Thanksgiving Prep: Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Posted in: Dinner Ideas, Food Photos, Side Dish Ideas, Toddler Approved | 26 Comments
Continuing with my Thanksgiving experiments I present to you the best mashed potatoes EVER! Seriously, I’m not kidding, these were d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! Simple but delicious. EVEN the husband agreed and let me tell you, he’s a mashed potato snob. It’s really the only way he even likes potatoes.
I do have to tell you, the husband and I are complete food opposites and nothing demonstrates it more then mashed potatoes. If it were up to me, the skin would stay on. I like lumps he’s a smooth guy. Chives, garlic, something different? I say, bring it on! The husband ummm, yeah, I don’t think so.
So I make these for him. Consider this a lightened up version of a simple homemade classic. It works for us. Also consider this as a sort of mashed potato "formula". The formula is 1-1-2 as in 1lb potatoes, 1oz fat free cream cheese and 2oz broth. Double, triple, whatever!
Here’s how I made them tonight…
- about 4 large Russet Potatoes (2lbs)
- 4 tbsp fat free cream cheese (2oz – 60g)
- 1/2 cup (4oz) fat free low sodium chicken broth
- Pinch of Kosher Salt & Pepper to taste
Peel and cut the potatoes. Add them to a large pot filled with water (covering the potatoes by at least an inch) and cook over high heat until the potatoes are tender when forked. Note: time will depend on how small you cut the potatoes.
Drain the water.
Add cream cheese, broth and a pinch of salt & pepper. Beat on high until desired consistently. For "husband smooth" about 5 minutes. ;~)
Now… on to the nutrition information. I don’t know about you, but 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes doesn’t cut it for me. I’m going for the full cup! ;~) Of course you can half it if you want.
| Servings | Amt per Serving | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 cup aprox 255g | ||
| Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs |
| 190 | 0 | 3g | 3 |
| Sugar | Sat Fat | Carbs | Protien |
| 1g | 0g | 41g | 7g |
P.S. The husband gave me crap about the “best mashed potatoes ever” comment but then said, and I quote… “then again, I can’t remember when I’ve had better”. LOL Ummm yeah, then I guess didn’t exaggerate. ;~P
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Wow, I am so excited. These look awesome. I have been putting chicken broth in my mashed potatoes for a while but I have never put cream cheese. Sounds awesome.
Can;t wait to try these. Yummy!!!
what about gravy? Do you have a recipe for that? These look super yummy by the way.
I DO! But I wing it. Darn it! I should have jotted down what I did. Here’s what I can remember…
I seared boneless turkey breast in a stainless steal frying pan. Then I finished them in the oven. I removed the breasts, then added chicken broth to the pan brought it to a boil, added some oat flour (ground oat meal) mixed with water, a splash of coffee, gravy master, sage, onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Splashing more broth until I got the consistency I wanted.
Ummm I think that’s it! Hope it helps!
Well since you like the skin on your potatoes (as do I, less work that way, haha), can I ask if you think how these would be with the skin left on? I don’t know that it would change them that much except for the consistency. I imagine the yummy flavor would remain unchanged?
Yaaay! I’m going to link to this in my Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup.
My whole family’s with you on the lumpy mashed ‘taters, though. “It lets me know they’re real!” LOL.
My brother has a recipe similar to this on his site. But he uses LC Cheese. I bet it is good both ways. I use a lot of FF cream cheese over the holidays so this might be easier for me.
Opps…I did not mean to post that yet.
The gravy looks great. I have never had coffee in gravy…can you taste it or is it just for the color?
Yes, we do make the potatoes (5.3oz) with the skins….small amount of chicken broth, and 3 wedges of LC cheese. There are different flavors of the LC cheese, but we really like the french onion one for the potatoes. They taste wonderful…and I believe the coffee in the gravy makes it a “redeye” gravy? Is that right? I have never tried it myself either…but the pic looks good enough to eat!
TamIAm – I wouldn’t change a thing except I’d probably mash them with hand masher and leave them more smashed then “whipped”. Either way, the taste would be the same!
Christy – No, I HATE coffee, can’t taste it at all. It’s just adds color and a different dimension. I would never call it coffee gravy or anything. :~)
Debbie – Never heard of “red eye” gravy. Apparently it’s a southern thing… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_eye_gravy Learn something new every day! ;~)
Wow. I’m so intrigued. I’m not necessarily trying to have a healthy Thanksgiving (my family would shoot me), but if I can trick them with a few lighter versions, I can’t help but try. These are going on the list. THANK YOU.
Another plus to using the cream cheese, is that you can make them ahead of time and reheat them in the oven or microwave. The cream cheese keeps them from getting ‘gluey’
I boil my potatoes in half chicken broth and half water, they come out so creamy and flavorful you don’t really need to add anything.
OMG! I love mashed potato. I want to try those! Keep making more potato recipes. =)
How did you get your gravy nice and dark and thick?
Hi Roni,I had a question for you “what do you think about Heinz fat free gravy? 1/4 cup is 20 calories 0 fat 0 saturated fat, trans fat 0 cholesterol 0, carbs. 3g fiber 0 sugars 0 protien 1g. The only thing is the sodium is 250mg. Thank you so much.
Sandra… that sounds pretty cool to me. A bit high on the sodium but that’s to be expected. I always make my own with broth and drippings. See comment by me above. But for a quick gravy that sounds great!
I just made the potatoes and they are delicious. I am adding them to my favorites. Keep them coming Roni!
Made these tonight…AWESOME!!!
Have you thought of mixing some mashed cauliflower in? It is a bit of a healthy twist that I read of in a book. I did it, and seriously couldn’t tell the difference.
I HAVE! But I have never been able to get the consistency right. Did you just steam them first?
R–Yeah I steamed them and then (since I didn’t have a food processor at the time) I just mashed the heck out of them. I think if you put them in a food processor that it would make them creamier. My husband couldn’t tell the difference and he generally hates anything that is healthy. We also tried your taco’s in lettuce shells the other day and my husband LOVED them. Actually tweeted about how much he liked them. Thanks for the great ideas. This blog has really inspired me to cook a lot more.
I just have to say that these mashed potatoes look like the creamiest mashed potatoes ive ever seen lol.. Cant wait to try them!
Just made these for Thanksgiving tomorrow. My almost 4 yr old just told me he loved them!! Hopefully they will reheat well tomorrow! Thanks for the recipe!