Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe
This slow cooker mashed potatoes recipe can take the always-important mashed potatoes off your to-do list while you work on everything else! And even better: the slow cooker makes for the best, dreamiest, most flavorful mashed potatoes you'll ever have!
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- 🕰️ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- ⏰ Cook Time: 4 hours of hands-off slow cooker time.
- 🥔 Flavor Profile: Dreamy, creamy, and mostly hands-off. Once you go slow cooker mashed potatoes, you never go back!
- 🍽️ Good For: Your new favorite Thanksgiving side dish.
- 🧡 Difficulty: You'll need some arm strength for the mashing part, but the rest is easy as can be!
"I cannot stress how GOOD these are. Slow cooking the potatoes for hours in a butter garlic broth allows the flavors to infiltrate the potatoes. Best mashed potatoes I've ever had! Thank you for the recipe!"
- DEB -
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- 🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- 🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 🥔 The Ingredients You Need
- 🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- 🥣 Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe How-To
- 🙋🏻♀️ Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe FAQs
- 👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- 🦃 More Great Thanksgiving Recipes:
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Reviews
🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hi friend: A few years ago I had a hunch you could make mashed potatoes in the Crockpot, so prior to Thanksgiving that year, I got to testing. After dozens of batches of potatoes, I landed on this recipe that my family says is the best mashed potato recipe they've ever had!
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Perfect timing every time. Never again stress if your mashed potatoes will be hot and ready when the Thanksgiving turkey (here's my famous dry brine turkey recipe) timer goes off. The slow cooker takes the guess-work out of timing.
- Hands-off: Instead of spending a ton of time hovering over the stove, you can get the slow cooker going and then put your feet up for a few minutes to enjoy a Thanksgiving cocktail (ahem, cranberry gin fizz).
- Make them year round: These mashed potatoes are so easy, you'll find yourself making them in every season of the year to go with roasted chicken, Instant Pot pork roast, or marry me chicken. They are also excellent comfort food on sick days!
- Packed full of flavor. Because the potatoes slow cook in broth and butter, every molecule of these potatoes is infused with flavor.
- Holiday table approved. I've personally made this exact slow cooker mashed potato recipe for my family for Thanksgiving dinner every year for almost a decade now. There are rarely any leftovers!
🥔 The Ingredients You Need
- Potatoes: The type of potato you choose for your mashed potatoes DOES matter! The best mashed potatoes I've ever had were made using German Butterball potatoes. We grew them in our garden a few years back, and oh my gosh, they were amazing! Check for them at your farmers' market. If you can't track down German Butterball, I recommend going with either Russet potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes, or a combination of the two. I much prefer the creamy texture of the Yukon Gold potatoes, but it does mean your mashed potatoes are yellow. If you prefer the white, fluffy, cloud-like mashed potatoes, go with all Russet potatoes or a combination of Russet and Yukon Gold.
- Chicken broth: Boxed chicken broth or homemade bone broth both work well. Be sure to use enough broth! Because of the different sizes and shapes of Crock-Pots, you'll need to add more or less broth to make sure the potatoes are covered in broth. This is the number one reason why you'd have lumpy mashed potatoes: not enough broth. Make sure everything is covered!
- Butter: Cooking the potatoes in broth and butter means these mashed potatoes are inherently more flavorful than your standard boring mashed potatoes.
- Whole milk: If your mashed potatoes feel a little too thick, just mix in a small amount of extra milk until they are the consistency you like.
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- In the Instant Pot: If your slow cooker is unavailable, you can still keep your mashed potatoes hands-off! How? With our Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, of course!
- Leave the peels: If you want super creamy mashed potatoes, you need to peel them, but if you're okay with more rustic "smashed" potatoes, you can leave the peel on. Russet potatoes do tend to have a tougher peel than potatoes like Yukon Gold, so I'd recommend peeling Russets.
- Make it vegan: I tested these mashed potatoes multiple times "fully loaded" with butter and whole milk, but I also did a test with vegetable broth, vegan margarine, cashew cream, and cashew sour cream with good results. It's not exactly the same, but it'll definitely do the trick!
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes: The recipe already includes a couple cloves of garlic for base flavor, but adding in a whole head (or two) of roasted garlic will really take it over the top!
- Zesty Ranch Mashed Potatoes: Swap out the whole milk for either Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing, Cashew Ranch Dressing, or Coconut Milk Ranch Dressing for a zesty batch of mashed potatoes.
- Pesto Mashed Potatoes: Gently mix a couple tablespoons of basil or kale pesto into these crockpot mashed potatoes for a beautiful and flavorful green swirl.
🥣 Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe How-To
Step 1: This is a really good step to get kitchen helpers involved with. Almost everyone can peel a potato! Cut the potatoes into even size small pieces to ensure they cook properly.
Add your potatoes to the slow cooker. Then add in the butter (yes, you really want that much butter!), salt, and garlic.
Step 2: Add the broth. Stir well to make sure all the potatoes are submerged under the broth. If the potatoes aren't submerged, add some more broth. How much you add will depend on the shape and size of your slow cooker.
Step 3: Cook on high for 4-5 hours, stirring regularly. Potatoes are ready when they are very tender-they should fall apart when you try to split one with a fork. Drain off the broth, and reserve for another use (it's great for thickening and adding richness to soup).
Step 4: It's arm day! Get to mashing with a ricer or potato masher. Add in additional butter (yes, more!), sour cream, milk, and additional salt to taste. Mash, mash, mash! Yes your arms will be sore when you are done, but the results will be sooooo worth it.
Step 5: Check for seasoning and adjust. Mashed potatoes take WAY more salt than you think they should, so if they still taste bland, add more salt.
Step 6: The magic of the slow cooker is that it'll keep your potatoes nice and cozy until you're ready to serve. Pop the lid back on, switch your slow cooker to warm, and go on making the rest of your Thanksgiving dinner!
When it's time to serve, scoop them into your serving dish (another good job for a kitchen helper) top with another pat of butter (yes, MORE) and some minced chives.
🙋🏻♀️ Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes Recipe FAQs
Overmixing potatoes is usually the culprit! There are three ways that I've tested for the actual mashing of mashed potatoes, and let's run through them:
Using an electric hand mixer, food processor, or blender (NOT recommended): You might be tempted to bring out your small kitchen appliances to mash potatoes, but it is very easy to overmix potatoes-which is what turns them gummy or gluey. I don't recommend it. This is a job for your muscles!
A potato ricer: If you want incredibly smooth and consistent mashed potatoes, a potato ricer is going to be your best bet. I used to own one, but I realized I only used it once a year (on Thanksgiving!) and it wasn't worth the storage space in my small kitchen, so instead I always use...
A hand masher (my favorite way!): And not just any hand masher-the best potato mashing comes from hand mashers that have a mashing plate. It's the same idea as the potato ricer, but takes up a lot less storage space. Because you are doing it by hand, it's hard to guarantee 100% smooth mashed potatoes, but there are bigger problems in life than a few lumps, right?
The beauty of the slow cooker is that you don't really have to make them ahead of time-the crockpot makes them while you work on other dishes. But if you'd like to make them ahead of time, you can:
Cook the mashed potatoes all the way through, including mashing. Either transfer into a food storage container, or cover the removable crock of your slow cooker (if it has one) and store in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
When it's time to reheat, place the potatoes back in the slow cooker on low, adding in an additional ½ cup of milk, and warm for 1-2 hours, stirring frequently.
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👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Cut your potato chunks small: Smaller potato chunks cook more evenly in the slow cooker, resulting in lump-free mashed potatoes.
- Drain the broth: Don't forget to drain the broth off before you mash! You want mashed potatoes here, not potato soup. The broth makes a great addition to leftover mashed potato soup!
- Mash by hand: Promise me you will mash your potatoes by hand (either using a potato masher or a ricer)! That's how you get fluffy mashed potatoes instead of gluey ones.
- Season well: It's hard to over salt mashed potatoes, but it's easy to under season them! Keep adding salt until they taste flavorful and delicious.
- Cook for a crowd: A smaller size, 3-quart slow cooker will just fit this recipe as written below-which serves around 10 people. A larger size, 6- or 7-quart slow cooker will fit double this recipe-which can easily serve 20 people. If you're having trouble getting the recipe to fit in your Crock-Pot, just cut the potatoes into slightly smaller pieces. They'll be able to nestle into the crock better, and they'll cook faster!
🦃 More Great Thanksgiving Recipes:
If you tried this slow cooker mashed potatoes recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 pounds Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes or a mixture, peeled and cut into even 1" pieces
- 4-6 cups chicken broth see notes
- 1 cup unsalted butter divided
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼-1 cup whole milk
- Fresh chopped chives for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the potatoes, 4 cups of broth, 1 stick (½ cup) of the butter, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt in the basin of a slow cooker. Add additional broth if needed to cover the potatoes. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or until the potatoes are very tender. Stir occasionally throughout the cooking time to make sure the potatoes cook evenly.
- Drain off and reserve the majority of the cooking broth (it doesn't have to be completely dry, but you want to get most of it).
- Mash the potatoes using a hand-held potato masher until no lumps remain. Then, mash in additional salt to taste, as well as the remaining butter, sour cream, and whole milk, starting with ¼ cup and adding more until the potatoes reach your desired consistency. You can also add in more of the cooking broth to thin it out.
- Sprinkle on chopped chives, cover the potatoes, put the slow cooker to warm, and then serve.
Video
Notes
- Cut the potatoes small for quicker, more even cooking. Unevenly cooked potatoes = lumpy mashed potatoes!
- Make sure your potatoes are completely covered by the broth. Depending on the size and shape of your slow cooker, you might need to use more broth. For example, I have two 6 quart slow cookers-in one (that is oval-shaped), I only need to use 4 cups of broth. The other is a square, and I need to use a full 6 cups to get the potatoes covered.
- Use a hand-held potato masher or a ricer to mash the potatoes. Using a food processor or electric mixer runs the risk of gummy potatoes!
- Don't toss the broth! The drained-off chicken broth is great to use in soups, stews, and gravies.
This is the mashed potatoes recipe I've made for every Thanksgiving and for plenty of non-holiday weekends for at least 5 years now. They always come out perfectly, and they are always a hit!