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