10 Classic to Creative Mashed Potato Recipes

Searching for the perfect mashed potato recipe for Thanksgiving dinner? Look through my 10 different recipes that range from classic to creative with some having different colors! I will also talk about different cooking methods for the potatoes themselves.

A collage of bowls of mashed potatoes featuring classic with butter, purple mashed potatoes, orange colored smoked paprika mashed potatoes, and mashed potatoes studded with caramelized onions.

You can't have Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes, but they don't have to be boring. I have shared many different styles, flavors, and methods to produce amazing mashed potatoes that I want to share with you all in one place today.

Here is my master list of all the mashed potato recipes on the blog. You can go through and click on any of them now and get those recipes right away. Or you can keep on reading to learn more about the different types of recipes and cooking methods.

Boiling on the Stove

Most of us like to boil our potatoes on the stove. It's just the most basic method, but it doesn't come without it's pitfalls. If you don't cook the potatoes long enough they will be hard and won't mash good. If you overcook them, they will waterlog and not have a good flavor or texture.

Want to know the secret? Use a thermometer to temp your potatoes. Because science is cool!

Boiling whole Russet potatoes in a pot of water and checking their temperature with a ThermaPen One instant read rheometer

🌡️ What is the ideal temperature? 2 degrees below the boiling point of water in your area. That is when the potatoes will be cooked through perfectly. The boiling point of water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level. If you go up to 5000 feet where I was at when living in Utah my boiling point was around 203 degrees. You can check the temperature of the boiling water before you put the potatoes in.

If you don't have an instant read thermometer, I recommend ThermoWorks. You can learn more about them in my podcast episode - Why a Thermometer Will Save You Money.

A Russet potato that has some of the skin peeled off by a kitchen towel.

We also need to talk about whether to peel the potatoes or not. If you are at all like me, then you hate using a vegetable peeler. I never do when I am cooking any type of potato for mashers other than Russet. And when I do Russet potatoes I don't use a peeler either. You can check out this post out to learn some alternative ideas - Do You Have to Peel Russet Potatoes for Mashed Potatoes?

Instant Pot

Want to cook your potatoes fast? The Instant Pot can be a timer saver for cooking mashed potatoes. Yes you do have to wait for it to come to pressure but the potatoes will still cook faster in it. The faster you cook them the less time they have to absorb water, which also waters down the flavor.

The best reason to make mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot is that you can drain the potatoes, put them back in, mash them right in the pot and keep them on warm. Serve the potatoes right out of the Instant Pot. A great idea for Thanksgiving dinner.

Mashed potatoes in a bowl that have the peeled sitting next to the bowl with the air fryer basket nearby.

Baking / Air Frying

Did you know what you can bake potatoes in the oven and turn those potatoes into mashed potatoes? This is a great idea for two reasons:

The flavor of the potato is stronger when you bake them instead of boiling.
The skin is easier to remove without a peeler.

You can also do the same thing by cooking the potatoes in your air fryer.

Sous Vide

In this method we are using water to heat the potatoes but the potatoes aren't touching the water themselves so they can't absorb any. But what they can absorb instead is milk and butter. I freeze the milk into cubes in an ice tray and add the frozen milk cubes to the bag with the potatoes before I vacuum seal it.

Get my recipe for Make Ahead Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes.

A bowl of mashed potatoes that is loaded with caramelized onions

Adding Flavor

Ready to play around with the flavor of your mashed potatoes? If you are love onions, then you need to try my Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes. The key is to cook the onions for a long time so that they are soft. Then they just melt right into the potatoes that way and add incredible flavor, perfect for the onion lover.

Two bowls of mashed potatoes side by side, one made with buttermilk and the other made with smoked paprika which turned them orange.

Want to add a little bit of tang to your mashed potatoes. Then try out these Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes. You will just replace the regular milk with buttermilk. Or you can add a smoky flavor by using smoked paprika, which will also turn your mashed potatoes a beautiful color.

Speaking of beautiful colors, look at these mashed potatoes.

A white bowl filling with purple mashed potatoes with a black spoon sticking out.

All I did different with these mashed potatoes is used purple potatoes that are purple inside and out.

You also could make some purple potatoes and some gold potatoes that you make separately and then swirl together like this:

A bowl that has gold mashed potateos and purple mashed potatoes mixed together.

Do you like sweet potatoes. Here is what it looks like when you swirl regular mashed potatoes with mashed sweet potatoes:

A bowl of mashed potatoes that have been swirled together with mashed sweet potatoes.

Bringing any of these options to your Thanksgiving is sure to wow your guests.

Learn how to make Mixed Colored Mashed Potatoes.

How to Improve the Texture

Lastly I want to talk about improving the texture of your mashed potatoes. There are two things I like to do for these:

Doing one or both of these will lead to more fluffy and smooth mashed potatoes. Due note that if you whip the potatoes too much they can become gummy. I aim for no more than 60 seconds of whipping time total.