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This is the ULTIMATE Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes recipe! This simple, easy-to-make recipe gives you perfectly creamy mashed potatoes in 30 minutes or less.
We love serving these Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes with Filet Mignon, Chicken Fried Steak, and especially our Thanksgiving Turkey!
Table of Contents
Why We Love This Recipe
- Ready in a flash – These creamy mashed potatoes are ready in just 30 minutes.
- Rustic and colorful – Red skinned potatoes offer a rustic appearance, while the vibrant green chives add a beautiful and contrasting pop of color.
- Super creamy and rich – These mashed potatoes are super creamy and flavorful with butter, heavy cream, sour cream, and cream cheese.
- Fresh garlic and herbs – These mashed potatoes have the perfect amount of garlic and fresh chives, making them an irresistible side dish for any occasion.
Ingredients
- Red Potatoes – Cut into 1” cubes, skins on.
- Garlic – Fresh works best in this recipe, but you can substitute garlic powder.
- Salted Butter
- Cream Cheese – Adds a cheesy, rich flavor.
- Sour Cream
- Heavy Cream – You can also use milk to keep the calories lower. Cream, however, will offer a richer flavor.
- Fresh Chives – Minced, optional.
- Kosher Salt & Black Pepper
How To Make Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Cut potatoes into 1” cubes.
- Place potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork-tender.
- Place garlic in a heat-proof measuring cup with ½ cup boiling water to gently cook the raw garlic.
- Drain potatoes and add butter, cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and the garlic water.
- Mash with a potato masher.
- Add in chives and blend with a hand mixer until potatoes are fluffy.
Recipe FAQs
While red-skinned potatoes work best for this recipe, you can also use other waxy potatoes. Prefer starchy potatoes like Russets? Check out my recipe for classic Fluffy Mashed Potatoes.
Red potatoes are an excellent choice for creating chunky, rustic mashed potatoes due to their waxy texture and low starch content. The thin red potato skins are edible and add extra nutrients and color to dishes, eliminating the need for peeling.
Starchy potatoes like Russets offer more of a light, fluffy texture. They usually require peeling, which can add extra time and effort during preparation, and may have slightly fewer vitamins and minerals when compared to red potatoes.
Whole milk or half & half can be used instead of heavy cream. Add a little less at first, as milk is thinner than cream.
A potato is fork tender when pierced with a fork, and the potato releases from the fork without any effort. A cut potato will split apart on contact when it’s fully cooked.
Mashed potatoes can become sticky if overmixed. Stop mixing the potatoes as soon as they reach a creamy consistency.
Yes, you can prepare the mashed potatoes ahead of time and reheat before serving.
Yes, you can freeze mashed potatoes. However, it may negatively affect the texture of the potatoes.
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Storage
- These mashed potatoes can be made up to three days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until ready to reheat and serve.
- Store leftover mashed potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
- To reheat in the oven: Spread into a 13”x9” baking dish, cover tightly with foil, and warm in a 350℉ oven until heated through, about 30 minutes.
- Freezing mashed potatoes is not recommended, as it will negatively affect the texture of the potatoes.
Helpful Tips
- Peeling Potatoes – The potatoes can be peeled if desired, but we like to leave them on for a rustic appearance. The skin on red potatoes is very tender and packed with nutrients. Keeping the skins on is a big time saver as well!
- Start With Cold Water – It’s important to add cold water to the pot. When boiling potatoes, you want the water to be the same temperature as the potatoes when starting to ensure even cooking.
- Boil Until Fork Tender – Boil the potatoes in salted water until easily pierced with a fork.
- Drain Well – Drain the potatoes well to avoid a watery consistency.
- Don’t Overmix – The potatoes can become pasty or gluey if overmixed; stop when they reach a creamy consistency.
- Fresh Garlic vs. Garlic Powder – No fresh garlic? No problem! You can substitute 1 teaspoon of garlic powder for fresh garlic. Add this in before mashing.
More Potato Recipes
Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds red skin potatoes cut into 1″cubed
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 6 tablespoons salted butter cubed
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt divided
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives minced (optional)
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with enough cold water to just cover potatoes, salt water with 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 12 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender. Skim foam from surface of water.
- While potatoes are cooking, place garlic in a heat proof measuring cup. Carefully ladle out about ½ cup boiling water into the measuring cup with garlic. This will gently cook the raw garlic.
- Drain potatoes, place back in pot. Add the butter, cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, remaining salt and pepper, and the starchy garlic water to the hot potatoes.
- Mash with a potato masher until all large chunks are smashed.
- Add in chives. Blend with hand mixer on medium for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until potatoes are fluffy. Do not overmix, they will become gummy. Alternatively, you can just mash them and leave them slightly lumpy.
- Taste potatoes and adjust seasoning as needed. If you’d like them even more creamy, stir in another splash of cream, keeping in mind that they will firm up significantly as they cool.
