Can I make mashed potatoes ahead?

[spinbaby]

I’m definitely having anxiety about getting the whole Thanksgiving meal on the table at the same time. It would help if I could make the mashed potatoes ahead and keep them warm in my InstantPot. Think they’ll hold up okay for a couple of hours?

[SummerSnow]

1. I found a website that tells you how to do that. Hope it helps.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/3-ways-to-make-mashed-potatoes-in-advance-thanksgiving-easy.html

[spinbaby]

7. Good link

After reading that, I’m going to keep the potatoes mashed with just salt and butter warm and then add hot milk at the last minute.

[The Wielding Truth]

2. Yes. Just put them in a bowl or pan that you can reheat before dinner. Add extra butter and

a bit more milk before the reheat. Some call them twice baked. They are sometimes even better.

[applegrove]

3. I buy premade mashed potatoes all the time. They even have the kind with

Last edited Thu Nov 23, 2017, 01:51 AM - Edit history (2)

garlic in them. They do need to be stirred when you take them out of the fridge because a little water separates and accumulates at the bottom. That being said they need to be covered tightly when you reheat them. 4-5 minutes in a flat dish. I always buy the sealed grocery store ones. Never made it from scratch.

[Irish_Dem]

6. You can buy potatoes already mashed in the grocery store?

Amazing.

[applegrove]

8. Oh yes. Expensive but I buy them for my dad when we bring dinner to his

nursing home. He pays. I make corned beef hash, vichyssoise or serve them with rack of lamb. Amazing what you can learn to cook when someone else is paying.

[Irish_Dem]

12. Sounds delicious! I always make mashed potatoes the old fashioned way.

Just boil potatoes and mash them.

[kimbutgar]

4. Yes.

Prepare them as usual use less milk. Cover tightly and put them in a casserole dish add more milk and butter. Stir and cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes stir halfway through. Every year that I cooked thanksgiving I made the mashed potatoes ahead of time.

[doc03]

5. My mom would fry patties from the the leftover mashed

potatoes from Sunday dinner for supper on Monday, I liked them better than regular mashed potatoes.

[Yonnie3]

9. My mom too. They were good and had a tasty crust. I think she added some stuff to them. n/t

[enough]

10. Yes. I grew up with the whole mystique that mashed potatoes have to be done

right before they are served. Turns out after decades this is another one of those mandates invented to make cooks go insane. Just google make-ahead mashed potatoes, or look it up and in New York Times cooking app.

[Vinca]

11. I discovered the best way to make mashed potatoes - in the crock pot!

I thrown them in unpeeled with a little water for about 6 hours on high, then rice them, add whatever and put in a glass bowl awaiting the microwave just before supper.

[mopinko]

13. what i did this year-

i cooked the spuds earlier in the day, but left them in the pot w water. then reheated them, and mashed them at the last minute. saved a bit of trouble, tho i had another cook, and things were not that hectic.

fun fact- i made purple mashed potatoes. i have a little patch of purple fingerlings that come up on their own every year. i started w white, pink and purple. but the purple ones are had to see when harvesting, so they hung on.
they were really pretty.