Garlic & Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes

Garlic & Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes – Rustic Yukon gold mashed potatoes made with roasted garlic and extra virgin olive oil

The Fall Equinox is this week! That means, Fall officially begins on that day, September 23rd. So if you’ve been resisting the onslaught of pumpkins, fall leaves, and pictures of apple picking, then get ready…it’s about to get a whole lot worse!

The Fall brings about my favorite holiday…Thanksgiving! I have always loved this holiday, mostly because it was the one time we ate some of my most favorite foods in one meal- mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, turkey, stuffing, and yeast rolls. So it’s no surprise that I am already planning my menu for this food-centered holiday.

Today, I am sharing my fool-proof recipe for mashed potatoes. It’s extremely easy, especially if you have a stand mixer. Spoiler alert: you won’t need a potato masher or a food mill for this recipe!

Check out my Garlic & Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes!

Making mashed potatoes from scratch is surprisingly one of the easiest things you can make. I always assumed you needed fancy equipment and a complicated recipe to make an incredible version of homemade mashed potatoes. But that’s just not the case.

Mashed potatoes are made with a few basic ingredients: potatoes, salt, pepper, cream, and butter. The potatoes are boiled until tender and then mashed with the other ingredients. That it!

Because mashed potatoes are so simple to make at home, it’s that much easier (and tempting!) to make the recipe your own by adding in ingredients that you love.

Enter garlic & olive oil.

I’ve been obsessed with olive oil ever since I tried an amazing bottle of it at a local Italian restaurant. It was fruity and flavorful and quickly replaced butter as my condiment of choice when enjoying a crusty loaf of bread.

So when I saw a recipe for garlic & olive oil mashed potatoes from the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, I just had to make it.

And it does not disappoint! The mashed potatoes were super creamy and full of incredible flavor. I adapted it a little to make the potatoes chunky and rustic, which I prefer. It also saves you tons of time because you don’t need to peel the potatoes.

This recipe is so super simple. But if you still have your reservations, here are a few tips to help you along the way:

1. Because olive oil is so important in this recipe, you must use good-quality olive oil. Therefore, spend a little extra on that fancy imported bottle of extra virgin olive oil. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
2. When boiling potatoes, you need to boil them differently than you would boil, let’s say, pasta. That is, you need to add the cut potatoes to a pot, add enough cold water to just cover the potatoes, and then bring to a boil. This ensures the potatoes cook evenly and efficiently.
3. After boiling the garlic cloves, I suggest mashing them up on their own before mashing with the potatoes. This ensures you don’t get huge chunks of garlic in the potatoes.
4. When adding the potato water to the mashed potatoes, I suggest adding half of the amount in the recipe first, mixing it into the recipe, and then adding the rest, if you think you need it. Remember: you can always add more water but you can never remove water if you’ve added too much.

And there you go – your first recipe for your Thanksgiving menu this year! Or hey – it’s such a simple recipe that you can even make it with your weekly dinners. Here’s a photo of me enjoying it with some yummy pot roast.

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More recipes you’ll love:

Parmesan & Thyme Potatoes Au Gratin

Creamy Baked Mac & Cheese

Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Butter