We’ve got good news: You can prep the potatoes themselves a few days beforehand — and actually mash them up to 1 day before. Read on to find out how to take this shortcut early and enjoy your taters later.
While there’s not a set amount of boiling time you can always count on for perfect mashed potatoes, a good rule of thumb is to make sure their cooked all the way through. To test this, pierce a potato with a fork.
Mashed potatoes can be kept warm in a crockpot (if serving later the same day) OR refrigerated for up to 2 days. To reheat, place them in a large pot over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and adding additional milk/cream as needed to achieve the desired consistency.
When you're ready to serve the potatoes, heat the cream (or milk or stock, as the case may be in your recipe) in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. Add the premade mashed potatoes and fold them into the hot liquid. This will heat the potatoes quickly, while giving them their final texture.
Mashed potatoes can be made almost completely ahead. Do nearly everything - boil, peel and mash; stir in milk and salt - up to two days ahead. Before serving, reheat. Adding butter at the last minute makes them taste freshly mashed.
One of the best ways to use this trick is when making mashed potatoes—you don't have to cut them small and you'll be adding liquid anyway. In the morning, put peeled, quartered potatoes in a pot of cold water and refrigerate; when it's time for dinner, just put the pot on the stovetop and fire it up!
You can make the mashed potatoes a few hours before dinner, and then keep them warm on the stovetop. When you should start cooking: A couple hours before dinnertime. "Mashed potatoes are best served when they're hot and just made," Holzman said.
Peel potatoes using a vegetable peeler. It's best to leave them whole, but you can go ahead and cube or dice them if you want — just don't slice them too thin. Fill a bowl with cool water, submerge the potatoes, then cover with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator overnight.
Editor's Tip: Sliced, shredded, cubed or really any kind of peeled potato can be stored in cold water for about 24 hours before any noticeable change happens to the potato's structure or texture.
Freshly-peeled potatoes should keep for 1-2 hours when left to sit out on the countertop, or about 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Mashed potatoes When you should start cooking: A couple hours before dinnertime. "Mashed potatoes are best served when they're hot and just made," Holzman said. To keep them hot until dinner is served, put them in a dish on a low flame on the stove or on low heat in the oven.
7 Thanksgiving Dishes You Should Always Make Ahead (and 5 You Should Never)Stuffing. "We always make my mom's sweet potato stuffing ahead of time. ... Casseroles. ... Mise en place. ... Gravy. ... Most desserts. ... Turkey and chicken stock. ... Brussels Sprouts. ... Rolls.More items...•
Nothing should go in cold. Indeed, butter will mix better if it's at room temperature, so leave it out to warm up while the potatoes tenderize in the water. Milk or cream should be warmed to prevent them from seizing the potatoes if added immediately after the cooking process.
It's important to drain the potatoes immediately after cooking. Don't leave them to sit in the liquid while you finish preparing the rest of the meal. Potatoes retain their heat quite well, so putting them back in the pot after draining and putting a lid on them will keep them warm until you're ready to serve.
Give them a cold water bath: Once your potatoes are chopped, toss them into a large bowl. Then cover the potatoes completely with cold water and let them soak for at least 30 minutes (or up to overnight). This will help to rinse off the excess starch and help the potatoes crisp up beautifully in the oven.
Test Kitchen Tip: You can boil potatoes ahead of time for use later as long as you cover and refrigerate them. They'll last for up to three days in the fridge.
Make-ahead mashed potatoes are super handy for busy holiday festivities! The trick with creamy mashed potatoes is simple - more cream, more butter!
1. You need to use starchy potatoes as they breakdown when cooked, becoming nice and fluffy. The best to use are Russet (common in the US), dutch creams, King Edwards or red delight. However, great all rounders like golden delight, coliban, red rascal and Sebago (popular in Australia) still works great.
Yukon gold. The Yukon gold is the ideal mashing potato. Its natural buttery taste puts it ahead of the curve, but what really seals the deal is the Yukon gold’s dense texture. The rarely grainy or watery potato is easy to cook to a perfect creamy consistency.
How long you should boil potatoes you plan to mash depends on how large the potatoes (or potato pieces) you’re using are.
No matter what you’ve been told, it’s not necessary to peel potatoes before boiling (if you’re boiling them whole). Not only do unpeeled potatoes absorb less water and retain more vitamins and nutrients, the peels are usually easier to remove after cooking—just make sure you scrub the skin well first if this is the route you plan to take.
Ready to try your hand at perfect mashed potatoes? We’ve got you covered:
Daniel joined the Serious Eats culinary team in 2014 and writes recipes, equipment reviews, articles on cooking techniques. Prior to that he was a food editor at Food & Wine magazine, and the staff writer for Time Out New York's restaurant and bars section.
First up is the casserole. When I tested my recipe, I successfully refrigerated the potatoes for five days, and they still warmed up beautifully, as if they'd just been made.
One of the easiest make-ahead mashed potato methods I know comes from my restaurant days. As you can imagine, it's not really possible for a restaurant to prepare mashed potatoes from start to finish each time an order comes in. That would be silly. Instead, the mashed potatoes are prepped before service, then finished as needed.
The above two methods are great, but if you don't have any oven or stovetop space to spare, the best solution is to take those tools out of the equation entirely. Instead, seal your fully made mashed potatoes—cream and all—in a vacuum bag, and keep them warm using an immersion circulator until ready to serve.
While this seems like such a good idea, this will turn them into a sticky, gooey mess.
I’ve never had success with this. Plain mashed potatoes freeze fine but thaw weird. They are always watery and unappetizing. These are not the kind of potatoes I want to include on my holiday table. If you do freeze them as-is, you must cook the frozen/thawed potatoes in a pot to steam off excess water that has formed in the freezing process.
Want to get the prep work out of the way on a busy day filled with meal preparations? Typically I pull my family into the kitchen the night before the holiday meal. Together, we scrub and chop potatoes. We put them into a large pot, cover them with cold water, put on a lid, and leave them until boiling and mashing time the next day.
What I find very helpful is to follow all the instructions detailed in #1 to prep the potatoes the night before. The next morning – hours before our meal – I cook, drain, and mash. I then put them into a crock pot (with butter, always) on the “keep warm” setting until serving time.
While mashed potatoes don’t freeze well as-is, they do freeze well if you add some goodies to them. Take a look at the recipe below for all the specifics! When made like that, they do freeze well. Or, at the very least, you can make them a few days before your holiday meal, refrigerate them, then bake them on serving day.
Make the potatoes as directed in the recipe above. All it to cool completely. Cover and freeze for up to three months.
For the longest time, I would never even consider making mashed potatoes ahead of time. I was convinced that in order to have fluffy mashed potatoes, they would have to be made just before serving. I had seen first-hand how they stiffen and clump up as they sit, becoming heavy and leaden.
It’s all about the method with this recipe. Normal mashed potato recipes would clump up as they sit and become gummy and heavy, but because of this special technique, these stay velvety and light for days.
I used Yukon gold potatoes for what you see here. They have a pretty butter-yellow color, a rich taste, and a nice, glossy quality.
Keep these make-ahead mashed potatoes warm in the slow cooker for several hours, or refrigerat them for up to two days.
To reheat, place the make-ahead mashed potatoes in a large pot over medium-low heat. Warm them gently, stirring, until heated through.
Reheat in the oven: cover mashed potatoes with foil and reheat at 375 for 30-40 minutes.
Warming Trays are a great way to free up space in your oven, keep food warm, and set up a nice buffet for holidays and parties.
This mashed potato recipe is a perfect side dish for family dinner, potlucks, and holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter.
Smashed Potatoes served with melted herb butter are one of the most heavenly potato recipes. These crispy potatoes are a beautiful side dish for a family dinner, romantic date nights, holidays, or a dinner party.
Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes are creamy smooth and melt in your mouth with 5 easy ways to reheat and keep warm for dinner or your holiday party.