These Freezer Mashed Potatoes are tremendous creamy and flavorful, made with cream cheese, bitter cream, and garlicky seasoning. This make-ahead mashed potatoes recipe is a straightforward Thanksgiving facet dish and reheats completely within the oven!
Do-it-yourself mashed potatoes are one among our most beloved vegetable facet dishes. Whether or not it’s my Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes or Vanilla Bean Mashed Potatoes, I all the time return for second and third helpings. That’s why I’m thrilled to be sharing this recipe for freezer mashed potatoes! These are further luscious, creamy, cloud-like mashed potatoes that maintain up completely when frozen, thanks to some useful elements. They’re really the present that retains on giving.
Does Freezing Mashed Potatoes Change the Texture?
The key to freezer-friendly mashed potatoes is in how they’re ready. This mashed potatoes recipe freezes up completely resulting from dairy add-ins like cream cheese, bitter cream, and butter. The dairy protects the starches, and consequently, these creamy, freezable potatoes thaw and reheat with out a lot change in texture and taste.
Elements You’ll Want
- Potatoes: Use a starchy kind of potato, like Yukon Gold, peeled and chopped.
- Butter: You should use both salted or unsalted butter.
- Cream Cheese: Lower a block of cream cheese into cubes.
- Bitter Cream: Bitter cream makes the taters further creamy, with a touch of tang.
- Seasoning: Garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese: Optionally available, if you happen to’re baking your mashed potatoes. I like to sprinkle over a layer of shredded cheese beforehand, so it bakes up golden and bubbly.
Let’s Make Freezer Mashed Potatoes!
After you have your potatoes and elements prepped, it’s only a matter of whipping up a batch of those fluffy mashed potatoes, then baking or freezing them to fit your wants. Straightforward-peasy! Right here’s the best way to do it:
- Boil the Potatoes: In a big pot, boil the potatoes in water for about quarter-hour, till they’re simply pierced with a fork. As soon as the potatoes are tender, drain them and return them to the pot.
- Mash: Add butter, then mash the potatoes whereas the butter melts. Subsequent, mash in bitter cream and cream cheese. You should use a handheld potato masher, a fork, or an electrical mixer relying on how easy you like your mashed potatoes.
- End: Lastly, season the mash with a mixture of garlic and onion powders, plus a pinch of salt and pepper to style. Give the whole lot a remaining stir to mix.
- Bake and Serve: Should you’re serving them instantly, bake your mashed potatoes beneath a layer of cheese whereas they’re nonetheless freshly mashed. Switch the mashed potatoes to a baking dish, sprinkle over the shredded cheddar, then bake at 350ºF for a half hour or so. The potatoes ought to be scorching all through and the cheese will probably be melted and bubbly.
Recipe Suggestions And Variations
- Potatoes: Starchy potatoes make wealthy and creamy mashed potatoes. Yukon Golds are the perfect all-rounders on the subject of cooking potatoes. Your subsequent best option for mashing could be Russet potatoes.
- Use Full-Fats Elements: I discussed it earlier than, and it’s price repeating! Freezer mashed potatoes are the perfect excuse to throw calorie warning to the wind. Full-fat dairy helps totally coat the starches and makes these potatoes freezer-friendly. They gained’t freeze the identical with out it.
- Don’t Overwork the Potatoes: Over-mashing the potatoes could cause them to grow to be gluey. That is particularly simple to do with an electrical mixer. Make sure that to mash the potatoes simply sufficient to get them easy to your liking, then gently fold in any seasonings or add-ins.
- If Your Mashed Potatoes Are Watery: Should you discover that your potatoes are a bit watery as soon as they’re reheated, you’ll be able to stir in a little bit of further cream cheese to assist thicken them up.
- Add Bacon: Salty bacon and tacky mashed potatoes are an ideal match! You possibly can stir bacon bits into the potatoes themselves, or sprinkle cooked bacon excessive after baking.
- Herbs: Add herbs like recent chopped chives, thyme, rosemary, or fennel to your mashed potatoes for an additional contact of taste.
Serving Ideas
Any meal is straight away 10 occasions higher with a facet of buttery mashed potatoes. For an informal weeknight dinner, pair them with my Sluggish Cooker Balsamic Pot Roast and a facet of Gentle Skillet Cornbread. For the vacations, serve them alongside scrumptious Roast Beef, Thanksgiving Turkey, and Conventional Stuffing. Don’t neglect the Maple Roasted Carrots and the Turkey Gravy.
Storage
- Retailer the leftovers in an hermetic container and preserve them within the fridge for 3 to five days, or freeze them for as much as 3 months.
- To reheat, merely defrost them (if relevant) within the fridge the night time earlier than, then heat them within the oven at 350ºF for half-hour. You may as well reheat the them within the microwave for a minute or two till warmed by.
Extra Straightforward Freezer Meal Concepts
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Place potatoes in a big pot and canopy with water. Set the pot over excessive warmth and convey to a boil. Cowl and scale back the warmth to a gradual boil; proceed to prepare dinner for 12 to fifteen minutes or till potatoes are tender.
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Drain the potatoes after which switch them to a big mixing bowl or again into the pot. Add the butter to the potatoes and mash till the butter is melted.
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Combine within the bitter cream and cream cheese. Should you’d like a smoother texture, you should utilize an electrical mixer to combine all of it collectively. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper; combine till properly mixed.
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Style for seasonings and alter accordingly.
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At this level, you’ll be able to freeze the mashed potatoes or bake them.
To Bake:
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Preheat oven to 350˚F.
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Switch the mashed potatoes to a greased 9×13 baking dish.
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Prime with shredded cheddar cheese.
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Bake for half-hour or till heated by, and the cheese is melted.
To Freeze:
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Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
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Scoop out 2-cup parts of mashed potatoes and organize the parts on the baking sheet. Put within the freezer for a few hours or till frozen.
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Take away from the freezer and put the frozen mashed potatoes in a big ziploc bag. Freeze for 3 months.
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When able to prepare dinner, take away from the freezer and thaw in a single day within the fridge.
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Then, bake at 350˚F for about half-hour, or till heated by.
- For creamy mashed potatoes, use Yukon Golds, with Russets being an amazing different.
- Use full-fat dairy for freezer mashed potatoes. It coats the starches properly, making them perfect for freezing. Skimping on fats gained’t yield the identical outcomes.
- Keep away from over-mashing to forestall your potatoes from turning gluey. Electrical mixers can simply overdo it. Mash to your most popular smoothness, then frivolously combine in seasonings or extras.
- If reheated potatoes are watery, combine in somewhat extra cream cheese to thicken them.
- Mix salty bacon with tacky mashed potatoes for a superb twist. Combine in bacon bits or garnish the highest after baking.
- Garnish with herbs like recent chives, thyme, rosemary, or fennel for an additional burst of taste.
- Retailer leftovers in an hermetic container and preserve them within the fridge for 3 to five days, or freeze them for as much as 3 months.
Energy: 180 kcal | Carbohydrates: 2 g | Protein: 6 g | Fats: 17 g | Saturated Fats: 10 g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1 g | Monounsaturated Fats: 4 g | Trans Fats: 0.1 g | Ldl cholesterol: 49 mg | Sodium: 298 mg | Potassium: 56 mg | Fiber: 0.05 g | Sugar: 1 g | Vitamin A: 561 IU | Vitamin C: 0.1 mg | Calcium: 162 mg | Iron: 0.1 mg
Dietary data is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values might range based on the elements and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
