Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe

If you don’t mind garlic breath then you will love garlic mashed potatoes :) …no, this is not the best way to start this garlic mashed potatoes recipe. Lets start this way. Adding garlic to mashed potatoes is great, it makes them tastier, gives them a special twist and it’s pretty easy to do. So if you are after something a little bit different when it comes to mashed potatoes – try garlic mashed potatoes.

There are a few different ways how to introduce garlic into mashed potatoes and we will take a look at all of them. Well at least all that I know of, if you know of any other way to use garlic with mashed potatoes, let me know! I’ll start with two really simple recipes, one is for people that like a stronger garlic taste and other for people that want milder and sweeter garlic taste.

OK, let’s start…

For The First Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe we will need:

3 pounds russet or yukon gold potatoes (why these two?)
1 whole bulb garlic (peel them, you can use less if the taste is too strong)
1/2 cup half and half (half milk half cream)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

This will be the stronger tasting garlic mashed potatoes recipe.

Making garlic mashed potatoes is no different than making any other mashed potatoes. So you probably know the drill, but I will repeat every little part.

First you need to peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces. Don’t make the pieces to small. Small pieces will absorb more water and make your mashed potatoes watery. True, smaller pieces will cook faster but we don’t want to sacrifice speed for taste, right?

Now put the cut potatoes into a pot and cover them with cold water (cold, not warm!). Water must cover all the potatoes by a good inch. Add salt and put the pot on high heat until the bater boils. Then turn the heat down a bit and let the potatoes simmer until they are done.

How do we know potatoes are done? We pierce them with a fork and if they are cooked they will be soft and tender. It usually takes potatoes 15 to 20 minutes to cook.

Now we want to get rid of the water. Drain the potatoes and put them back on low heat so even more water evaporates. Leave them for a minute or two, just make sure you don’t burn them.

In the meantime mix milk, cream and butter and heat them so the butter melts (bot not to boil). Don’t mix your hot potatoes with cold milk or cream – this can make potatoes gluey.

Now it’s time to add the garlic. Peel all the garlic (if you haven’t already) and use garlic press to squeeze them into the potatoes. Add milk, cream, and butter mix and mash the potatoes with wire masher or potato ricer.

Because the added garlic is raw the taste of this recipe will be a bit stronger. If you don’t like it, you can add less garlic or go on to the next garlic mashed potatoes recipe, which will give milder garlic taste.

For The Second Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe we will need:

3 pounds russet or yukon gold potatoes
1 whole bulb garlic
1/2 cup half and half (half milk half cream)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

This is the milder garlic recipe…you will see why! Follow all the things I wrote in the first garlic mashed potato recipe, I will just tell you what to do different with this recipe.

After you peel and cut the potatoes also peel the garlic and add garlic cloves to the potatoes. We will be cooking the garlic together with the potatoes, this will give the mashed potatoes milder and sweeter garlic taste.

So after the potatoes are cooked (together with garlic) drain them and do all the things from the first recipe. And when you mash them, you will mash the garlic together with the rest of ingredients and your second garlic mashed potatoes are done!

These two were pretty simple, right? For the last one, we will try to do something a bit more complicated (but still so easy a 7 year old could do it).

For This Baked Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe we will need:

3 pounds russet or yukon gold potatoes
1 whole bulb garlic
1/2 cup half and half (half milk half cream)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh parsley

We are still making mashed potatoes so nothing special with that. But first turn on your oven and set it to 350 degrees F (180C), we will need it later for baking garlic. Again we need to peel the potatoes and cut them into a few pieces. Big pieces, remember? Put them into a pot or a saucepan and cover them with cold water and add salt.

Bring potatoes to a boil then reduce the heat and let them simmer for 15-20 minutes. After that, they should be soft (piercing them with a knife test, you know the drill :) ).

Drain the potatoes and put them back on the stove for a few minutes, don’t burn them. After that, set them aside and not it’s time to move our attention to garlic.

While the potatoes are boiling and simmering we will take the garlic bulb and cut the top of the whole garlic head. Oh, the garlic is still un-peeled, you don’t need to peel it. Now put the garlic into a heat resistant pan and cover it with drops of olive oil. Take some aluminum foil and cover the garlic (so it doesn’t burn) and put it into the oven.

How long does it take for garlic to bake? About the same time that it takes the potatoes to cook so you can do this simultaneously. Garlic is baked when is soft and as I said it will take about 20 minutes.

When the garlic is done let it cool down a bit, then squeeze the garlic out of it’s clothes with a fork and add it to the potatoes.

Now we are back on the old tracks. Mince the parsley and also add it to the potatoes, also add some pepper for the taste and some salt (if necessary) and mash the potatoes.

Heat cream, milk and butter and mix them into the potatoes. You could also do this before you mash the potatoes and garlic, maybe it tastes better if you do it after, but I don’t think so.

So this is it, the end of the last garlic mashed potatoes recipe. If you know any other way to put garlic into mashed potates, let me know!