Cream cheese and sour cream add texture, flavor, and richness to a bowl of delicious mashed potatoes. Learn how to make your mashed potatoes taste like a restaurant meal!
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Texture. These mashed potatoes are super creamy and smooth!
- Flavor. Sour cream, cream cheese, and butter add richness and a sour flavor to the potatoes.
- Easy recipe. Mashed potatoes are probably one of the simplest and most customizable recipes out there.
Equipment You Might Need
- A potato masher OR
- A potato ricer OR
- An immersion blender OR
- A fine mesh strainer;
- A good potato peeler.
- A knife;
- A cutting board.
Ingredients
Potatoes – Yukon Gold and russet potatoes are considered the best choice but if you don’t have either, feel free to use other types.
Sour cream – generally the higher the fat % the better. If you want to lower the sourness in the dish, use some high-fat % milk instead of some sour cream.
Cream cheese - any cream cheese will work great with this recipe! You can also use mascarpone cheese if you'd like to.
Substitutes and Swaps
Sour Cream - it adds a sour flavor to the potatoes. If you would like less sourness, add milk in place of sour cream. There is no specific formula – you can add milk and sour cream until the texture is right for you and the flavor is good. The basic rule of thumb is the more milk/sour cream, the thinner the potatoes will be.
Seasoning – I am only using salt and pepper but feel free to experiment and add some nutmeg, rosemary, thyme, or other herbs and spices.
Green onion – if you don’t like green onion you can add dill, chives, or any other greens you have on hand! Or you can just skip this ingredient altogether.
Cream cheese - you can use mascarpone, yogurt for more sourness, or high fat milk.
How to Make Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
Step 1 - peel and boil the potatoes
Peel all the potatoes, place them into a medium-sized pot, cover them with cold water, and bring them to a boil.
Pro Tip: boiling potatoes whole ensures a better flavor but if you are short on time, slicing the potatoes into smaller bits will help them boil faster.
Boil for 20-30 minutes or until a fork pierces the potatoes easily. Discard the hot water. While the potatoes are boiling, mince the garlic and chop the green onion!
Pro Tip: starting with cold water ensures that the potatoes are evenly boiled through.
Step 2 – mash the potatoes
You can use a potato masher, potato ricer, immersion blender, or a fine mesh strainer. I personally prefer the fine mesh strainer as it yields a very creamy and smooth texture. With a potato masher it is easy to skip some potato bits, an immersion blender is easy but it makes potatoes gluey, potato ricer might actually be better than a strainer but a strainer is what I have, so I find that it creates the best texture.
Add sour cream, cream cheese, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and chopped onion. You can add butter now or directly to the bowl when serving. Mix, taste, and adjust the seasoning. If you would like a thinner texture, add more sour cream!
Serving suggestions
You can probably serve mashed potatoes with pretty much everything! I personally really like mashed potatoes with roasted chicken or breaded pork chops along with some fresh salad.
Variations
Garlic mashed potatoes - add extra cloves of garlic to allow for the flavor to be more pronounced.
Cheddar mashed potatoes - add cheddar cheese for more cheesiness. You can also use Parmesan cheese or Grana Padano.
Bacon mashed potatoes - add fried bacon bits to the pot and mix well.
Horseradish - add a few tablespoons of horseradish to the pot for a tangy flavor that goes well with roasted meat.
Caramelized onions - add them on the side or mix them into the mashed potatoes.
Expert Tips
- Use a Y-shaped potato peeler. I tried a few different types and this one is an absolute winner!
- Start with cold water to make sure the potatoes are evenly cooked through.
- Boil the potatoes whole for more flavor and less water in the potatoes (although if you are short on time go ahead and slice them up, it won’t make that big of a difference after all).
- Mashed potatoes are best fresh but you can place them in the fridge or even freezer for later use. Make sure to adjust milk/sour cream/butter when reheating for the best flavor!
FAQ
Do You Need to Salt Water When Boiling Potatoes?
No, there is no need to boil the water. The potatoes absorb very little water so you will mostly just waste the salt.
Can I Freeze These Mashed Potatoes?
Yes! Place the potatoes into an airtight container and cover them with plastic wrap before placing the lid on top to prevent ice from forming. To reheat you can place the mashed potatoes into the oven at 375F (170C) for 20 minutes, in a saucepan (make sure to stir often), or in a microwave. Adjust the sour cream and milk levels as needed!
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📖 Recipe
Mashed Potatoes with Sour Cream and Cream Cheese
Equipment
- 1 potato peeler (Y-shaped peeler is the best one!)
- 1 mashing tool (potato masher, fine mesh strainer, or an immersion blender)
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2lb) potatoes with peel
- 200 ml (8oz) sour cream the higher the fat content the better
- 200 ml (8oz) cream cheese you can also use mascarpone
- 2 stems green onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 50 grams (¼ cup) butter for serving
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel all the potatoes, place them into a medium-sized pot, cover them with cold water, and bring them to a boil. Pro Tip: boiling potatoes whole ensures a better flavor but if you are short on time, slicing the potatoes into smaller bits will help them boil faster.
- Boil for 20-30 minutes or until a fork pierces the potatoes easily. Discard the hot water. While the potatoes are boiling, mince the garlic and chop the green onion! Pro Tip: starting with cold water ensures that the potatoes are evenly boiled through.
- You can use a potato masher, potato ricer, immersion blender, or a fine mesh strainer. I personally prefer the fine mesh strainer as it yields a very creamy and smooth texture. With a potato masher it is easy to skip some potato bits, an immersion blender is easy but it makes potatoes gluey, potato ricer might actually be better than a strainer but a strainer is what I have, so I find that it creates the best texture.
- Add sour cream, cream cheese, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and chopped onion. You can add butter now or directly to the bowl when serving. Mix, taste, and adjust the seasoning. If you would like a thinner texture, add more sour cream!
Laura says
I love this recipe! I also really like mashed potatoes with butter.