I never thought of steaming potatoes and will never again make mashed potatoes without steaming them.

My 12 year old is a mashed potato aficionado and will not eat them if they do not contain garlic. Upon his first bite he couldn't believe how creamy these were and it wasn't until he got half way through he figured out there was no garlic present and didn't care.

In fact, after a couple bites he said, "These are the best mashed potatoes I've ever had."

I'm hearing a lot of comments like that lately as I try Rouxbe recipes and actually follow them to a "T".

Thanks, Dawn for a great recipe but more important, for helping me to become a better cook.

You have no idea how much that means to me.

Hi we are from Mexico and we have done many trials of mashed and never achieved this soft texture. We have been doing many of the site recipes and all are fantastic. Keep going with the great job!

I don't understand why steaming isn't a common mashed potato process. Tonight I did my Nana proud...these were delicious. I added some garlic for a little extra something (paired with the Braised Peppercorn Short Ribs). Divine recipe I will keep forever and will never go back to boiling potatoes!

I will definitely try these mashed potatoes as the recipes states, however, I was always taught not to use a hand mixer as it turns the potatoes to glue. Why wouldn't that happen here? Is it because they are steamed, instead of boiled? If using garlic as well, do you steam it with the potatoes or put it in the water and then fish it out to 'mash' with the potatoes?

I personally heat the cream or milk slightly and add the garlic with that. It brings out the flavor of the garlic but doesn't make it too overpowering. As for the mixer, I didn't make enough potatoes to warrant bringing out the mixer. I just mashed the old fashioned way my nana taught me. Any other suggestions for adding garlic to the potatoes are welcome.

All good points Stephanie. Alternatively, you could steam the garlic with the potatoes (if the cloves are quite big, you may want to cut them up a bit so they cook in the same time as the potatoes).

As for using a hand mixer, if you over mix the potatoes will become glue-like. I was always told the same thing but honestly these potatoes are creamy and deliciously smooth when whipped with the hand mixer. Hope this helps. Cheers!

Made these last night (paired with braised short ribs) and clearly the steaming is key. These were by far the best mashed potatoes I have ever made. I added two heads of roasted garlic and passed the potatoes and garlic cloves through a food mill with the medium disk rather than use a hand mixer. Added the butter, cream and some chopped chives. The texture and flavor were amazing. As others have said above, I will never go back to boiling. These are on the Thanksgiving menu for sure!

Hey There,

I have about 8 - 10 people coming over and my steamer would not be able to handle the amount of potatoes in one layer. Can this be done in batches or possibly ahead of time? As well, any other considerations when increasing the size of the recipe?

Thanks
Mark

I would probably mise out how every many recipes you'd like to make of these and mix each recipe as the potatoes finish steaming. Place all of the finished mashed potatoes into a stainless-steel bowl, cover the surface of the potatoes with the plastic wrap and keep warm over a bain marie. As the potatoes sit, they will absorb the cream, etc and become a bit thicker, so you might have to add some extra cream, milk or butter just before serving to "lighten" them up a bit. You could also try boiling the potatoes as per the recipe for "Mashed Potatoes for a Crowd". Cheers!

I've always boiled my mashed potatoes - really looking forward to trying steaming. I guess the potatoes will end up less soggy this way?

I read somewhere else that "the" way to make mashed potatoes was with baked potatoes. Any thoughts on steamed vs baked potatoes?

As an aside - a little while ago we had leg of lamb, and served mashed potatoes with it. I added a bit of shredded parmiggiano to the potatoes, and it was a huge hit. Very yummy.

I totally prefer my potatoes steamed. They are indeed less wet. I add 2 or 3 bay leaves and sprinkle them with salt and then steam them - they turn out so nice. And rather than adding butter, we often add a bit of coconut oil to the potatoes. The end result is quite delicious!!

I have also heard about baking potatoes first and then mashing them, but this is not a method that I use to make mashed potatoes. You could always give it a try and see which method you prefer. Cheers!

I'll have to make three batches of mashed potatoes - steamed, boiled and baked - and compare them. I'll get on it this weekend.

I read in a Norwegian recipe that the butter was (apart from the potato) the most important ingredient. It claimed that some restaurants go as far as 50/50 potatoes/butter. I don't know how true that is - seems like a lot to me. Using coconut oil instead sounds like an interesting twist, I'll put that on my "totry list" as well :)

Ok, so I did a quick experiment comparing boiled, steamed and baked potatoes. I was blown away by the difference between boiled vs steamed/baked. The boiled potatoes made for a much mushier and watery mashed potatoes, even when I took great care to get rid of excess moisture after boiling them.

The difference between steamed and baked potatoes was less noticable. Tasting them side-by-side I did prefer the baked ones, as they were even fluffier. However, I'm not convinced the small difference is worth the extra effort. I baked the potatoes in their skin, so the process took more time, and required a little more patience and effort when the potatoes were ready (handling baked potatoes HURTS unless you're able to wait a little...)

In conclusion: I will never boil potatoes for mashed potatoes again, so thanks again Dawn :) Next up is trying the coconut oil trick.

Nice work Christian! Like you, I also said "I will never boil potatoes again", that was until I had to make mashed potatoes for 25 people. Unless you have bigger steaming equipment, which most people do not, then it can be trickier to steam and then mash potatoes for a crowd (that's why there are 2 recipes for mashed potatoes on Rouxbe). With that said, I do prefer the steaming method over the boiling method when it comes to cooking potatoes. And also like you, I would generally not go to the effort of baking my potatoes first before mashing them. Cheers!

I made these steamed mashed potatoes with 2 pounds of a mixture of red potatoes (pretty sure) and gold potatoes, and after processing through a food mill, I stirred in (with a wooden spoon) 6 tablespoons of heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of butter, but the potatoes looked like they needed *much* more liquid/fat to be of mashed potato consistency (I should also note that once I added in additional cream and butter, the final texture was a bit gluey, despite what I thought was minimal stirring).

So now, I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong... Any thoughts? If the "red" potatoes were actually another variety (they might have been purplish, come to think of it), could that be what had caused the mashed potatoes to be so dry? Thanks, in advance!

Red or purple potatoes are typically classified as "waxy" potatoes whereas russets are "starchy". Gold potatoes have qualities of both (making them a favorite for all-purpose use)--but tend to act more like starchy potatoes when boiled or steamed for mashing. Waxy potatoes can become a bit gummy in texture, especially if agitate/stirred a lot.

As for the dryness--they just need more moisture added. Milk or cream would do the trick. Added fat or oil may help reduce the gummy nature of the potatoes (the lipids in the fat help keep the starches from clinging together)--but use caution in adding too much fat as these may make the final product too rich. Try using gold potatoes only and adding a bit more milk or cream--the starch will absorb a lot! I hope this helps. Enjoy!

Thanks for your prompt response, Ken. What you said makes a lot of sense, but I'm a bit confused about the recipe, as it calls for red potatoes, and it seems as others are having great success. If other posters are reading this, would you be so kind as to tell me what type of potato you used? I'll try this recipe again using only Gold potatoes and see if I get better results. Thanks, again!

You bet! Part of the gummy outcome could be due to how fresh the potatoes were or how they were stored prior to cooking as well. So, red potatoes can certainly work (I myself love the flavor of red "new" potatoes"-mashed with skins) but it's most important that you can achieve a good outcome. It might also be that the food mill may have contributed to over processing. If you have a ricer, you might try that--my go-to tool for making mashed potatoes. I look forward to additional input and commentary. Enjoy!

We used a red Desiree potato in this particular recipe, which are very good for mashing. Hope that helps. Cheers!