Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese

Mashed potatoes can be done in a huge variety of ways. I’ve made wasabi mashed potatoes to go alongside seared Ahi tuna, or Traditional Irish Colcannon with sautéed cabbage, and Mashed Potato with Sage and Walnut pesto.  The combinations are really endless and limited only to your imagination. What I’m doing here is giving you a rich, luxurious, consistent mashed potato recipe.

This technique utilizes a home counter top stand mixer or hand mixer. Traditionalists will tell you the old school way is to shred the mashed potatoes with a potato ricer. That’s true (if you are going to mash the potatoes by hand) but I very rarely see a potato ricer in anyone’s kitchen. What I do see in most of my friends kitchens, are hand or counter-top stand mixers.  In commercial kitchens we use huge 3HP floor mixers that can accommodate 1/2 case or 25 lbs+ of potatoes at a time.  These types of mixers are very powerful and make really smooth and fluffy mashed potatoes. However, you can do this time saving technique at home with an electric mixer, if you follow the tips mentioned below and by not adding all of your potatoes at the same time!

Most residential mixers have a 4.5 to 6 quart bowl size. The maximum you can put into this size mixing bowl is 2.5-3 lbs of potatoes at one time. That translates to around 4-5 large russets, to give you an idea. If you plan on making more potatoes, you will need to mix them in batches. If you are using an electric hand mixer the size of the bowl you are using will determine how many potatoes you can mash at one time. Be cautious when starting out until you get the right ratio of potatoes-to-bowl for the future. Never put all the hot potatoes into your mixer and turn it on high. You will end up with hot potatoes all over your kitchen.

Only add 1/4 of the potatoes and a bit of the milk/cheese/garlic mixture to an empty bowl. Start slowly and turn on the mixer (at its lowest speed) before lowering the whisk/paddle into the potatoes. Gently raise or lower the whisk attachment to get a good mix, but do not go too quickly in order to avoid potatoes flying out of the top of the bowl. This first batch of mashed potatoes will help hold and trap the others as you add them in along with a balance of the milk mixture.

Try to cut or slice the potatoes into the same size. Submerging in water after peeling and cutting will keep the potatoes from oxidizing and turning black.

Heat butter, milk, cream cheese and garlic until piping hot, but not boiling. Don’t add cold milk and butter to hot mashed potatoes!

When boiling the potatoes, once they are fork tender, drain and add 1/4 of the potatoes to a mixing bowl along with some of the hot milk/cheese/garlic mixture. Slowly lower the whisk or paddle attachment, on the lowest power setting, into the potatoes and blend until smooth. Keep this first batch in the bowl to help hold the rest of the potatoes.

Add the rest of the hot potatoes and start the mixer again at low speed, lowering the whisk or paddle into the potatoes as needed. Doing it this way will help keep pieces of potato from leaping out of the bowl. Slowly add the remainder of the milk/cheese/garlic mixture, testing as you go for consistency, blend at medium speed until smooth. Adjust seasoning by taste with salt once you have whipped the potatoes.

Mashed potatoes should be able to stand up on their own. The starch content of potatoes vary, so test the consistency as you are adding the last of the milk/cheese/garlic mixture. You might find that you don’t need all of the milk/cheese/garlic mixture.

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Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese

I prefer using large or 'A' sized Yukon Gold potatoes, but any potato will do. Use the best you have in your area. Peel or don't peel depending on your taste, but do cut the potatoes into equal sized slices or pieces. The idea being, if the potatoes are the same size they will cook the same amount of time. This avoids lumpy or overcooked mashed potatoes. The technique used here might be new to some. The idea of making really smooth mashed potatoes is to have all of your liquids hot as well. Don't pour cold milk onto hot potato chunks and expect them to break down into a smooth product. If you like chunky mashed potatoes like I sometimes do, then don't follow this technique.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine New American, New Southern

Keyword Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Author David of Sunset & Sewanee

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Potato peeled cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 8 cloves Garlic minced
• 8 oz Cream Cheese room temperture
• 1/4 cup Butter melted
• 3/4 Milk
• 1 1/2 tsp Salt, Kosher
• 1/2 tbs Parsley, chopped optional

Instructions

1. In a large pot, boil enough water to cover the potatoes completely.
2. In another smaller pot, slowly heat up the milk, cream cheese, garlic and butter. Heat this mixture through, but do not boil. The milk mixture should be hot enough to melt the cream cheese and butter when whisked.
3. Peel and cut the potatoes into roughly the same universal size and place into a bowl/dish with cold water. This will keep the potatoes from oxidizing (turning black) while you get all of them done. Make sure all of the potatoes are covered by the water.
4. Drain the cold water from the potatoes and place them into an empty pot, then slowly pour the hot water over the potatoes and bring to a boil.
5. Boil the potato pieces for about 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. Drain the potatoes into a colander. Immediately transfer half of the potatoes to a mixing bowl and start mashing with a potato masher, or (if you are like me) add 1/4 of the potatoes to an electric mixing bowl fitted with a paddle or whisk and on the lowest speed smash the potatoes smooth. Slowly add a few potatoes at a time until they are mashed up. This will prevent mashed potatoes from flying out of the bowl if you were to add all of them at once. You can also manipulate the mixer head itself if you need to by raising or lower the paddle/whisk attachment as needed. Once all of the potatoes have been incorporated, slowly add the last half cup of the milk, butter, cream cheese, garlic mixture. Adjust seasoning.