The Best Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes are an easy way to make the classic side dish extra special. It’s the perfect, super easy way to dress up whipped potatoes any time. Make them in the Instant Pot to save precious stovetop space or on the stove. Your choice!

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The best part of holiday meals for me is not the turkey or the ham or the roast beast.

Nope, it’s definitely the carbs.

Particularly the potato based carbs.

Honestly, I’d be really sad if potatoes weren’t on my plate during that time of year and I love to dress them up.

A little roasted garlic and these are fit for the fanciest of meals.

Easy Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Part of the beauty of this side dish is that it really requires little effort to take an ordinary mashed spud and make it extraordinary.

Really, the big difference here is the addition of one head of delicious roasted garlic.

And because all you need to do to roast the garlic is pop it in the oven, it is virtually no extra work.

Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes without Milk

There are a few ingredients that make these super creamy: butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese.

This combo will give you the creamy mouth feel without the denser potatoes you get from adding ingredients like cream cheese or sour cream.

Ingredients

• Potatoes – For mashed potatoes, make sure to use either Yukon gold or russet for best results. Peel them and cut them into inch to inch and a half cubes.
• Vegetable or chicken broth – You could use water, but using a broth adds some extra flavor to the potatoes.
• Heavy cream – You could use light cream if you like, but I strongly recommend not using a low fat milk for this. If you are planning to do this in the Instant Pot, do not substitute for a lower fat dairy product or the milk will curdle.
• Salt and ground black pepper – You can omit both if you want to reduce your sodium intake, or you can add as much of each that you like.
• Butter – Both salted and unsalted work, just watch the saltiness and adjust the extra you add accordingly.
• Roasted garlic – Making it is so easy following this recipe.
• Parmesan cheese – For best results, shave or grate your own fresh from Parmesan. Of course, if you prefer, you can use pre-shredded or grated parmesan instead.

How to Make

1. Boil the potatoes.
   Using a large pot, boil the potatoes on the stove in broth until they are fork tender. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Drain.
   Drain the cooked potatoes in a colander. Return to the pot you cooked them.
3. Mash the potatoes.
   Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Add the heavy cream, butter, roasted garlic and Parmesan cheese. Pour in additional heavy cream as you mash until the potatoes reach your desired consistency. Serve and enjoy!

Instant Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Make these potatoes even easier to make by making them in the Instant Pot since you will not have to drain them! To do it:

1. Add the potatoes, broth and cream to the inner liner of the Instant Pot.
   Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Give everything a quick stir.
2. Pressure cook.
   Secure the lid on the Instant Pot, making sure the valve is set to seal. Pressure cook on manual high pressure for 12 minutes. Natural release for 5 minutes then quick release the remaining pressure.
3. Mash the potatoes. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Add the butter, roasted garlic and Parmesan cheese. Pour in additional heavy cream as you mash until the potatoes reach your desired consistency. Serve and enjoy!

Instant Garlic Mashed Potatoes

If you really must, you could use roasted garlic to dress up your favorite instant mashed potatoes.

I really recommend making homemade mashed potatoes for the best texture.

Can I make them ahead of time?

For best results, make them the day of your meal.

If you are making these for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or another occasion that requires a ton of cooking, you can absolutely take steps the day before to make it easy for the day of.

To prepare mashed potatoes ahead of time and save time the day of your meal, you can:

• Peel and cut the potatoes the night before. Store them in a pot of water so they are ready to be boiled.
• Roast the garlic several days before.

What to Add to Mashed Potatoes for More Flavor – Variations

These roasted garlic mashed potatoes have so much flavor! But you could kick up your potato game even more with the following combinations, which are as easy as adding extra herbs or other simple flavors.

• Add sage, rosemary, and thyme add very yummy flavor and make these delicious mashed potatoes perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
• Mix in additional cheeses. Some of my favorites include mascarpone, Romano, and Italian cheese blends.
• Leave your potatoes unpeeled. If you do this, make sure you wash and scrub them well so they are free from dirt.

Secrets for the Best Mashed Potatoes

• Cream – I use cream in place of milk to make the best, creamiest mashed potatoes. Sure, it adds extra fat, but you really don’t need to worry about that until after the holidays.
• Err on the side of overcooking – To pulverize any lumps, cook the potatoes just a bit longer than you think they need. This can help you break up any large lumps.
• Add more cream as needed – Potatoes suck up moisture, so if you find your potatoes are looking dry, don’t be afraid to add as much cream that it takes to make them moist. When you add more, use small amounts, like a tablespoon, just so you don’t over do it.
• Taste as you go – Here’s something I learned living with an Italian grandmother: they don’t eat much at dinner because they are constantly eating the food as they make it to test it. So yeah, before plopping the mashed potatoes into your serving bowl, make sure you taste it first. You might be surprised that they taste dry, need more salt, pepper, etc.
• Potatoes matter – The best potatoes for mashed are Yukon gold or russet potatoes. They have the perfect consistency when you boil ’em and mash ’em.

Fluffy mashed potatoes

The key to fluffy mashed potatoes is the starch. You want to make sure you are using the right potato and not over-mixing it.

The best potatoes to use are russets or Yukno golds.

To keep your potatoes fluffy, you want to avoid over-mixing the potatoes. Mash them with a potato masher or briefly mix them with a hand mixer.

Under no circumstances (even if your mother tells you its a great short cut) put your potatoes in a food processor! If you use a food processor, you will pulverize the starch, leaving you with potatoes more suited for glue than as the fluffy side dish you know and love.

How many potatoes per person?

As written this recipe includes 3 pounds of potatoes, which makes about 6 servings.

Of course that could be more or less depending on who you are serving and how much they like potatoes. (If you’re cooking for someone like me that can’t get enough mashies then you can plan on this serving less.)

However, the rule of thumb is about a half a pound of potatoes per person.

Make it a meal

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes are an excellent choice of side dish for just about anything. If you’re looking for more dishes to fill out your holiday or family dinner, here’s some inspiration:

• Brown Sugar Butternut Squash (with Cinnamon)
• Apple Sage Stuffing
• Homemade Gravy
• Apple Cider Turkey Breast
• Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce
• Garlic Roasted Turkey Breast
• Instant Pot Roast Beef with Apple Cider Gravy
• Blood Orange Roast Chicken
• Easy Italian Grilled Chicken
• The Best Stuffed Chicken Breast with Stuffing

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