Mashed potatoes are an opportunity waiting for you to take on. You can do anything with mashed potatoes. You can make regular mashed potatoes, add bacon to them, dice some kimchi and fold into the potatoes, mix roasted garlic into the potatoes, sauté some cumin seeds in some brown butter and add it to the potatoes, the possibilities are endless with potatoes! It’s such a great vegetable. I decided to caramelize some onions and add some Monterey jack cheese.
Creamy mashed Yukon gold potatoes blended with butter, milk, and chicken broth to create a smooth mashed potato that melts in your mouth. Fresh tarragon folded in gave this mashed potato a hint of licorice, which is often used in French cuisine, but pairs well with chicken dishes! It is even paired with this mashed potato dish combined with the caramelized onions and Monterey jack cheese. Creamy, cheesy, buttery goodness, and it all starts with the Yukon gold potato!
Below facts is a copy/paste post from one of my earlier recipe posts. Check it out here! The recipe is Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Honey Dijon-Sriracha Gravy with Caramelized Onions. It came out very good and I highly recommend you take it home with you!
Mashed Potatoes Fun Facts
- Roasted garlic vs raw garlic boiling with the potatoes: I would say roasting garlic is better than smashing raw garlic cloves and boiling it with the potatoes. Both ways give you garlic potatoes, but I now prefer roasting the garlic first. Using raw garlic in the pot with the boiling potatoes have a stronger garlic taste than roasted garlic. I, personally, would boil garlic with the potatoes if I were making a steak dinner with some creamed spinach. Roasted garlic tastes a bit sweeter, and gives a better boost to flavor. Plus, roasted garlic has many uses!
- Any potato can be used for mashed potatoes: But some cook differently and have a different taste profile. You can use red potatoes, sweet potatoes, purple potatoes (I used them in this recipe here!), list goes on. Yukon gold is one of my favorites to use. It’s an all-around potato you can use for frying, mashing, roasting, and blanching. (I only used 100% russet because I was in a rush to get home and grabbed the most basic potato.) Yukon potatoes are waxy and buttery, while regular russet are more starchy. Mixing 50/50 russet and Yukon will give you the best of both profiles: starchy and buttery.
- Season the potatoes along the way. Use salt to season the potatoes both in the water while boiling, then afterwards when adding the butter, milk, and any other ingredients you may add to the mashed potatoes. As always, when you are making a recipe, the important thing to do is TASTE along the way. Not tasting a recipe is like a guessing game. Is my dish too salty/spicy/not seasoned enough/etc? Never question the flavors of your dish, always taste for the answers.
- Do I need to use milk for the potatoes? You want to add a liquid that will make it creamy. So, milk is the most common ingredient to use. Of course, with butter added into the picture. Butter is the best friend to the potato. However, you can use other dairy options for the potatoes, but the amounts will vary from all dairy products to create the perfect consistency. You can use heavy cream, half and half, sour cream, or if you’re vegan/looking to cut calories, plant based milks or lighter milks (fat-free or 1%) are a great option. The taste will be slightly different depending on what you use. Sour cream makes it creamy with a hint of tanginess from the sour cream itself, while heavy cream will make it fuller in body with a comforting creamy texture, almost retaining a rich mashed potato feel. If you want to go with a nondairy option, there’s quite a few all over the internet. I just don’t have a recipe for one yet!
- Pro-tips to avoid waterlogging your potatoes:
- Cut your potatoes before boiling them. Though it may seem obvious to do, some people actually boil them whole. It takes way longer than it needs to if you boil potatoes whole. Cutting them will make the potatoes cook evenly and will take less time
- Don’t overboil them. You want to keep a close eye on the the potatoes. As soon as a butter knife can be inserted easily into a potato piece without any/minimal resistance, drain them immediately. This recipe calls for multitasking, but you need to be mindful of the potatoes. Check every 5-10 minutes of cooking.
- Dry them after cooking: What do I mean by this? Well, after draining the potatoes, return them to the pot you cooked them in, and turn the heat to low to release some of the steam and moisture from the potatoes. If the potatoes are too watery or moist, it just screws up the creamy consistency you want, and may land in the more watery side of potato land. Too much water is the enemy of mashed potatoes.
Want the recipe? Click print below! Let me know how it came out for you by tagging me on Instagram (@missravenskitchen) and using #missravenskitchen! Let me know if I need to tweak anything.
Onion-Jack Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 yukon gold potatoes, peeled, diced into 1/4 inch pieces
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed (*1)
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 5 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded
- Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
Instructions
- Put potatoes in a stockpot and fill with water that will cover the potatoes, plus 2 inches above them. Add the smashed garlic to the pot, salt the water to your liking, then bring to a boil on medium-high heat. It will take about 30 minutes to come to a boil, and will take about 15 minutes to cook the potatoes. Cook the potatoes until they are soft and easy to smash with no resistance.
- While potatoes are cooking, melt 2 tbsp of butter on medium heat in a saute pan, then add the onions once hot. Add some salt to taste, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the onions are very soft, golden brown, and caramelized. The timing will depend on the size of your onions and the heat of your stove. Set aside.
- Drain the potatoes, then put them back into the stockpot and keep on low heat so the steam is released from the potatoes (*2). Shut the heat off, then add the 3 tbsp of butter to the potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Add the milk and chicken broth, then use a hand mixer to blend everything together until creamy. (*3)
Notes:
(*1) As you’re cutting the potatoes, place them in the stockpot full of water so the potatoes do not start to brown. Make sure the water is covering the potatoes as well as 2 inches above them. Do not overfill the pot with water.
(*2) You 100% DO NOT want to skip this step. The potatoes will retain some of the water in them, making a watery mashed potato. Steam them out to get rid of any moisture before mashing. Water is the enemy of the potato in this case.
(*3) If it is not creamy enough to your liking, add 1/4 cup of milk at a time and mix with a hand mixer. If you want it less creamy, use 1/4 cup chicken broth and 1/4 cup of milk at a time, blend with a hand mixer. You can always add or omit the full amount of milk. Same concept for the butter.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
291.28Fat (grams)
14.73Sat. Fat (grams)
9.21Carbs (grams)
32.98Fiber (grams)
3.35Net carbs
29.64Sugar (grams)
4.05Protein (grams)
8.41Sodium (milligrams)
228.23Cholesterol (grams)
40.66
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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