The tang of buttermilk with crumbles of blue cheese amp up the flavor in these 5-ingredient blue cheese mashed potatoes.
Just When You Think Mashed Potatoes Can’t Get Better … You Add Blue Cheese
The best part of any dinner (especially when it’s a holiday dinner) is the side dishes. And when the side dishes are rocked with flavor, the main dish can just scooch on over to the sidelines.
When you’re operating in the multiple side dish zone it’s a good idea to keep those side dish recipes simple. Complicated, overwrought 182 ingredient recipes just aren’t what the frazzled home-cooking-hostess needs when cooking the years favorite feast.
We all love classic and creamy buttery mashed potatoes, but when you’re craving a little something extra to serve alongside your roast turkey, adding just two ingredients takes basic mashers to SMASHERS!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
- Salt the water so the potatoes soak in flavor as they cook. My husband always reminds me to add the salt after the water has come to a boil so the salt doesn’t pit the bottoms of the pans.
- Add the butter before the buttermilk. Adding the butterfat to the potatoes before adding the buttermilk, coats the potato starches and acts as a barrier to ensure your mashed potatoes won’t turn out gummy, sticky, or over mixed.
- Whip ‘em with a mixer. The real secret to great mashed potatoes is how you mash them. I’ve used a ricer, but it’s a bit of a pain and my muscles never seem strong enough. I’ve used a masher, and get a tasty mashed potato but always have a few potato chunks. That’s why I’ve returned to my potato roots and use an electric hand mixer just like my mom and grandma used to do.
The 5 Ingredients You’ll Need
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Yukon gold potatoes — These mashed potatoes start off with Yukon gold potatoes for their creamy, buttery texture. Save the waxy white or red potatoes for potato salad or these easy buttery parsley red potatoes.
- Buttermilk — To give the potatoes a bright tang (you could use cream, half and half, or milk instead)
- Butter — Always real butter, never margarine.
- Freshly crumbled blue cheese — Please, please, please, avoid the pre-packaged crumbles and buy the whole blocks of blue cheese and crumble yourself instead. There’s a difference you most certainly will taste.
- Chives — Or really thin sliced green onion.
How to Make Mashed Potatoes with Blue Cheese
- Cook the potatoes whole, or quarter before cooking so they cook faster. Yukon Golds usually need about 20-30 minutes to reach that perfect fork-tender stage.
- Put the taters back in the pot. A trick I’ve found to get an extra creamy potato is once the skins are quickly removed, I add the potatoes back to the same warm pot I cooked them in, then lightly smash them with the hand mixer tines, and add my butter to the still-hot potatoes. Cover the potatoes with a lid and let them sit for a couple of minutes, allowing the potatoes to dry out a little, keep warm, and absorb the melting butter for a barrier.
- Add the buttermilk, then cream with a hand blender. I still use my mom’s trick of setting the pot of potatoes in the sink to whip them, so the hand mixer doesn’t send potato particles across the kitchen.
- Stir in the blue cheese chunks and chives. Fold in the flavor makers, but again, be careful not to over mix, and season with kosher salt and pepper to taste.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds yukon gold potatoes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt , plus more for seasoning
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 ounces blue cheese* , crumbled, plus more for garnish
- ¼ cup chives , plus more for garnish
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Scrub the potatoes clean and add to a deep pot. Completely cover the potatoes with water, about ½ inch above the potatoes. Bring the potatoes to a boil and add ½ teaspoon of kosher salt. Boil the potatoes for 20 to 30 minutes or until they are very easily pierced with a fork and the skin pulls away from the potato where cut.
- Drain the potatoes, and while still hot, use a paper towel to wipe the skin away from the potatoes, then add back to the warm pot.
- Gently smash the hot potatoes with the tines of a hand mixer and add the butter to the potatoes. Cover with a lid for the butter to melt, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the buttermilk to the pot and set it in the kitchen sink so the potatoes don't fly around the kitchen while whipping. Cream the potatoes with the hand mixer until smooth, rotating the pot counter-clockwise as you mix. Don't over mix the potatoes.
- Add the remaining ½ teaspoon of kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Stir in the crumbled blue cheese and chives. Garnish with additional blue cheese and chives.
Notes
Nutrition
What to Serve With These Mashed Potatoes
- How to Cook the Best Juicy Turkey
- Juicy Roast Turkey Breast
- Homemade Glazed Ham
- Simple Roast Whole Chicken
- Pork Chops and Apples
- Old-Fashioned Pot Roast (my mom’s recipe!)
More Easy Potato Side Dishes
- Classic Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Irish Mashed Potatoes (Colcannon)
- Crispy Oven Roasted Potatoes
- Easy Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes
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Steven Rhodes
You should never cut your potatoes in quarters to cook them. one should start with cold water, whole potatoes and bring to a gentle boil. This is to avoid knocking the starch out of the potato and making them turn to glue which you do by over whipping as well. For the best, after boiling place in a perforated pan at 350 degree oven to dry them out for 20 minutes to achieve the lightest fluffiest mashed potato.