16 Creamy, Buttery Mashed Potato Recipes for a Side That Steals the Show (2024)

Whether you're making them for your holiday spread or just for dinner on a typical weeknight, mashed potatoes are a crowd-pleaser with the right consistency. Recipes for the velvety side dish range from simple to fancy, classic to reinvented. No matter how much you make, the best mashed potatoes will do the quickest vanishing act at the table. Here we've gathered our best mashed potato recipes to suit whatever kind of meal you're planning, from a luxe potato puree to a gussied-up casserole with sage and Fontina.

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Garlic and Herb Mashed Potatoes

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These mashed potatoes are a speedy, nearly effortless dish thanks to a flavor-packed special ingredient: a garlic-and-herb-flecked spreadable cheese (such as Boursin). For a colorful twist, use purple Peruvian potatoes instead of Yukon Golds to make purple mashed potatoes.

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Rich and Creamy Mashed Potatoes

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A foolproof and perfect make-ahead dish, the secret to these velvety mashed potatoes is mayonnaise.

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Red Skin Potato Mash

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Chopped scallions bring freshness to this rich potato mash. Leaving the skin on these potatoes gives this fluffy, creamy dish a nice added crunch, too.

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Mashed Potatoes, Kind of Robuchon-Style

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Chef Joël Robuchon is famous worldwide for his super-silky, super-rich, super-light and buttery mashed potatoes. This is Anthony Bourdain's version of those potatoes.

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Harissa Mashed Potatoes

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Smoky harissa and tangy labneh give these spicy mashed potatoes gorgeous color and flavor.

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Herb-Scented Mashed Potatoes

16 Creamy, Buttery Mashed Potato Recipes for a Side That Steals the Show (6)

To make these next-level potatoes, F&W culinary director at large Justin Chapple first steeps fresh rosemary, sage, and garlic in a combination of milk and cream, then folds that fragrant mixture into boiled and riced potatoes. To make them even more irresistible, he brushes the mashed potatoes with butter and broils them before serving, creating a deliciously light and crispy potato crust on top.

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Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

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Mashed potatoes get an elegant upgrade with this combination of Yukon Gold potatoes and cauliflower. Cauliflower lightens the mash, emulsifies beautifully into the potatoes, and keeps the mixture from turning gummy.The lightly browned butter infused with thyme, sage, and rosemary brings in nutty and subtle herbaceous notes; don't forget to save some for the garnish.

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Pommes Puree

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These sublime buttery, creamy potatoes are based on the version made famous by French culinary legend Joël Robuchon.

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Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

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Chef Michael Symon's four-ingredient potatoes get plenty of flavor from browned butter and crème fraîche. Reserve a little browned butter to drizzle on the potatoes just before serving.

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Chantilly Potatoes with a Parmesan Crust

16 Creamy, Buttery Mashed Potato Recipes for a Side That Steals the Show (10)

The late cookbook editor Maria Guarnaschelli liked to joke that when you cook French food on a regular basis, you need a cow in the backyard to provide enough butter and cream. This dairy-rich recipe calls for whipped cream and cheese.

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Mashed Potato Casserole with Sage and Fontina

16 Creamy, Buttery Mashed Potato Recipes for a Side That Steals the Show (11)

To take mashed potatoes up a few notches, cookbook author Melissa Clark mashes them with a creamy, tangy mix of crème fraîche, butter, parsley, and sage, then tops them with cheesy breadcrumbs and bakes until crisp.

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Mashed Potatoes with Crispy Shallots

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For ultrafluffy potatoes, we press them through a ricer. To achieve a similar texture, pass the potatoes through a food mill or a fine-mesh sieve. If you choose to mash them by hand, be gentle; otherwise, the potatoes will turn gluey.

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Sweet Potatoes with Apple Butter

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Apple butter adds even more natural sweetness to Marcia Kiesel's fluffy sweet potatoes.

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Mashed Potatoes with Butternut Squash

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Equal amounts of roasted butternut squash and Yukon Gold potatoes boiled with garlic are combined with half-and-half and butter for a golden, subtly sweet take on classic mashed potatoes.

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Mashed Potatoes with Manchego and Olive Oil

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Instead of using butter, chef José Andrés prefers to add richness with olive oil and Manchego cheese. His tip: "Add the olive oil slowly to the potatoes because if you dump it in all at once, you'll get streaks of oil."

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Whipped Yukon Gold Potatoes

16 Creamy, Buttery Mashed Potato Recipes for a Side That Steals the Show (16)

These potatoes from chef Thomas Keller have a wonderfully fluffy texture because they're passed through a ricer or food mill to make them especially airy. But they're also nicely rich, thanks to generous amounts of butter and heavy cream.

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