Basic Mashed Potato Recipe with Tips

If you’re not great at making mashed potatoes, then you just need a few tips and tricks to start cooking up delicious mashed potatoes or “mashed tators” as they’re often called in the South.

Select the Right Potato for Mashing

You want a good firm but not rock hard type potato for boiling and mashing.
Both russet potatoes and Yukon gold potatoes are good picks.

Boiling Potatoes for Mashed Potatoes

Start potatoes boiling in cold water. Some vegetables work out better when quick cooked by dropping into heated water. Potatoes are too dense. They need to be started in cold water to allow time for the potatoes to cook through and evenly.

It’s also important to cut the potatoes in pretty uniform sizes for boiling. If the sizes of the potato chunks vary, then some will be overcooked and some undercooked. There’s some room for variation. Just keep the pieces fairly close in size.

Do not overcook the potatoes. They will taste “thin” if cooked too long. They need to be fork soft (fork pushes in easily) but not starting to fall apart.

Dry the Boiled Potatoes

If water is left in with the potatoes (just pouring off with the lid tilted for example), then the mashed potatoes will be thin and won’t have that real creamy taste.

Drain the potatoes in a colander or strainer. Shake a couple of times to get as much water out as possible. This can be done right in the clean kitchen sink with the water going down the drain.

Put the potatoes back in the pan where they were boiling. Just make sure the pan is wiped out and dry.

Put the pan back on the heat but not for long. Watch really close if drying by heating again.

Another option and more forgiving if you get caught up doing other kitchen projects while making the mashed potatoes is to put the potatoes in the warm pot where they were cooking and place paper towels over the top of the pot. Place a lid on the pot – holding the paper towels in place. The paper towels will draw the extra water.

Mashing the Mashed Potatoes

An old fashioned hand potato masher works best for mashed potatoes. Some people do use a mixer, but that’s really whipped potatoes. Whipped potatoes don’t have the same rich, thick taste that mashed potatoes have. They get too much air when beat with a mixer.

A hand potato mixer is very inexpensive and comes in handy for other kitchen tasks too. If you don’t have one, you can use a fork for mashing, but it takes a long time to fork mash mashed potatoes.

What to Put in Mashed Potatoes

The first time I made mashed potatoes back in college, I boiled them and mashed them. Yes. That’s it. They were not very good as you can imagine. Very dry and crumbly.

Basic Southern mashed potatoes are generally mixed up with butter, milk, salt and pepper. There are, of course, loads of variations. Just play around with adding other ingredients like cheese, bacon bits, spinach or anything else that seems right to put in potatoes.

The milk needs to be warmed before adding to the potatoes. If it’s poured in cold, then the mashed potatoes tend to taste gooey. Milk can be warmed on the stove in a pan or just popped in the microwave. Don’t scald the milk. Just get it warm.

It’s also a good idea to melt the butter. At the very least, put it out and let it warm a bit and soften up.

Let the Mashing Begin

Add the milk, butter, salt and pepper and quickly mash the potatoes. This is a great job to farm out to one of the guys.

Scrape along the sides to get the potato chunks the stick to the sides mixed in.

Mash. Mash. Mash.

Some people like the potatoes very smooth. Others like some chunks in the mashed potatoes. Try it both ways and see what works for your family.

Basic Mashed Potato Recipe

If you don’t have a basic recipe for mashed potatoes, here is what you need. This is a large batch for holidays or if you want some left over for a second meal or to make potato pancakes or other leftover potato dishes. This basic recipe can be cut in half for a family meal.

         4 pounds potatoes (cubed and boiled until tender)
         1 cup whole milk (give or take)
         ½ stick butter (real butter is great but margarine will work)
         Salt and pepper to taste (start with a tsp or two of each)

If the mashed potatoes are too thick, add a little more milk. Add just a little. It’s easy to go from too thick (which can be fixed) to too thin (which is a problem). Try a TBS and then another until the mashed potatoes are the consistency preferred.

If you're planning to make mashed potatoes for the holidays, then consider Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes. Classic mashed potatoes need to be done right as the meal is ready to serve. The Make Ahead type can be put together and in the oven baking on a busy day when every minute counts.