9 Ways To Spice Up Your Mashed Potatoes For That Spotlight Side Dish

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If it’s your job to bring the mashed potatoes to Thanksgiving dinner this year, do your family and friends a favor and spice things up a bit. Butter and salt may be foolproof, but be the hero who brings the side dish worth gushing over this year. As long as you have the basic technique down, there are a million ways you can make your mashed potatoes something to talk about.

1. Mascarpone

The Italian cheese mascarpone is a buttery double-or-triple cream cheese made from cow’s milk that has a slightly sweet taste and rich texture. Do your mashed potatoes a favor and add a few scoops of this creamy cheese along with heavy cream, parmesan, chives, kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

2. Herbs

Your herbs can have a pretty powerful effect on mashed potatoes. Whatever your favorite herbs are, chop them up into tiny pieces and add a generous amount as you’re adding in the milk. Be sure to mash the potatoes with the herbs instead of sprinkling them in after they’re already mashed. This way all of the flavor from the herbs will be infused into the potatoes as you’re mashing. Try this recipe with fresh parsley and chives. You can always substitute Greek yogurt in for the sour cream.

3. Coconut Milk

Since we’re kind of obsessed with coconut milk for all of our creamy dairy-free needs, why not add some creamy coconut milk into our mashed potatoes? This is the best way to win over all of your vegan friends at the Thanksgiving table. You can make coconut milk mashed potatoes using unsweetened coconut milk, vegan butter, salt and pepper. Our favorite vegan butter to use is Miyoko’s, but you can use any kind of vegan product you want to achieve that perfect level of creaminess.

4. Curry

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Your average mild curry powder isn’t all that spicy, so you don’t have to worry about scaring anyone at the Thanksgiving table. We like to sprinkle a little bit of curry powder (about a teaspoon or two) into our mashed potatoes along with the coconut milk. It won’t disappoint, we promise.

5. Cheddar And Jalapeno

You can always rely on cheddar and jalapeño to be a successful duo. Once you remove your potatoes from the heat and you’re adding in the milk, toss in some shredded sharp cheddar cheese and thinly sliced jalapeño. You’ll get cheesy, spicy and creamy all in one dish.

6. Pumpkin

Here’s another occasion when a can of pumpkin puree can come in handy. Once you cook your potatoes and put them through a ricer to get that silky texture, you’ll add in the pumpkin puree with melted butter, a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh black pepper.

7. Pesto

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If you’re a pesto fiend, you should try mixing in a few tablespoons with your mashed potatoes. You’ll get all of that strong basil and garlic throughout the potatoes and it’ll save you time on chopping up herbs. All you’ll need for pesto mashed potatoes is milk, butter, salt, pepper and pesto and a few sprigs of basil and some pine nuts for garnish.

8. Smoked Gouda

Smoked gouda is one of the most notably fragrant cheeses. It’s only right that you show a little love for the smoked cheese in your mashed potatoes. Whip up a cheesy batch of mash using unsalted butter, half-and-half, smoked gouda, chives and ground pepper. You might want to hoard some of these mashed potatoes for yourself because it’s going to fly off of the table.

9. Brown Butter

Since brown butter makes everything better, you should add it into your mashed potatoes for an easy upgrade on the classic. You’ll want to cook the butter until it reaches that dark golden brown color without letting it burn before mixing it into the potatoes with milk and crème fraîche. It’ll add a nutty element to your potatoes that you didn’t know you were missing.

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