Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes are my absolute favorite way to make mashed potatoes. The potatoes are smooth and creamy, and the tangy buttermilk adds so much flavor to the potatoes.
These creamy buttermilk mashed potatoes are the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving Dinner. Buttermilk adds such a wonderful tang to the mashed potatoes, and it adds so much flavor that you really don’t need to add much besides a little butter or a spoonful of gravy when serving the potatoes.
On special occasions, I love to make these potatoes with an easy crockpot turkey breast and homemade gravy. Make one of your favorite vegetable recipes to go with it, and you’ve made a fancy dinner that will impress anyone!
Mashed Potato Ingredients
This is just a quick overview of the ingredients that you’ll need for these tasty potatoes. As always, specific measurements and complete cooking instructions are included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Kosher Salt & Cold Water to boil the potatoes
- Yukon Gold Potatoes – Yukon Golds are, hands down, the best potatoes for mashed potatoes. They make the creamiest & smoothest potatoes.
- Whole Milk
- Butter
- Buttermilk – I like to let the buttermilk sit out and come to room temperature while I start peeling and cooking the potatoes so that it isn’t freezing cold when it is mixed into the hot potatoes.
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Kosher Salt
- Optional: Fresh Chives or Green Onions for topping, Garlic, Sour Cream
What Variety of Potatoes is Best?
There are two “types” of potatoes, and one is definitely superior when it comes to making mashed potatoes.
Floury or Waxy Potatoes
- Floury Potatoes – Floury potatoes have thick skin and light, fluffy, and dry interiors. These are ideal for cooking with dry heat like baking or air frying and are more commonly called “baking potatoes.” A good example would be Russet Potatoes.
- Waxy Potatoes – Waxy potatoes are thin-skinned potatoes with moist and creamy interiors. The skin of waxy potatoes is commonly eaten with the potato. Common waxy potatoes are Yukon Gold or Red Potatoes. Waxy potatoes are best when used in wet heat cooking methods like steaming or boiling.
For mashed potatoes, we want to use a waxy potato. Yukon Gold potatoes are my favorite because I find that they are the creamiest when mashed and are often really large, so they are much easier to peel. (If I’m mashing potatoes with the skin on, like in my Instant Pot Chunky Mashed Potatoes recipe, I sometimes use red potatoes because the skin looks so good in contrast to the white potatoes!)
Special Equipment
I recommend using a Food Mill or Potato Ricer to make smooth and creamy mashed potatoes. You can also use a potato masher or fork, but these will make lumpier mashed potatoes. (You can also use a mixer or food processor to mash your potatoes, but be very careful because over-mashing your potatoes can make them gummy.)
How to Make Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
- Peel your potatoes then cut them into about 1-inch cubes. Try to keep the pieces of potato as close in size as possible. (Picture 1)
- In a large pot, bring cold water, one tablespoon of salt, & the diced potatoes to a boil over high heat. If you start with cold water and bring everything to a boil at the same time, the potatoes will cook more evenly. (Picture 2)
- Boil the potatoes uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. (Picture 3)
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat the regular milk and butter in a small saucepan, making sure that this mixture doesn’t come to a boil. Whisk to combine. (Picture 4)
- Set this butter mixture aside until the potatoes are done.
- As soon as the potatoes are tender, drain them in a colander. (You can scoop out the potatoes to save the water for use in other recipes if you want – there’s more on that below.) (Picture 5)
- Place a food mill or potato ricer over a heat-safe bowl. (If you don’t have a mill or ricer, place potatoes in a heatproof bowl to mash by hand.)
- Run the potatoes through the food mill in batches until all of the potatoes are mashed. (Picture 6) You might need to scrape the potatoes off the mill in between batches to clear it off.
- Stir the potatoes – they should be smooth and creamy already. (Picture 7)
- After all of the potatoes are mashed, mix in the hot milk mixture. It should give the potatoes a nice buttery texture. (Pictures 8 – 9)
- Once that is fully combined, slowly add the ½ cup of buttermilk and mix until the potatoes are nice and creamy. (You might not need the full ½ cup, but we usually use it all.) (Picture 10)
- Finally, mix in about one teaspoon of salt (I like to start with ½ teaspoon, then taste before adding the rest) and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper, and serve while hot.
Drizzle melted butter over the top of the potatoes and garnish with chopped chives or green onions.
Fun Tip
Potato Water: If you saved your potato water, you can use it for making bread. Potato water has a lot of leftover starch and nutrients from the potatoes and makes really yummy bread. Just replace the water in your favorite bread recipe. (Do NOT use the salty water to water your plants as you could with the water from blanching green beans – the amount of salt in this water can kill your plants.)
Recipe Yield
This recipe will serve about 6 people as a “main” side dish, and likely more if you have a lot of other side dishes. To serve a large group, you can easily double or triple the recipe.
🙋♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
Buttermilk makes mashed potatoes extra creamy and brings out a more tangy flavor because of the higher lactic acid content found in buttermilk. The potatoes require less seasoning and less butter because of this – they are seriously so flavorful.
You can, but taste the potatoes before you add seasoning. Buttermilk adds a wonderful tang and flavor to potatoes, so you might find that you don’t need to add as much salt, butter, or garlic as you usually do.
Be very careful when heating buttermilk, as it is very likely going to curdle. If you need to heat buttermilk, heat it over very, very low heat, very slowly, and remove it from the heat before it comes close to boiling.
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Storage
Once cooled, leftover mashed potatoes should be stored in an airtight container. They can also be frozen and saved for a later date.
Reheating
Defrost in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave.
Helpful Tips
- I like to either ladle the potatoes out or drain them over another pot to save the cooking water to use in potato gravy or bread. (Just refrigerate the water, or it will get really disgusting.)
- Be sure to let the buttermilk sit out at room temperature before mixing it into the hot potatoes.
- I often support a buttermilk substitute, but for this recipe, I would go with the real deal to make the dreamiest potatoes you will ever eat.
- To keep potatoes warm for a short time, keep them in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. To keep them warm for a long time, heat them in a small crockpot on a “Keep Warm” or Low setting. If they start to dry out from being kept warm for a long time, you can add some hot milk to keep them creamy.
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Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2-3 quarts water to cook the potatoes
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt for the potato boiling water
- 1 ½ pounds yukon gold potatoes
- ¼ cup milk
- 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ¼-½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Garnish
- fresh chives
- green onions
- melted butter
Instructions
- Peel your potatoes then cut them into about 1-inch cubes. Try to keep the pieces of potato as close in size as possible.1 ½ pounds yukon gold potatoes
- In a large pot, bring cold water, one tablespoon of salt, & the diced potatoes to a boil over high heat. If you start with cold water and bring everything to a boil at the same time, the potatoes will cook more evenly.2-3 quarts water, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 1 ½ pounds yukon gold potatoes
- Boil the potatoes uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.
- While the potatoes are cooking, heat the regular milk and butter in a small saucepan, making sure that this mixture doesn't come to a boil. Whisk to combine. Set this butter mixture aside until the potatoes are done.¼ cup milk, 4 tablespoons butter
- As soon as the potatoes are tender, drain them in a colander. Place a food mill or potato ricer over a heatproof bowl. Stir the potatoes – they should be smooth and creamy already.
- After all of the potatoes are mashed, mix in the hot milk mixture. It should have a nice buttery texture.
- Once that is fully combined, slowly add most of the ½ cup of buttermilk and mix until the potatoes are nice and creamy. (You might not need the full ½ cup, but we usually use it all.)½ cup buttermilk
- Finally, mix in about one teaspoon of salt, starting with ½ teaspoon, then tasting before adding the rest. Then add ¼-½ teaspoon of black pepper and serve the potatoes while hot.¼-½ teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Drizzle melted butter over the top of the potatoes and garnish with chopped chives or green onions.fresh chives, green onions, melted butter
Notes
✏️ Helpful Tips
- I like to either ladle the potatoes out or drain them over another pot to save the cooking water to use in potato gravy or bread. (Just refrigerate the water, or it will get really disgusting.)
- Be sure to let the buttermilk sit out at room temperature before mixing it into the hot potatoes.
- I often support a buttermilk substitute, but for this recipe, I would go with the real deal to make the dreamiest potatoes you will ever eat.
- To keep potatoes warm for a short time, keep them in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. To keep them warm for a long time, heat them in a small crockpot on a “Keep Warm” or Low setting. If they start to dry out from being kept warm for a long time, you can add some hot milk to keep them creamy.
Special Equipment Needeed
- food mill
Nutrition
Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.
Ways to Use Leftover Buttermilk
This recipe only uses half a cup of buttermilk, so I bet you’ll have extra buttermilk. Here are some of my favorite recipes to use some of it up:
This recipe was originally published in October 2022, but was republished in May 2024 because Google has gone crazy.
