Baked Mashed Potatoes

These Baked Mashed Potatoes are the best mashed potatoes ever. Creamy, cheesy, & buttery - once you try them, they will become your favorite mashed potato recipe.

My mom would make these creamy baked mashed potatoes to serve, special for the holidays, but I don't wait for a holiday meal to make them. My family loves them so much that we make these potatoes for normal family dinners to go with meatloaf, pork chops, or when we make a crockpot turkey breast (which is so easy to make!). Who can wait for a holiday when you have such a yummy mashed potato recipe?!

This mashed potato recipe is one that my mom would make, and they were always so good. They are the perfect side dish. Family recipes handed down are the best, aren't they? 

What makes them so good is adding sour cream, cream cheese, chives, and paprika. Baking the potatoes with butter on top takes them over the top as the best mashed potatoes! They are so creamy and delicious - every potato lover will be in heaven.

Ingredients Needed

• Potatoes (Yukon Gold Potatoes are the best potatoes for mashed potatoes.)
• Cream Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Salt and Pepper
• Chives (Use fresh chives or freeze-dried chives.)
• Paprika
• Butter

Yukon Gold Potatoes will give you creamy and flavorful mashed potatoes because they have a natural butter flavor. Russet Potatoes are also great for mashed potatoes because they mash up light and fluffy. When buying your potatoes, I would suggest using one of these types of potatoes. You can use red potatoes if that is all that you can find.

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How to Make Baked Mashed Potatoes

How to Prep and Boil the Potatoes

Wash and dry the potatoes. Peel and cut the potatoes into small pieces. If they are cut smaller, they will cook faster for you when you boil them. Try to keep them similar in size so they cook evenly.

Once the potatoes are peeled and cut, place them in a medium to large pot and fill it with cold water. Fill the pot with water about one inch above the potatoes.

Recipe Tip: Why use cold water? By doing this, the water and potatoes heat up together, and the potatoes will cook more evenly.

Cook the potatoes in the pot on medium to high heat until the water comes to a boil.  Once the water boils, turn the heat down to low to medium, place the lid over the pot, and gently boil them until they are fork tender - about 20 minutes. (Do not cover the pot with the lid all the way; instead, put it at an angle so steam gets out.)

Once you can easily slice through a potato with a fork or knife, they are done. When they are done, remove the pot from the heat and drain the water.

Adding Flavor to the Baked Mashed Potatoes

Mash the potatoes first, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Sour cream and cream cheese will mix in better if you mash the potatoes first.

Recipe Tip: It is best to soften the cream cheese, so it mixes in with the other ingredients better. I usually take it out of the package, cut it into a few pieces, and place them on a plate. I leave it out on the counter for about 15-20 minutes. Here is a link to a helpful post on softening cream cheese.

Once the potatoes have cooked on the stovetop, mash them in a large bowl using an electric mixer, a potato ricer, or a potato masher. Once they are smooth, add in the softened cream cheese, sour cream, chives, salt, and black pepper. Use your hand mixer on low speed to mix the ingredients with the mashed potatoes. (Do not overmix potatoes, or they can become gummy.)

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Butter your casserole dish. This way, the potatoes will not stick to the casserole dish. Spoon the potato mixture into your prepared baking dish and spread them out evenly. Sprinkle the mashed potatoes evenly with paprika.

Dot with butter. To do this, take small pieces of butter and place them evenly over the potatoes.

Cover the pan with an oven-safe lid or foil and place them on the middle rack of your oven. Bake the potatoes at 350°F for 30 minutes until golden brown on top. Serve immediately and garnish with chives or green onions if you like.

How to Make Baked Mashed Potatoes Ahead of Time

You can make baked mashed potatoes the day before to save time! Prepare, cover, and keep the prepared mashed potatoes in the baking dish in your refrigerator until you are ready to bake them. (Basically, do all of the steps except for the baking step. This is such an easy recipe, but it is great to have prepped in advance!) Then place the potatoes in the oven at 350°F to bake when you want to serve them with your dinner.

Make-Ahead Tip: Check the potatoes after 30 minutes. If they don't seem warm enough, leave them in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes. Since you took them from the refrigerator, they may need a little more time to fully heat up.

How to Store Mashed Potato Casserole

If you have a lot left over, you can store the mashed potatoes in the casserole dish that they baked in - covered with plastic wrap. Make sure the potatoes have cooled completely, then store the dish in the refrigerator.

If there is not much leftover, transfer the potatoes to an airtight container and store leftovers in the refrigerator. You can also freeze these mashed potatoes for an easy side dish to defrost for a weeknight dinner.

Recipe Tips

• Use Yukon Gold Potatoes or Russet Potatoes. Yellow Yukon gold potatoes are buttery potatoes that will give you the most flavorful and creamy mashed potatoes. Russet potatoes will also mash up light and fluffy for you.
• Slice the potatoes into small pieces so that they will cook quicker for you in the boiling water. Try to keep them equal in size so they cook evenly.
• Use cold water in your pot so that the potatoes will cook more evenly. If you fill the pot with hot water, the outside of the potatoes may cook faster than the inner part of the potatoes.
• Take out the cream cheese before adding the ingredients to the mashed potatoes so that it will soften up a little. This way, the cream cheese will mix into the warm mashed potatoes better.
• Mash the potatoes first, then add the other ingredients. The other ingredients will mix in better if you mash the potatoes first.
• Butter the baking dish so that the potatoes will not stick to the pan when baking in the oven.

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Looking for More Potato Side Dish Recipes? 

These Baked Mashed Potatoes are probably our favorite side dish to make. A few of our other favorite potato side dish recipes are Baked French Fries, Oven Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, and Crispy Oven Baked Potato Skins. Check them out and give them a try!

Did you make this recipe? If so, please leave a comment and rating below. I love hearing from you. 

Update Note: This recipe was originally posted earlier but was published again in 2020 to include step-by-step directions and new photos.