Fluffy Mashed Potatoes

These potatoes combine leftover mashed potatoes with crispy onions and cream cheese to create a delicious holiday buffet dish!

Office potlucks are really popular during the holiday season. I originally made this dish for a potluck my team was having one holiday season.  Since most of my team knows I’m a “foodie” and also write a food blog, they are always expecting me to bring something “amazing” and “unique” to use their words.  I never want to disappoint but sometimes it’s tough to come up with a dish I can have ready in the morning before work, and keep warm, or re-warm, for a couple of hours in the office.  It’s the same dilemma you’ve probably had when thinking about what to take to a holiday buffet or pot-luck.

So, what was my solution?  Enter Fluffy Mashed Potatoes!  While I can’t take credit for this recipe, based on the feedback I got at the lunch I just knew I needed to share as this one was a HUGE hit!  I got asked for the recipe multiple times and someone even told me they were the best mashed potatoes they had ever tasted!

I got the recipe from my friend Alison Hammer, who is a great writer!  She also writes a blog…..mostly about writing!!  This is a family recipe from her mom.   When I asked her if I could share it here she happily agreed!

This is a super easy recipe and takes no time at all to put together.   If you don’t want to make your own mashed potatoes or don’t have time, you can definitely use pre-made potatoes.  See my kitchen notes below for a couple of options.

These work with pretty much any main, or if you are so inclined, you can eat them all by themselves….I may or may not have had the 2nd batch, which I made so I could photograph them, as my dinner one night!  🙂

So whip up a batch of these for your next holiday party, as a Thanksgiving side dish or even for Christmas dinner.   By the end of the evening, I bet people will be asking you for the recipe!

notes from the kitchen

• This recipe calls for leftover mashed potatoes, so you can definitely use your favorite mashed potato recipe.  I also tried them with pre-made mashed potatoes, which worked really well.  I used Simply Potatoes, which I found in the refrigerated section of my local grocery store (Mariano’s).  Alison says Trader Joe’s frozen mashed potatoes also work well. I’ve also made them with Whole Foods mashed potatoes so there are lots of options!
• These will keep warm in a crockpot for a couple of hours.  If you are going to use this method you’ll want to bake the onions separately and then put them on top of the potatoes right before you are serving them.
• This makes quite a lot of potatoes, so if you are only serving a few people cut the recipe in half.  It will serve 4-6 people.
• For some other great holiday side dishes check out this Simple Cranberry Sauce or these Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

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things you may want for this recipe

Slow Cooker – I finally broke down and got a new slow cooker.  I picked this small 3.5 quart Cuisinart model, which is perfect for about 4-6 servings and easily held the full recipe of these potatoes.  They are great for individual frittatas, pasta dishes or for breaking servings of things like these nachos into multiples so you can place at different spots or serve at different times without too much additional effort.

OXO Good Grips Potato Masher – I like this masher with the open wire curves as it works for mashing everything from potatoes to beans to cauliflower.

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