This is about the easiest EVER way to make mashed potatoes. The only way it could get easier is if farmers/food scientists could create some kind of self-peeling potato. I don’t know if I would ever eat that as it sounds INSANE. But I would sure be tempted.
Maybe for Halloween next year I should be a mad food scientist. Which would pretty much be a mad scientist who is holding a bag of potatoes all night.
Or maybe that was the worst idea I’ve had this week. I’ll never tell.
5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into large cubes
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock or water
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk (go ahead and use whole milk if it’s a holiday)
salt + pepper
chives or cheddar cheese to garnish
First peel and cube the potatoes. Throw them in the slow cooker with the vegetable stock (or water) and butter. Cut the butter into small cubes before adding. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Add the sour cream and milk and stir to combine. If it still seems too thick to you, add more milk until you get the consistency you prefer. Taste and add as much salt and pepper as you think it needs.
Credits // Author: Emma Chapman, Photography: Sarah Rhodes and Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 lbs russet potatoes peeled and cut into large cubes
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock or water
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup milk go ahead and use whole milk if it's a holiday
- salt + pepper
- chives or cheddar cheese to garnish
Instructions
-
First peel and cube the potatoes. Throw them in the slow cooker with the vegetable stock (or water) and butter. Cut the butter into small cubes before adding. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours and 30 minutes.
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Once the cook time is up, mash the potatoes. I used a potato masher. You could also use an immersion blender, potato ricer, etc. But I think the masher is the easiest option.
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Add the sour cream and milk and stir to combine. If it still seems too thick to you, add more milk until you get the consistency you prefer. Taste and add as much salt and pepper as you think it needs. Top with chives before serving, optional.
46 Comments
Ah these sound amazing! I’ve been experimenting with making mashed potatoes on my own and I love the throw it in a pot and walk away method! (AKA minimal effort). For meat eaters, I recommend stirring in some bacon bits and cheddar cheese.
http://www.beautyofwhatyoudo.com
I’m a firm believer that the slowcooker makes everything more delicious. It had honestly never occurred to me that it’d be an easy way to make mashed potatoes for a big dinner, but it sounds brilliant! I made candied mashed yams last night and wish I had known about this recipe then 🙂
Cat
http://oddlylovely.com
Don’t use an immersion blender! I tried that once and it made the potatoes gummy (http://www.thekitchn.com/food-science-why-mashed-potato-89228). This slow cooker recipe looks too darn tasty to ruin with an immersion blender!
Honesty time: I’m always making boxed mashed potatoes. I don’t think I’ve EVER made them properly, from scratch… One of my goals for the next year (on my 26 things to do before I turn 26 list) is to make more thinks from scratch instead of making everything from a box (aka most of what I eat). I think this would be a great starting point and it would also allow me to dust off the old slow cooker, haha!
Neha // http://nehasharmaphoto.com/blog
26 x 26 list: http://nehasharmaphoto.com/blog/26-things-to-do-before-turning-26
Thanks for this! We have been trying to figure out what items we can make without the oven/stove top this year to stay out of each others way!
Using the crock pot is such a great idea! It leaves an extra space on the stove and would keep the potatoes warm until you’re ready serve. Yum! Mashed potatoes are my favorite!
Would this work with sweet potatoes d’ya think?
If I read your guys recepts and ideas, I think every time again: “I really have to cook more!” So great! That really sounds interesting.
Best wishes and a nice evening!
mtrjschk.blogspot.de
Is there some advantage to this I’m missing? Potatoes aren’t difficult. Cooking them in a crockpot just seems like taking a longer road to the same place.
Also have you tried using a stand mixer to mash your potatoes? They come out perfect and it takes seconds.
My mom always makes it in the pressure cooker. SO GOOD.
I love this! We always have to cook the potatoes in a slow cooker, because there aren’t even burners on the stovetop for all the things. It really frees up space. Our family makes them a weird way, though…in the bedroom! There’s not enough counter space in my grandma’s teeny tiny 1950’s kitchen, so someone is tasked with setting up the crockpot by an outlet elsewhere in the house and attending to them. So great to have a proven recipe to try out. I can already picture stirring them while they slowly cook sitting on top of a dresser. Ha! 🙂
I always make my mashed potatoes in my kitchen aid the day before (I just add more milk than usual because they thicken a lot) and then transfer them into my crock pot, but I never thought of actually cooking my unmashed potatoes in the crockpot. Brilliant!
I don’t own a slow cooker and have never used once (it’s not a very common appliance in my country), so I’m wondering if it really makes any difference to regular boiling… 4 hours is a looooong time for mashed potatoes, so is it really that much of a difference?
Love potatoes mashed or otherwise…and i am all in for self peeling potatoes 😉 This looks yum…
xo
Hems
agoldentulip.blogspot.com
There’s nothing wrong with leaving the peels in the mashed potatoes. The peels are so nutritious and it’s a shame just to throw them away.
As someone who absolutely loves potatoes, and also someone who is constantly looking for new slow cooker recipes to try, I am ridiculously excited to try this recipe.
Marley
http://www.marleyjustine.com
it looks great!
Lots of love
http://princechic.blogspot.com
Oh yeah, baby!! That is one serious looking dish of mashed potatoes! We just bought a slow cooker so I am going to give some mashed potatoes a whirl in it.
These look DELICIOUS.
I love mash potatos with lemon and sweet corn- this looks like a great recipe!
IPAD MINI GIVEWAY & Christmas gift guide for him and her
wow these potatoes look absolutely amazing!
rae of love from berlin
Is there some trick to this I’m missing? I tried crockpot mashed potatoes once before, and it just turned into this paste-like consistency. My husband wasn’t a huge fan of the leftovers either, but that could be partially from the garlic. I tried this again today because I’m having some pregnancy-induced food issues and mashed potatoes are one of the only things I’ve been able to stomach, and the same thing happened. It could be partially because I used an immersion blender, as Lindsey said above, but the color’s all off too. I love this idea, but I miss the fluffy white potatoes that I get when I do the stovetop/Kitchenaid technique!
Love this idea!! I LOVE mashed potatoes, it’s one of my favorite side dishes, but hate how long it takes to make! I think the slow cooker version would be a lot easier 🙂
http://www.littleblackshell.com
how did i never think of this?!?!? omg it looks amazing!
xx nikki
http://www.dream-in-neon.com
Thanks for the tip Lindsey!
-Emma
I bet it would. My guess is you may need to adjust the cook time… possibly.
If anyone has tried it let us know!
-Emma
Good tip on the stand mixer. I’ve never tried that but sounds pretty simple, so thanks for sharing.
The main advantage is freeing up your stove top space. Also, you don’t have to keep an eye on a slow cooker the same way you really should a stove top item. And this can be a big advantage on a day where you have lots going on in the kitchen (like turkey day).
Just options. 🙂
-Emma
The taste is not that different at all-the big advantage is freeing up stove top space for other dishes if you are cooking a lot in one day (like we do for Thanksgiving here in the US).
-Emma
Yes, you can absolutely leave the peels in. It changes the texture but I have heard many times, like you say, that the peels are quite nutrias so that’s a great tip. Thanks for sharing!
-Emma
Hmm. I think you’re likely correct about the immersion blender. Although I’m not totally sure.
But I also wanted to leave a comment to say I hope you’ll feel better soon! I’ve had a number of friends with different pregnancy-induced food issues, so heart goes out to you. And big CONGRATS to you and your growing family!
-Emma
You also free up a pan! I only have one stock pot and this will really help me come Thanksgiving when cookware is at a premium.
Looks delicious!
Johanna
http://www.ourjoyfulhome.com
this recipe looks delish, thanks for sharing!
xx Angie | http://www.thefashionfuse.com
ooh! I’ve made baked potatoes in the slow cooker before (just wrap them in foil whole) and I loved them, but I haven’t made mashed. On the list to try.
I never would have thought to cook potatoes in a crockpot. It’s genius really. Thanks for sharing! Those look absolutely delicious!
What? Why have I never thought of this before??? So brilliant!
xo
Kristina
http://www.eccentricowl.com
Oh my goshhhhh. There are only three of us eating in this household, but one of my favourite things to make with leftover mashed potatoes are pancakes. Add chives, cheddar, an egg and 2-4tbsp of flour… and a wee bit of cream cheese to cold mashed potatoes and crisp them up in a frying pan. Deeelightful. This would be awesome for Christmas… And Christmas morning eggs benny with a mashed potato base 😉
Very cool, can’t wait to try! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Kerby
http://life-love-craft.blogspot.ca/
I am tasked with the potatoes this year! This may just by my go to! Thanks!!
So since it’s high for 4 hours, does that mean you could leave it on low for 8??
I love slow cooker meals! What a great way to make mashed potatoes!
I really wanted these to work out, but they just didn’t. After 4.5 hours on high in the slow cooker they were still pretty much hard. 🙁
Tried this on Thanksgiving and despite following instructions to a T, these didn’t work! Potatoes were still hard after 4.5 hours on high and we had to boil them on the stove after the slow cooker. We managed to save them but sheesh! Thought it would be super easy and it was stressful!
On the other hand, I also made your recipe for jalapeño popper dip, which turned out awesome and was a total hit!
Can’t win them all I guess!
Oh no! That’s a total bummer. I’ve made this quite a few times now and I’ve never encountered that, hmm. What kind of potatoes did you use? Did you cut them as small (or smaller) as they appear in the photo in this post that shows them in the slower cooker before mashing? I wonder if your slow cooker is different from mine, like the temp setting for “high.”
Well, I’m sorry that stressed you out on Thanksgiving day! Boo! Appreciate you coming back with your honest review. I sincerely love getting crowd soured recipe testing from you guys-you’re the best!
-Emma
That looks so good.
I used 5 lbs of russet potatoes as suggested in the recipe and cut them in to chunks that are the same size or smaller than pictured. I do have a less fancy slow cooker (same brand) that is about 10 years old. It only has three settings — off, low and high. It may not have the same high temp settings as yours, which would be the issue! I used high and after 4.5 hours, potatoes were still hard as rocks! Not sure what I did wrong!
I actually had a friend that also tried this and she had the same problem as me…she left them going in the slow cooker and it took 8 hours for hers to be soft enough for smashing!
It is really ok — I was a little stressed but like I said — my guests were so thrilled with the Jalapeño popper dip, the potatoes didn’t phase them! 🙂
I just made these today for Thanksgiving and they were ah-MAY-zing!