Garlic mashed potatoes are the ultimate comfort food side dish that transforms any meal into something special! With tender red potatoes, loads of garlic flavor, tangy sour cream, and rich butter, these creamy mashed potatoes are so good you might catch yourself eating them straight from the bowl.
Love More Recipes With Mashed Potatoes? Try My Chicken with Mashed Potatoes or this Creamy Garlic Shrimp Over Mashed Potatoes next.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Creamy, buttery, and infused with roasted garlic, these mashed potatoes are the ultimate comfort side dish. Their smooth texture and rich flavor pair perfectly with any main course, making them a must-have for holidays or cozy family dinners.
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Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6–7 cups
Description
These incredibly creamy garlic mashed potatoes are made with tender red potatoes, tangy sour cream, rich butter, and a double dose of fresh and powdered garlic. They’re the perfect side dish for any meal and come together in just 20 minutes!
Ingredients
Main Ingredients:
- 3 pounds red potatoes (don’t peel them, trust me)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 8 ounces sour cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (jar is fine, fresh is better)
- 1–2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1–2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
Swaps that work:
- Yukon Golds are good too
- Greek yogurt when I’m out of sour cream
- Half-and-half if I’m feeling fancy, broth if someone’s weird about dairy
- Just use more garlic powder if you don’t have fresh
Instructions
Cut them in quarters. Try to make them sort of the same size. If you’re keeping skins on scrub them first. I keep skins on because peeling potatoes is boring and nobody can tell anyway.
Put potatoes in pot. Cover with cold water, about an inch over the potatoes. Throw in some salt. How much? I don’t know, a handful. Turn heat to high. Wait for it to boil. Turn it down to medium-high. Wait 10-12 minutes. Poke a potato with a fork. If the fork goes in easy they’re done. If not wait longer.
Instant Pot: Water in bottom. Steamer rack. Potatoes on rack. Eight minutes high pressure. Quick release. My sister does it this way because she’s impatient.
Dump them in the colander. Let them sit there for a minute. Shake them around. Any water still in there will make them runny and you’ll be annoyed at yourself later.
Hot potatoes in the bowl. Right now add everything—butter, sour cream, milk, both garlics, salt, pepper. All at once. Don’t wait around. The heat melts the butter and that’s important.
Heat the milk first. Microwave twenty seconds. Cold milk makes hot potatoes lumpy. Found this out the hard way at Easter 2022 in front of my mother-in-law.
Masher first to break up big pieces. Then mixer for thirty seconds maybe. Stop before you think you need to. Lumps don’t matter. Lumps mean you didn’t over-mix. Over-mixed potatoes turn into paste and taste like the cafeteria in seventh grade.
Taste them. Need salt? Add it. Want more pepper? Do it. This is the last time you can fix them before people start eating.
Put them in a bowl. Bring them to the table. Sometimes I stick another piece of butter on top because it looks nice melting. Totally extra but whatever.
Notes
- Potato ricer if you have one. Makes them smooth without beating them up.
- Roast garlic if you’ve got time. Squeeze the cloves in. Tastes like butter and garlic had a baby. But it takes forever so I only do it when I’m showing off.
- Too thick? Add milk one splash at a time. Too thin? You’re stuck. Can’t fix it. This is why you go slow.
- Don’t mash them in the cooking pot. You think you drained all the water but you didn’t.
- Sauté the minced garlic in the butter first for thirty seconds. Takes the edge off. Makes it sweet instead of sharp.
- Prep Time: 8 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Boiled, Mashed
- Cuisine: American
Ingredient List
Main Ingredients:
- 3 pounds red potatoes (leave the skins on)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 8 ounces sour cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (jar works, fresh is better)
- 1–2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1–2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
If you don’t have something:
- Yukon Golds work
- Greek yogurt instead of sour cream
- Half-and-half or broth instead of milk
- More garlic powder if no fresh
Why These Ingredients Work
Red potatoes have thin skins. You can eat them. They’re waxy not starchy so they don’t turn into glue like russets do when you over-mix them which I do every single time I’m in a hurry.
Fresh garlic and garlic powder together is the only way. Fresh hits you right away, sharp and loud. Powder soaks in and sticks around. My cousin only uses fresh and her mashed potatoes taste like garlic for five seconds then nothing. My other cousin only uses powder and hers taste flat. Both ways are wrong.
Sour cream is what makes these not boring. It’s creamy and tangy at the same time. Also keeps the texture from getting pasty which is what happens when you use just milk and butter and work them too hard.
Butter tastes good. Milk makes them the right consistency.
Essential Tools and Equipment
- Big pot
- Colander
- Bowl
- Hand mixer or masher
- Knife
- Measuring cups
- Instant Pot maybe
How To Make Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Step 1: Prep Your Potatoes
Cut them in quarters. Try to make them sort of the same size. If you’re keeping skins on scrub them first. I keep skins on because peeling potatoes is boring and nobody can tell anyway.
Step 2: Cook the Potatoes on the Stovetop
Put potatoes in pot. Cover with cold water, about an inch over the potatoes. Throw in some salt. How much? I don’t know, a handful. Turn heat to high. Wait for it to boil. Turn it down to medium-high. Wait 10-12 minutes. Poke a potato with a fork. If the fork goes in easy they’re done. If not wait longer.
Instant Pot: Water in bottom. Steamer rack. Potatoes on rack. Eight minutes high pressure. Quick release. My sister does it this way because she’s impatient.
Step 3: Drain Thoroughly
Dump them in the colander. Let them sit there for a minute. Shake them around. Any water still in there will make them runny and you’ll be annoyed at yourself later.
Step 4: Add All Your Delicious Ingredients
Hot potatoes in the bowl. Right now add everything—butter, sour cream, milk, both garlics, salt, pepper. All at once. Don’t wait around. The heat melts the butter and that’s important.
Heat the milk first. Microwave twenty seconds. Cold milk makes hot potatoes lumpy. Found this out the hard way at Easter 2022 in front of my mother-in-law.
Step 5: Mash to Perfection
Masher first to break up big pieces. Then mixer for thirty seconds maybe. Stop before you think you need to. Lumps don’t matter. Lumps mean you didn’t over-mix. Over-mixed potatoes turn into paste and taste like the cafeteria in seventh grade.
Step 6: Taste and Adjust
Taste them. Need salt? Add it. Want more pepper? Do it. This is the last time you can fix them before people start eating.
Step 7: Serve Warm
Put them in a bowl. Bring them to the table. Sometimes I stick another piece of butter on top because it looks nice melting. Totally extra but whatever.
You Must Know
Keep them hot. Cold potatoes get weird and clumpy when you add dairy. They just do. If they cool down microwave the bowl for thirty seconds.
Stop mixing earlier than feels right. Dairy hits potato starch and if you keep going you get glue. Mix until it looks mostly done. Leave some lumps. Stop.
My actual method: Half the garlic powder first. Taste. Then more. I made them too garlicky once and even I couldn’t finish them.
Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks
- Ricer if you have one. Smoothest potatoes without destroying them.
- Roast a head of garlic if you have an extra hour. Squeeze the cloves in. Unbelievable but slow.
- Too thick add milk slow. Too thin you’re screwed.
- Don’t mash in the pot you cooked them in. There’s always water left even when you think there’s not.
- Cook the minced garlic in the butter for thirty seconds first. Less sharp, more sweet.
Flavor Variations / Suggestions
Loaded: Cheddar, bacon, sour cream, green onions. Loaded baked potato mashed.
Herbs: Rosemary, thyme, parsley. For when you’re trying to look fancy.
Cheese: Parmesan and mozzarella while hot. My husband’s favorite.
More garlic: Roasted garlic instead of half the fresh. Eight or ten cloves.
Less calories: Greek yogurt, less butter. Still fine.
Vegan: Vegan versions of everything exist now. Just swap it.
Make-Ahead Options
Make them the day before if you’re doing a big meal.
Day before: Make them. Put in baking dish. Cover. Fridge. Two days tops. Day of, counter for thirty minutes. Oven 350 for twenty minutes. Add milk before serving.
Slow cooker: Done potatoes in slow cooker with milk. Low. Stir sometimes. Two or three hours.
Freezer: Don’t. They get watery and grainy. Don’t do it.
Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips
- Red potato skins are edible. Nobody complains.
- Less starch than russets. Less paste potential.
- These are chunky on purpose. That’s correct.
- Double the recipe if you need more. Bigger pot, maybe longer cooking.
Serving Suggestions
Goes with everything. I’ve served with:
- Chicken, steak, pork chops, meatloaf
- Turkey, ham, roast beef
- Pot roast, stew, gravy stuff
- Mushrooms and onions for my vegetarian sister
- Whatever’s in the fridge
Make them. People will be happy. End of story.
How to Store Your Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Fridge: Container. Four days. Thick when cold.
Reheat:
- Microwave: Bowl, milk, damp paper towel, thirty seconds, stir, repeat.
- Stovetop: Pan, low, milk, stir.
- Oven: Dish, butter, foil, 350, fifteen minutes.
Add milk or butter when reheating. Fixes the texture.
Allergy Information
Has: Dairy
No dairy:
- Vegan butter
- Coconut cream
- Almond milk
Gluten: No
Vegan: Sub everything
Questions I Get Asked A Lot
My mashed potatoes turned out gummy—what did I do wrong?
Over-mixed. Starch turns to glue. Stop sooner next time.
Do I really need both fresh garlic AND garlic powder?
No but you should. They taste different. Together better. One only do two teaspoons powder or two tablespoons fresh.
How do I keep mashed potatoes warm for a party?
Slow cooker low. Stir. Add milk every thirty minutes. Few hours.
💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! I’d love to hear how they turned out and what you served them with!
