This cream cheese mashed potatoes recipe is easy, creamy, and made with a touch of garlic and green onions. They're the perfect side dish for serving with any main meal, extremely delicious, and take less than 5 minutes to prepare!
Contents
🌟 Why This Recipe Works
This side dish feeds my soul and I love serving it for family dinners. And with only 6 ingredients it comes together quick and easy.
Making cream cheese mashed potatoes is the best way to turn ordinary mash potatoes into something more stylish with the key ingredients butter and cream cheese mixed through to create silky smooth, creamy goodness.
The recipe is foolproof that any home cook can make it by following the 3-step cooking procedure of washing, boiling, and mashing the potatoes.
The cream cheese and butter help create a delicate creaminess. While the potatoes texture is fluffy yet firm. Combined, the result is an ultra creaming mashed potatoes.
This side dish is a real crowd pleasure that nobody will resist, and even the kids love these creamy mashed potatoes so everyone can enjoy them.
This mashed potato is one of the perfect side dishes for ham to put on your table in holiday season!
🍽 Ingredient Notes
Cream cheese mashed potatoes are the best and require a few ingredients detailed below. Scroll down for ingredient measurements.
Potatoes: We use white potatoes because they are starchy and the best for mashing to produce that perfect texture.
Dairy: milk, butter, and cream cheese are used for the fat content to bring creaminess to the mashed potatoes.
Seasonings: We add garlic and green onions to the mash for flavor and salt and pepper to give it saltiness.
Ingredient Swaps
Cream cheese
You can use light cream cheese or full-fat with this recipe. The texture and taste will remain the same, but by using light cream cheese, you reduce the calories.
Lactose-free:
You can make it lactose-free without compromising the flavor by swapping the milk, cream cheese, and butter for a lactose-free variety.
🔪 How to Make
Cream cheese mashed potatoes are super easy to prepare, and you can learn how to make them with my foolproof cooking instructions and helpful cooking tips. This recipe uses only one pot to make the creamy mashed potatoes.
Press the garlic cloves and slice the green onion into small pieces.
Step 1
Peel 5 large potatoes and drop them into a pot of cold water.
Step 2
Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a nice simmer. Cook until the potatoes are soft, I use a fork to test the largest potato.
Step 3
Drain the potatoes! Remove all of the water, and pop them back into your pot. I break them up into quarters at this point.
Step 4
Add the FAT first!
Combine the butter and mash with an electric potato masher or hand masher.
Step 5
Add the cream cheese and mix well with masher.
Step 6
Add the milk bit by bit.
Step 7
Add the seasoning
Mix in the salt, pepper, and garlic until well combined. The mashed potatoes are already looking super creamy.
Step 8
Lastly, mix in the chopped green onion.
Step 9
Garnish with with fresh green onion and top with butter.
Serve and ENJOY!
💭 Cooking Tips
Boil Your Potatoes in Large Pieces:
If you cut them small, it gives water more of an opportunity to make its way inside the potatoes. More water means more liquid and less flavor in the final product.
Keep Your Potatoes Hot
If you want a truly creamy taste and texture, you can’t let the potatoes cool before mashing—you want to start getting busy with them as soon as possible after they've been boiled and drained.
Add Fat First
You need to add fat (in this case, the butter) to potatoes before adding any liquid. Doing so makes sure the texture of the potato remains firm before being softened by all that cream.
Taste Constantly
You're going to need to use plenty of salt — starchy and fatty foods need a lot of it to really sing, so make it rain
Don’t Add Your Liquid All at Once
Your potatoes won’t be able to absorb all of that liquid at once. Working in smaller pours helps them soak up all that creaminess, avoiding liquid-y mashed potatoes.
Mixing Fresh Ingredients
Use a spatula or spoon to mix in the garlic and green onion rather than the potato masher.
📖 Easy Variations
Cream cheese mashed potatoes are the best, but you can make delicious variations of this recipe with similar ingredients.
Mashed Potatoes with Sour Cream
This tasty variation uses sour cream instead of cream cheese that tastes just as creamy. The sour cream adds a slight tang to the mashed potatoes and gives it a creamier texture.
Low Carb Option
Swap the potatoes with cauliflower for a healthier lower carb variation. Making mash with cauliflower reduces the carbs while still producing a creamy texture that is perfect for a low carb diet.
Flavored Cream Cheese
Substitute the original cream cheese for a flavored version like herbs, chive & onion, or spicy jalapeno to give your mashed potatoes more flavor. There are many variates available to choose from, so choose your favorite and mix it with the potatoes.
🥗 What to Serve With
Cream cheese mashed potatoes are the perfect side dish to accompany the main meal. Here are some of my favorites:
Bottom Round Roast
The best way to compliment this melt-in-your-mouth beef roast is with the best creamy mashed potatoes. This bottom round roast recipe is slow-cooked for several hours in the oven to produce succulent beef that cuts like butter and tastes delicious with a flavorsome rub.
Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Pork and chimichurri are a classic combination in South America, and this moist stuffed tenderloin with pumpkin is on another level. All it needs is a spicy marinade like my authentic chimichurri recipe to go with it.
Parmesan Pork Chops
Parmesan-crusted pork chops cooked in the oven are super easy to make in less than half an hour and pair seamlessly with this cream cheese mashed potatoes recipe. They look as good as they taste and are sure to impress your friends and family.
🧊 Storing and ♨️ Reheating
Cream cheese mashed potatoes are perfect for eating the following day and taste even better. Once the mash has cooled, you can store it in the fridge or freezer.
In the Fridge
If you have any leftover mashed potatoes, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
In the Freezer
Transfer any leftovers to freezer bags or an airtight container and place them in the freezer for up to 4 months.
How to Reheat
You can reheat the leftover mashed potatoes in a large pot over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until piping hot.
🙋 Frequently Asked Questions
Should I salt the water for mashed potatoes?
You can add salt to the water for mashed potatoes. Adding salt not only seasons the potato cubes but also allows them to boil at a higher temperature, resulting in a creamier texture while also reducing the amount of salt required when seasoning the mash.
How long does it take for potatoes to be ready to mash?
Whole potatoes: White whole potatoes take around 30-40 minutes in boiling water to become soft and larger potatoes like russet potatoes need an extra 10 minutes before mashing.
Half-cut potatoes: Cutting the potatoes in half reduces the cooking time to around 8-12 minutes. When you can stick a fork through them without resistance, they are ready for mashing.
Small cubes: If you cut the potatoes into quarters, it will take 6-8 minutes in boiling water, and to cut them into 8ths will take 4-6 minutes.
What causes gluey mashed potatoes?
The result of gluey mash potatoes happens when they are overworked when mashing. The starch in potatoes releases as they get mashed, and when too much starch is released, they become gluey like gum.
👪 Serving Size
This cream cheese mashed potatoes recipe will give you between 6 to 8 servings, depending on the size of the potatoes you use. It's easy to scale this recipe to cater to more guests and use any leftover mash for other recipes.
Cream cheese mashed potatoes are simply irresistible, quick, and foolproof that any home cook can make them. Mix in some fresh herbs for added flavor or keep it simple - either way, they're DELICIOUS!
📋 Recipe
Whole Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese
Equipment
- Electric Masher
- Spatula
- Large Casserole
- Knife
- Cutting Board
Ingredients
- 3 pounds white potatoes - 5 medium potatoes
- ½ cup milk - whole
- 8 ounces cream cheese - 1 package
- 1 stick butter - 90 gr
- 2 cloves garlic - pressed
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- ⅓ cup green onion - chopped finely
Instructions
- Press the garlic cloves and slice the green onion into small pieces.
- Peel 5 large potatoes and drop them into a pot of cold water.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a nice simmer. Cook until the potatoes are soft, I use a fork to test the largest potato.
- Drain the potatoes! Remove all of the water, and pop them back into your pot. I break them up into quarters at this point.
- Combine the butter and mash with an electric potato masher or hand masher.
- Add the cream cheese and mix well with masher.
- Add the milk bit by bit.
- Mix in the salt, pepper, and garlic until well combined. The mashed potatoes are already looking super creamy.
- Lastly, mix in the chopped green onion.
- Garnish with with fresh green onion and top with butter.
Renee
Made them today with your bottom round roast recipe. Roast is still cooking but mashed potatoes are done & DELICIOUS!! I usually use sour cream, today I used cream cheese. Mine are usually soupy & gluey, not today!!!