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Home » Recipe Type » Side Dishes
5 from 1 review

Fluffy Mashed Potatoes with Russet Potatoes

30 minutes
potato
By: Pamela Reed
Posted:8/1/22
Updated:11/26/24
Jump to Recipe

Creamy, dreamy, and irresistibly delicious — gosh, I love an unfussy mashed potatoes recipe. Made with russet potatoes, butter, milk and salt — that’s it, just 4 simple ingredients — this recipe for mashed potatoes is whipped with a hand mixer until ultra-smooth and fluffy. A side dish this good deserves a spot at every meal. Ready within just 30 minutes!

mashed potatoes in white pot.

Easy Russet Mashed Potatoes

I absolutely love mashed potatoes. You can make them creamy with Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes. Or you can go all rustic with no peel Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes. Or heck, prepare to be shocked and make these Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes.

Or you can go incredibly simple with my go to favorite mashed potatoes recipe. I hate to call these “basic” because they are far from basic tasting, but they are so simple. Made with potatoes, milk, butter and salt – there’s nothing fancy about them. They’re just great tasting homemade creamy mashed potatoes that your kids will ask you for seconds.

9/10 times when I make mashed potatoes for dinner, it’s this recipe here. I hope you try them soon!

Best Potatoes For Mashed Potatoes

I recommend using Russet, Idaho or Yukon potatoes for mashed potatoes.

  1. Russet or Idaho Potatoes: Russet potatoes are the most popular choice for mashed potatoes. They have a high starch content and a low moisture content, which means they mash easily and result in fluffy, creamy potatoes.
  2. Yukon Gold Potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes have a buttery and creamy texture, making them an excellent choice for mashed potatoes. They have a slightly lower starch content than Russet potatoes but are still a great option.

Russet Mashed Potatoes Ingredients

  • Potatoes, you will need 2 pounds of Russet potatoes. Peel them and chop into 1-2 inch size pieces. If you don’t have Russet, you can use Idaho instead.
  • Salt, this gets added into the water while they’re boiling.
  • Milk, I use whole milk for ours. You can use heavy cream or half-and-half instead of milk if you’d like them to be super creamy.
  • Butter
  • Salt and Pepper to taste.

How to Make Mashed Potatoes From Scratch

Peel and chop your potatoes. I am a lazy peeler and leave a little bit of skins on them, but you can peel them clean if you want Chop them up into 1-2 inch pieces, the key is cutting them to be the same size so they cook evenly.

cubed and peeled potatoes in bowl.

Add potatoes to a large pot of water, along with salt.

garlic salt in measuring spoon.

Cook until a fork easily slides into the potatoes, about 15-20 minutes.

fork holding potato.

Drain the potatoes and place back into the pot.

softened potatoes in pot.

With a spoon, masher or your hand mixer (don’t turn it on yet), mash up the potatoes. This helps break them down before you mix them.

potatoes that have been mashed with a spoon.

Add milk and butter into the pot and turn your hand mixer on and mix until creamy and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Adjust as needed, need to be more creamy? Add a little bit more milk or butter until you have the consistency you want. I like to add 2 tablespoons of butter at a time, and/or just a small splash of milk. Sometimes you need to adjust to get the perfect consistency if you used slightly more than 2 pounds of potatoes.

electric mixer mixing mashed potatoes in pot.

Eat them! Enjoy!

spoon serving mashed potatoes.

Storing Leftover Mashed Potatoes

Store leftover mashed potatoes in a container in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze mashed potatoes if you have lots of leftovers!

Pin for later:

Old-fashioned basic mashed potatoes that are easy to make.  All you need is potatoes, milk, butter and garlic salt  to make these creamy potatoes.
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5 from 1 review

Fluffy Mashed Potatoes with Russet Potatoes

Print
Creamy, dreamy, and irresistibly delicious — gosh, I love an unfussy mashed potatoes recipe. Made with russet potatoes, butter, milk and salt — that's it, just 4 simple ingredients — this recipe for mashed potatoes is whipped with a hand mixer until ultra-smooth and fluffy. A side dish this good deserves a spot at every meal. Ready within just 30 minutes!
By: Pamela Reed
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Total Time 30 minutes minutes
serves 6

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds potatoes (Russet or Idaho) peeled and chopped into 1-2 inch even size pieces
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Add potatoes to a large pot of water. Add salt and stir. Bring water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and cook on a low boil for 15-20 minutes or until a fork easily slides into the potatoes. Drain potatoes and place back into the pot.
  • Add milk and butter and mix with a hand mixer until creamy and smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste, stir again. Do they need to be more creamy? Then add a little bit of extra milk or butter (try adding 2 more tablespoons) and stir again until you have the perfect creamy consistency.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Video:

Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: easy mashed potatoes
Vegetarian Summer
Did you make this?I love seeing what you’ve made! Tag me on Instagram at @BrooklynFarmGirl and don’t forget to leave a comment & rating below.

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Hi! I'm Pamela, an artist Mom who shares family recipes. My farm is a 1,000 sq ft apartment in NYC. Let's make dinner together.

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