg

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Author: Chef Billy Parisi