Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
These ultra creamy Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes are perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas! They’re loaded with roasted garlic and browned sage butter for a bold garlic-herb flavor, and some sour cream for tang and creaminess. Feel free to roast the garlic a day or two in advance to make your mashed potato prep even easier!
Table of contents
Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic? Sign Me Up!
If you’ve only made classic mashed potatoes until now, just wait until you take your first bite of these creamy, buttery, garlicky mashed potatoes!
Roasting the garlic makes it ultra sweet and mellow, with tons of savory flavor that absolutely transforms average mashed potatoes. Add in some browned butter and aromatic sage and what could be better?
This is a simple, one-pot side dish that comes together in just 20 minutes (once the garlic has been roasted, that is). I love that the garlic can be roasted days in advance to keep this a stovetop recipe on busy baking days like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
But don’t limit yourself to eating these garlic and butter mashed potatoes just on holidays! Most of my favorite comfort foods are braised meats — like this Red Wine Braised Beef or this Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder — and they pair so perfectly with creamy mashed potatoes in any form.
The 7 Main Ingredients
- Potatoes. See my notes below on the best type of potato to use.
- Butter. We’re going to slightly brown our butter for extra flavor. Use salted butter for the best flavor.
- Garlic. We’re using whole garlic heads here for roasting so we get tons of garlic flavor.
- Half and half. The half and half makes our mashed potatoes extra creamy. You could substitute whole milk or heavy cream depending on how rich you like your potatoes.
- Sour cream. Optional, but it makes these mashed potatoes extra, extra creamy!
- Sage. Fresh sage leaves toasted in the brown butter make for the most incredible flavor. You could skip the sage altogether, but I think the garlic and sage make a nice combo.
Not Sure What Type of Potato to Use? I Prefer Yukon Gold!
There are a lot of people who say that russet potatoes are the best potato for mashed potatoes, but I am firmly team Yukon gold. I consider Yukon Gold potatoes the best choice for classic dense mashed potatoes. Their rich texture and subtle creaminess make them great for all of your mashing needs. They’re uniform in texture, and have the perfect textural mix between waxy and starchy.
Yukon gold potatoes are also VERY forgiving and rarely end up gluey. They have a naturally buttery flavor and don’t absorb excess water meaning you end up with the creamiest mashed potatoes. Peeling or not peeling the potatoes is totally up to you!
Special Tools You’ll Need
How to Make Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Roast the garlic. Roasting garlic takes it from spicy and sharp to pure caramelized sweetness. Be sure to peel off any loose pieces of papery husk on the outside of the garlic bulbs before slicing off the very top to reveal the raw cloves (see photos above for reference). Drizzle with oil, wrap in foil, and roast for about 45 minutes at 400ºF.
- Boil the potatoes. Peel (or don’t!) the potatoes and cut them into 2″ chunks. Always cover potatoes with cold water and then bring them to a boil. This ensures they cook evenly from the inside out.
- Make the sage butter. I suggest using a light colored saucepan so you can easily tell when the melted butter turns golden brown. Add the chopped sage and cook for about a minute to infuse the butter.
- Drain and mash the potatoes. How you mash your potatoes is up to you, but just make sure you’re adding only warm ingredients to the hot potatoes. Why? Because adding warm butter and warm half and half to the potatoes keeps them from cooling down as you mash them. (Plus the shock of adding cold ingredients to warm potatoes can cause them to seize up and become gluey.)
Jenny’s Tip: If you’re looking for a way to use up leftover mashed potatoes, these potato and onion pierogies are a hit always!
Ricer vs Hand-Mixer vs Hand Masher: What’s the Best Method for Mashing Potatoes?
There are obviously a lot of methods for mashing potatoes and a potato rice, hand mixer, and hand masher are the most common. So which is the best method?
Potato ricer: If you like ultra smooth and fluffy mashed potatoes, this is is the gadget for you. Built like a big garlic press, it works by pushing cooked potatoes (one or two at a time) through a perforated grate, creating stringy, broken-down potato bits without releasing a ton of starch. However, this is a tedious and messy process that can feel like a lot!
Hand mixer (my favorite method!): Potatoes made this way are light and fluffy with a few lumps, and they come together very quickly. Because you can use your hand mixer with any size bowl, it’s an easy way to make a very big batch at once. Plus, it’s super easy clean up! Take care not to overmix and you’re golden!
Potato Hand Masher: Ideal for a rustic-style mashed potato. This is the tool to get things done quick and dirty.
Jenny’s Tips for Perfect Garlic Mashed Potatoes
There’s nothing more disappointing that when mashed potatoes end up gluey or sub par. Here are my foolproof tips for perfect mashed potatoes every time.
- Cut the potatoes in even sizes. Cutting the potatoes in even chunks ensures that they all cook evenly and at the same rate! Don’t get them too small, they can get water logged while boiling.
- Keep the 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.
- Don’t shy away from salt. Potatoes are bland and we do NOT want bland mashed potatoes. Don’t be afraid of adding salt to get flavorful mashed potatoes. Salt the potatoes in stages and taste in between. You can always add more, but you can’t take away.
- Make the mashed potatoes last. Mashed potatoes can get gluey as they sit, so I always make my mashed potatoes right before everyone sits down to eat. This ensures that they’re hot and fresh. You can cut the potatoes ahead of time and submerge them in water, but don’t start cooking until you’re about 30 minutes out from eating.
What to Serve with Your Mashed Potatoes
These garlicky, creamy mashed potatoes pair well with just about any stew, braised protein, or holiday entree.
If you do give this recipe a try, I love hearing about it! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram.
More Mashed Potato Recipes to Try
- Caramelized Onion and Bacon Mashed Potatoes
- Sour Cream and Onion Mashed Potatoes
- Creme Fraiche Mashed Potatoes
- Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
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Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 2" chunks
- 2 small heads garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 stick (4 oz) salted butter
- 12-14 sage leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup half and half, warmed
- kosher salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 375 F.
- Roast the garlic. Cut the tops of the garlic heads opposite the root end off to expose the tops of the garlic cloves. Drizzle both heads with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Wrap the garlic heads in foil and place them in the oven. Roast for 50-60 minutes, until very golden brown and soft. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Boil the potatoes. Place the chopped potatoes in a 4 qt pot and cover with cold water. Season with salt and bring to a boil. Boil until the potatoes are very tender and easily pierced with a fork.
- Make the sage butter. Towards the end of the potatoes cooking, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, swirling occasionally, until the butter is just starting to turn golden brown. Add the chopped sage leaves and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Mash the potatoes. Drain the potatoes in a colander and return to the still-hot pot that they were boiled in. Lightly mash the potatoes and pour in the browned sage butter. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of the husks into the potatoes. Add the sour cream and warmed half and half and mash until the desired texture is achieved. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Notes
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