Homemade Mashed Potatoes

4.63 from 8 votes

Best homemade mashed potatoes you'll ever have! And they are so easy to make and oh so good! These creamy mashed potatoes are full of flavor and perfect for any weeknight meal. Ready and on the table in 20 minutes!

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time25

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: people

Calories: 245kcal

Author: Amanda Mason

Ingredients

8 red potatoes, unpeeled and diced
2 Tablespoons butter, unsalted
½ cup milk, 2%
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions

Take all 8 of the red potatoes and dice them into chunks. Make sure you leave some of the peel on.
Once diced, rinse in the strainer to get all the dirt off and extra starch and then add to a large pot.
Fill the large pot with just enough water so that the potatoes are covered. You'll want to make sure there is at least a half inch of water over them so they have room to boil.
Set the large pot of potatoes on the stovetop and bring to a boil. Bring to a boil for about 15 to 20 minutes, just until the potatoes are done.
Once done, drain the water and place the cooked potatoes in a large bowl.
Add in the butter, milk, salt ,and pepper and mix with an electric mixer until smooth and velvety. You may need to add in a bit more milk to ensure your potatoes are wet enough to mix.
Once the potatoes are mashed, add any additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Notes

Best Potatoes for Mashed Potatoes: use red potatoes. They are less starchy and when mashed, they have more of a velvety texture. Mashed red potatoes will give you that rich, creamy, and indulgently buttery consistency you typically find in restaurants.
Don't completely peel the entire potato: mashed potatoes with skin add texture and taste delicious. The nutrition is in the peelings so make sure you leave some of the peelings on.
Cut the potatoes before boiling and fill the pot with just enough water: dice the potatoes and put them in a pot. Fill the pot with water, just enough to cover the potatoes.
Boiling time: I don't keep track of the actual minutes it takes to boil potatoes for this recipe, but the key is once a fork can smoothly penetrate through a potato, they're done. Just don't lose track of time because if you over boil, they'll be mushy when you mash them and you won't get that velvety texture.
Invest in both an electric mixer and a handheld masher. Depending on what meat I'm serving, I'll switch up my method of mashing. With chicken breast recipes, I like to use the electric handheld mixer because it yields that smooth velvety texture. But when I make steak dishes, I use a handheld masher. I like a "chunkier" texture in my potatoes when eating steak.

Nutrition