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

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Buffets and potlucks tend to be really popular during the holiday season. Several years ago, I made this dish for a potluck my team at work was having during the holiday season. I always want to come up with something unique to bring to an event, but sometimes it's tough to come up with a dish that can easily be made ahead of time and then if necessary transported to someone else's house and kept warm or reheated. It's a common dilemma when you're thinking about what to take to a holiday buffet or pot-luck.
So, what is the solution? Enter Fluffy Mashed Potatoes! While I can't take credit for this recipe, based on the feedback I get every time I make this, I just knew I needed to share as this one was a HUGE hit! I get asked for the every time and someone even told me they were the best mashed potatoes they had ever tasted!
I got the recipe from my friend Alison Hammer, a great writer! She also writes a blog.....mostly about writing....and has published several books!! This is a family recipe from her mom. When I asked her if I could share it here she happily agreed!
Recipe Highlights
- 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.
- It can be made ahead of time and heated right before the event. The potatoes also keep warm very well in a crock pot.
- These work with pretty much any main dish, 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!
Recipe Ingredients
The full list of ingredients and quantities can be found in the recipe card below.
- Leftover or pre-made mashed potatoes: 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. You can also make them with Trader Joe's frozen mashed potatoes or with Whole Foods mashed potatoes so there are lots of options!
- Cream cheese: Block-style works best.
- Crispy onions: The packaged type that you find in most grocery stores work well for this recipe.
- Yellow onion
- Large eggs
- Pantry staples: all-purpose flour, sea salt, ground pepper
notes from the kitchen
- This recipe is really as simple as beating the ingredients together with a hand-held mixer and then heating them up in the oven.
- 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. Half will serve 4-6 people.
- For some other great holiday side dishes check out this Simple Cranberry Sauce or these Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts.
What you'll need 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.
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.
Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4-6 cups leftover mashed potatoes
- 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1 ½ cups chopped yellow onion
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3-4 oz crispy onions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Combine the potatoes, cream cheese, onion, eggs, flour, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric beater, beat for 2-3 minutes until fully combined.
- Spread potato mixture into prepared baking dish. Top with crispy onions (see note). Bake for 35 minutes. Serve immediately.
Notes
This post was originally published in December 2016. It was updated in November 2022 with some new information and photos. No changes were made to the original recipe.
Çitra Kale @Çitra's Home Diary says
Oh my...this is gonna be new fave in our house! gorgeous photos as well!
Viktoria Radichkova says
Oh, how lovely! This sounds almost like potato souffle! Will have to try this soon.
Michelle Ferrand says
I love that you are using leftover mashed potatoes for this recipe! It makes it so much simpler!
FoodieGirlChicago says
Thanks Michelle. I love having a few holiday/buffet dishes in the recipe "book" that are quick, easy and super tasty!
Erin says
Never thought to put crispy onions on top--genius!