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Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, so I have a delicious side dish recipe for you. Mashed potatoes are a staple of most peoples’ Thanksgiving and Christmas tables. Usually they are just a vehicle for getting the gravy into your mouth. Today I’ll show you how to make delicious decadent mashed potatoes so tasty that you won’t want to slather gravy on them!
My potato choice is always the Yukon Gold Potato. I had never in my life had these potatoes until I had a job at an upscale steak house. They had amazing food, and one of their signature side dishes was their fabulous Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. I worked there years ago, but I still remember how creamy, delicious, and, well, golden they were. This is my attempt to recreate a restaurant quality mashed potato side dish that your entire family will love.
Delicious Decadent Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5-6 Yukon Gold Potatoes, diced*
- 6 Tbsp Butter, cut into pieces**
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp Ground White Pepper
- 1/2 cup (or more) Heavy Cream, warmed
* Whether or not you peel the potatoes is up to you. I don’t mind skins in my potatoes, so I only peel them for special occasions. For a more velvety consistency, definitely peel them.
**The quality of butter you use will affect the taste. For special occasions I use Kerrygold (you could use any good quality butter made from grass-fed cows’ milk), but for the day-to-day, regular grocery store butter is fine.
Directions
Place your diced potatoes in a pot and fill the rest of the way with water. Set over high heat. Once boiling, turn heat down to med-high and boil 10-15 minutes until potato pieces flake apart with a fork.
Drain potatoes. In a large bowl add your butter. Now throw in your potatoes while they are still piping hot to melt the butter.
(A great method to make mashed potatoes is to actually put them back in the pot you boiled them in and mash them over low heat. I don’t do this because I can’t use my metal potato masher in my pots, but if you are using a stainless steel or ceramic pot, give this method a try!)
Add salt, pepper, and half the heavy cream. (Make sure you’ve warmed the cream so it doesn’t cool down the potatoes.) Using the potato masher, begin pressing down the potatoes to mash, moving it through the mixture, adding more cream gradually as you go. This is going to give you the creamiest, most decadent potatoes.
Once potatoes are mashed, use a wooden spoon to do any additional stirring to get all ingredients mixed together. If the potatoes are not quite creamy enough, add another Tbsp heavy cream. Then check your seasonings, and add a touch more salt or pepper if you need to.
Try really really hard not to eat all of them right out of the bowl. Oh forget it, eat a few bites.
If you’re going all out and want your potatoes really lavish, you can even add a tiny knob of butter to the top and watch it melt… Hey, it’s Thanksgiving everyone.
I hope you try this recipe this Thanksgiving (or any time, really). I’d love to know: what is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish? Do you have any traditional dishes that your family makes every year?
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Equipment Used
Stainless Steel Potato Masher
Swivel Peeler
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How to Cook a Perfect Chicken in the Crock Pot
Personal testimony: You make delicious mashed potatoes.
I don’t have a favorite. I’m one of those grumbly cranky people who don’t like “thanksgiving foods” very much. I don’t count mashed potatoes. Those are eaten year round. One of these years I’m going to make tacos for Thanksgiving. Turkey tacos. 😀
Taco Thanksgiving has a bit of a nice ring to it! I love hearing about non-traditional Thanksgiving meals.