These Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese are buttery, smooth, and full of cream cheese flavor with a hint of garlic! This is the recipe you will come back to over and over again!
These garlic mashed potatoes are excellent for any occasion, for a weeknight dinner, special occasion, Thanksgiving or our Christmas.
There is a skip-to-recipe button in the top left corner along with a clickable table of contents list (just below) that will quickly take you to the part you are more interested in. Enjoy!
Jump to:
Mashed potatoes will never be boring again. These are incredibly tasty!
Why It's Yummy
- Buttery and creamy - I think the two ingredients that make the best-mashed potatoes are butter and cream cheese. I’ve done this recipe without cream cheese and the taste is not the same, even if you’re using plenty of butter.
- They’re really easy to make for any weeknight if you craving some comfort food. The best thing is that you can leave these potatoes unpeeled if you’re in a rush (actually adds extra nutrition if you have good quality potatoes) or take the extra time to peel them but they’re totally worth it in the end.
- If you're looking for silky smooth puree, try this recipe for Mashed Cauliflower and Potatoes or Cabbage and Potatoes for something different!
Ingredients
My few comments on the ingredients.
The full recipe and ingredients can be found in the recipe card below this post.
- Potatoes - white or yellow potatoes. Any potato that has higher starch content such as Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes. Like with any mashed potato recipe these are the best to choose and will result in smooth, most flavored potato mash.
- Milk - any fat % milk will work here, as you only need a little here. Non-dairy milk options work very well as well, on different occasions I’ve used oat milk, soy milk, almond milk, rice milk.
- Butter - unsalted or salted is your choice and you may not need to add extra salt at all. Although I love my cauliflower properly salted!
- Garlic - the star of this dish, after potatoes ofcourse! we use plenty of freshly minced garlic here!
Instructions
Making these garlic mashed potatoes with cream cheese is a quite straightforward process and will not take a lot of your time except if you're peeling the potatoes upfront.
Here are the steps:
Cut the potatoes into chunks and transfer them to a large pot full of cold water. Feel free to leave the skins on for extra nutrition.
Stir in the garlic, salt, and pepper. Boil the potatoes until a knife inserted in the middle of the potato goes in easily.
Meanwhile, as the potatoes are boiling, in a medium saucepan heat the butter, milk, and an additional 2 teaspoons of salt until butter is melted. Don’t boil the milk! Set aside until ready to use.
After potatoes are boiled, drain the water and return them to the hot burner and turn the heat to low. Pan-dry the potatoes.
Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or electric hand mixer until desired consistency.
Slowly stir in the melted butter mixture over the potatoes until potatoes have soaked up all the liquid.
Fold in the cream cheese, and gently stir until well combined.
Add more seasoning to taste if needed.
Garnish with freshly sliced green onions, pepper, gravy, and serve hot with more butter on top.
FAQs
This usually happens when you have overmixed your potatoes with a hand mixer or food processor. There is a very small chance of this happening if you have used an old-school potato masher. Great news, you can probably still fix this. Add in melted butter (or olive oil) in batches, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Fold in gently into the potatoes and see if you need to repeat the process.
In case you have overmixed your potatoes or used the wrong ratios and now need to thicken your mashed potatoes, there is a solution. You can either continue to cook the watery mash in a pot, where the heat will help the excess moisture to evaporate. Although it is a little risky move as you can burn your mash and make the potatoes gummy instead. Another option with very watery potatoes is to thicken them with either flour (gluten free flour blend), cornstarch (naturally gluten free), or powdered milk. Start with 1 teaspoon at a time, stirring it into the potatoes mixture.
Serving Suggestions
Wondering what to eat with mashed potatoes? Well, anything!
Here's what I recommend from my blog:
- Pork Tenderloin
- Barbecue Slow Cooker Ribs
- Creamy Cheddar Chicken
- Asparagus and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
- Baked Salmon
- Shrimp Scampi
- 2 minute Air Fryer Ahi Tuna Steak - I also provide instructions for searing on the stovetop!
- Pork and Beef Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Gluten Free Side Dish Recipes
- Mississippi Cheesy Mud Potatoes
- Easy Cornbread Recipe
- Gluten Free Latkes (Potato Pancakes)
- Mashed Cauliflower and Potatoes
- Rosemary Roasted Beets And Carrots
- Homemade Parmesan Truffle Fries
I hope you enjoy this Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese recipe and will make it again in the future!
Gluten Free Potato Recipes
Garlic Mashed Potatoes With Cream Cheese
INGREDIENTS
- 4-5 pounds potatoes
- 2 large cloves garlic or more, minced
- fine sea salt
- 6 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup whole milk or oat milk
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- chopped fresh chives or green onions for garnish
- freshly-cracked black pepper for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut the potatoes into chunks and transfer them to a large pot with cold water. Feel free to leave the skins on for extra nutrition. Stir in the garlic, salt, and pepper. Boil the potatoes until a knife inserted in the middle of the potato goes in easily.
- Meanwhile, as the potatoes are boiling, in a medium saucepan heat the butter, milk, and an additional 2 teaspoons of salt until butter is melted. Don’t boil the milk! Set aside until ready to use.
- After potatoes are boiled, drain the water and return the pot to the stove and turn the heat to low. Pan-dry the potatoes.
- Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or electric hand mixer until desired consistency.
- Next, slowly stir in the melted butter mixture over the potatoes until potatoes have soaked up all the liquid. Fold in the cream cheese, and gently stir again until well combined.
- Add more seasoning to taste if needed.
- Garnish with freshly sliced green onions, pepper, some gravy, and serve hot with more butter on top.
PRIVATE NOTES
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Reese
The creamiest mash potatoes I’ve ever tried!
Julia
thank you Reese, they are so good 🙂