Buttermilk Chive Mashed Potatoes With Cream Cheese

Rich and delicious, these Buttermilk Chive Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese are the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table this year. They’re super simple to make, with minimal ingredients but they’re so full of flavor people will be begging you for the recipe and asking you to make them again for Christmas!

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I think we can all agree that Mashed Potatoes are the best part of the Thanksgiving experience. Well, mashed potatoes and pie. And while I may have the desire to, my family wont let me just eat pie on Thanksgiving day.

Normally, my father-in-law makes the potatoes on Thanksgiving. I never understood how he made them so well until I finally watched him make them once and learned that his secret ingredient is basically a stick and half of butter. If you add that much butter to anything it’s going to be delicious.

So while I’m not going to step on my fathers-in-law’s toes at Thanksgiving, I AM going to make a bomb recipe for mashed potatoes that anyone will love. And they don’t have quite a stick and half of butter in there, but they do have fat from three different sources, which makes them incredibly rich, creamy, and amazingly delicious.

Shopping List for Buttermilk Chive Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese

Potatoes

Butter

Buttermilk

Cream Cheese

Chives

Salt and Pepper

Let’s Talk about Mashed Potatoes

Flavor: this is a great, basic mashed potato recipe that can be dressed up in a lot of different ways. As it stands, the potato flavor really shines through, and is accented by the tanginess of the buttermilk and the cream cheese. Personally, I love a Yukon gold potato for mashed potatoes, because I think they have the best flavor.

Texture: I like to leave the skin on my potatoes for mashed potatoes, and I mash with a regular masher, so my potatoes are pretty lumpy. That’s just how I like them, and that’s how this recipe is made. If you like a smoother mashed potato, you can peel them before boiling, and you can put them through a ricer which will give you the smoothest possible mashed potatoes.

Ease: these are incredibly easy to make. Just boil your potatoes, then mash them up with the butter, buttermilk and cream cheese. Season them, and you’re good to go!

Recipe Highlights:

Delicious mashed potatoes

Easy to make

Adaptable recipe

Thanksgiving side dish

Great for all year round, too

FAQ’s

What kind of potatoes should I use? I personally love the creaminess of Yukon gold potatoes. That’s the only kind of potato that I use to make mashed potatoes. Some people swear by Idaho potatoes, and I know some people love red skinned mashed potatoes. It’s all about your personal preference.

What if I don’t like or cant find buttermilk? If you don’t like buttermilk, feel free to add regular milk or half and half (or the non-dairy milk of your choice). If you can’t find buttermilk, you can make your own by taking 8 ounces of milk and adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to it. Let it sit for 10 minutes and you have buttermilk!

How do you store the leftovers? Leftovers keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days.

Tips and Tricks:

Make sure to salt your potatoes in the boiling water before the actual mashing process. Layers of seasoning give these their best flavor possible.

If you want to cut out some of the fat, you could replace the buttermilk with potato water. Just like we do for pasta water, you can save ½ cup of the water the potatoes cooked in and use that as the liquid for mashing. The starch in the water acts as a thickener for the mashed potatoes and has no (or very little) calories!