Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Creamy, super flavorful, and easy to make, these make ahead mashed potatoes are the perfect side when feeding a crowd, or wanting to prep dinner ahead.
I love potatoes. I love them as Baked Potatoes, Twice Baked Potatoes, Smashed Potatoes, Crispy Potatoes, Au Gratin Potatoes, and more…I know my potatoes.
When it comes to mashed potatoes, fresh is almost always best. For most mashed potatoes, the older they get, the more dried out they feel, and the heavier they are, but I have cracked the code.
For holidays like Thanksgiving etc, making the mashed potatoes usually gets left for last, and can actually be very stressful. It is the watched pot never boils type of conundrum. This is the recipe that solves that problem of having to make day of, fresh, mashed potatoes, while still giving you all the creamy, comforting, delicious flavors you want in mashed potatoes.
This recipe comes from my cousin’s grandma (not mine, but I spent many a day at her home and eating her yummy food). When I first got married, I called her for the recipe because I wanted to impress my new husband. My love for these potatoes has outlasted that marriage (hahah whoops), and I can’t believe I have never shared it with you guys. Like when I was making these for Thanksgiving and someone asked for the recipe, I scoured my blog for it and was appalled at myself for not sharing this gem with the world sooner.
So here you go…the best ever mashed potatoes, which are sooooo flavorful, so easy, and make ahead. What more could you ask for?
Serve them with this Perfect Turkey, Dinner Rolls, Roasted Carrots and this Turkey Gravy for an amazing meal!
What you need to make these mashed potatoes:
- Russet Potatoes- Trust me, these are the hands down best option for mashed potatoes. There are tons of scientific reasons why, but let’s just say it has to do with the starch content, and will give you fluffy instead of gluey. So stick with Russet when given the choice.
- Cream Cheese
- Butter
- Sour cream
- Eggs (lightly beaten)
- Salt and Pepper
As you can see, this is a pretty basic potato recipe, the beauty comes in that you cook and mash your potatoes, add all the stuff in, and then bake. The eggs make it fluffy, and act as a binder. And you can add optional things like garlic, onions, cheese, etc. as you like to change the flavor profile up.
How to Make Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
- Cook and Mash Potatoes
- Mix all the other stuff together
- Stir it into Potatoes
- Refrigerate until day of serving
- Bake and serve
Step one: Boiling the potatoes and mashing them. So you clean and peel your potatoes, then cut into even sized cubes, and boil until soft. Then mash them up. You want to mash them nicely so you don’t have big lumps of potatoes.
Step two: Mixing up all the flavorful stuff that goes inside your potatoes. I love using a stand mixer, and adding the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, eggs, salt and pepper, and letting it run until everything is super well incorporated, and mixed up without lumps. I love the addition of cream cheese to mashed potatoes, but don’t want a big lump of it. So by mixing it all in a stand mixer, until a light fluffy mix is made, you don’t overwork your potatoes, but avoid lumps of butter, sour cream, or cream cheese in your potatoes.
Step three: Stir flavoring into your mashed potatoes, without over mixing.
Step four: Put potato mixture into baking pan, cover, and store in fridge up to 3-5 days until ready to bake and serve.
Step five: Bake, you want to bake until heated through and slightly browned on the top. Then serve and enjoy!
These potatoes are great without gravy, but homemade turkey gravy is a nice addition as well.
Getting Great Mashed Potatoes, All the Tips and Tricks
- Tip one: Cut potatoes into even sized pieces before boiling so they all cook at the same rate.
- Tip two: Use a ricer, potato masher, or even a mixer to mash your potatoes, but don’t overwork them, or they will start to get gluey. Work in batches if making a lot.
- Tip three: Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream together the butter, eggs, cream cheese, and sour cream.
- Tip Four: Be liberal with seasonings. I like classic salt and pepper, but you can change up your flavor profile with some garlic salt, onion powder, etc. if you want. Remember, potatoes soak up flavor, so you can be a little heavy handed and get away with it. Taste as you go.
Other Great Potato Recipes
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
- Herb Butter Mashed Potatoes: How to Make Mashed Potatoes
- Roasted Garlic Bleu Cheese Mashed Potatoes
- Super Easy Mashed Potatoes
Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 pounds potatoes 12 medium russet potatoes peeled, cooked, and hot
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Peel, dice, and boil potatoes until soft.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and eggs, and using a hand mixer, mix until smooth, set aside
- Use a potato masher and mash the potatoes while they are hot, then stir in the cream cheese mixture.
- Add onions, salt, and pepper, and stir it all together.
- Transfer into a greased baking dish. Refrigerate overnight.
- An hour or so before you want to serve, preheat oven to 350 degrees, and bake potatoes for 45 minutes, until heated through and slightly browned on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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