Is there anything more comforting than a creamy pile of homemade mashed potatoes? If you are still avoiding making them from scratch, hopefully this recipe will finally persuade you to ditch the box!
They take such a small amount of time longer to make, and the results are just incomparable to instant. 4 russet potatoes will easily yield 6 servings, and the smiles they receive the instant that big bowl of steaming hot mashed potatoes is proudly set on the table, is worth any piddly extra amount of work required! 😉
They are so easy to make, too, if you have the right tools. I used to despise making them because all I had was an old-fashioned hand-held potato masher. You know the kind, it looks like it has a curvy metal piece of spaghetti in the middle to mash everything up. I’d mash and mash and mash until I felt like my little arms were going to fall off, and they’d still be too lumpy!
I now have a potato ricer and I’ve never looked back. I don’t even remember when the last time was that I actually bought a box of instant mashed potatoes, but I think I was Sweatin’ to the Oldies with Richard Simmons wearing purple leggins and wearing WAY too much hair spray….
Seriously. One simple purchase of a potato ricer and you’re completely set! Press the cooked chunks through a few at a time and wah-lah!!! Toss in a few pats of butter, some splashes of milk or cream, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and stir just a few times and they’re perfectly creamy…instantly. 😉
I swear you’ll be amazed! They also hold for a long time and even reheat beautifully in the microwave, so you can even make them ahead of time! They also hold well in a crock pot on Low if you’re making them for a crowd, say for the holidays or a dinner party. (*But only for about 2 hours. After that they start to dry out and get a little crispy on the outside edges next to the crock pot surface.) But 2 hours can really be a huge help!!
After you see for yourself how fantastically easy they are, and actually fun to make, you’ll want to play around with them, too. This time I used up part of an open jar of Alfredo sauce, two small bits of cheese before they molded, and snipped a few sprigs of fresh thyme from my herb garden to toss in! They turned out incredibly flavorful without straying so far that they would no longer go well with some beef gravy. (I admit to devouring several spoonfuls, to test for flavor, you know, before placing them into a serving bowl!) The bowl and spoon were immaculately clean before going into the dishwasher, too, but not telling how that happened. 😉
So don’t wait another minute and please don’t buy another single box of that chemically laden, overly-processed instant “stuff”. Making them homemade is just too easy and so much better for you!! You can peel them completely, or, you can even leave a bit of the peel on for a more rustic steakhouse-style mash, but place those chunks peel side-up in the ricer or the peel will block the holes for the potato to go through.
I so hope that you pick up a ricer soon if you don’t already have one, I swear it will become one of your favorite and most useful new kitchen toys to play with! You can press a lot of different kinds of soft-cooked veggies through it adding baby carrots, turnips, squashes, pumpkin, and you can even use this gadget for cooked fruits for pies and sauces!
And when you do get one, put these decadent mashed potatoes at the top of the list to try first! They were truly wonderful and something I’d be proud to serve to company! Have great day all and enjoy every second of it! 😀
*These potatoes were served with my Barbecued Pineapple Meatloaf and “Sunshine Pies’! Recipes coming soon!
Creamy Alfredo Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan, Asiago & Fresh Thyme
Ingredients
Instructions
