Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Published November 10, 2018. Updated November 4, 2023

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These Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes will quickly become a dinner staple! They’re deliciously buttery and creamy with that roasted garlic flavor that gives you a bistro restaurant feeling. Plus—only basic everyday ingredients are needed for this comforting side dish!

Garlic mashed potatoes in a wooden serving bowl.

The Best Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes!

I’ve made these mashed red potatoes probably 6 times in the last 2 months (no joke) so it’s probably a recipe that needs to be shared, right? Oh my, oh my are these garlic mashed red potatoes good! Good luck stopping at one serving. These will be a huge hit for any garlic lovers, and will definitely make it into the side dish rotation.

My mom is the kind of cook who made roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy every single Sunday as I was growing up, and believe it or not—she likes these creamy garlic mashed potatoes better than the potatoes she’s been making for 40+ years!

These mashed red potatoes are really easy to make. The most time-consuming part is roasting the garlic, but if you start the potatoes about halfway through the garlic roasting, it goes pretty smoothly.

You can even roast garlic a day in advance then just rewarm it before adding to the potatoes (it will add a nice smell to your fridge).

And if you are head over heels in love with garlic, feel free to roast an extra head of garlic so you can top your serving with a few extra cloves.

Red potatoes after being mashed in a pot.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes Ingredients

To make these roasted garlic mashed potatoes, you’ll need the following:

  • Garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Red potatoes
  • Salt and pepper
  • Milk
  • Heavy cream
  • Butter

How to Make Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes

  • Roast garlic, remove cloves and mash.
  • Boil potatoes until very tender, drain and mash.
  • Stir warmed milk, cream and butter and roasted garlic into potatoes.
  • Season with salt and pepper, garnish with parsley and serve warm.

Garlic mashed potatoes with butter in a pot.

How to Reheat Mashed Potatoes

I recommend reheating individual servings of garlic-mashed red potatoes in a saucepan over low heat. You may need to add a splash of milk or cream to loosen them up a bit.

Can I Prep Garlic Mashed Potatoes in Advance?

Absolutely! If you’ll be serving these creamy garlic mashed potatoes to a crowd (roasted garlic mashed potatoes are PERFECT for Thanksgiving) and want to prep them ahead of time, I recommend transferring them to a baking dish and covering them with foil before chilling them. This can really cut down on the Thanksgiving Feast preparations if you do it a day in advance.

Reheat the roasted garlic mashed potatoes in a 350 degree F oven in a baking dish covered with foil until heated through.

Can You Freeze Mashed Potatoes?

Yes, mashed red potatoes freeze well. You can reheat them from frozen or thaw them first, and garlic mashed potatoes can be reheated in the oven or on the stovetop. For detailed instructions on how to freeze and reheat mashed potatoes, see THIS POST.

Serving of garlic mashed potatoes on a matte brown serving plate with a side of green beans, chicken and corn.

Tips for the Best Garlic Mashed Potatoes

  • These are intended to be slightly lumpy which is why no beater or potato ricer is used and they are simply mashed by hand and stirred with a spoon. With that said just be sure you cook the potatoes through until they are soft.
  • A fork should glide right through them when they are done and some will even fall apart. Since they are lumpy you don’t want stiff lumps. No thanks. Lumpy, textural potatoes are a good thing here as long as those little lumps are soft.
  • I don’t recommend serving these with chives. I know a lot of potato recipes can benefit from some chives but here it will just compete with that incredible roasted garlic flavor so leave them off.
  • And lastly, this isn’t intended to be a healthy recipe, we all need to splurge a little sometimes so don’t hesitate to add some extra butter over the top. MMMMM buttery, garlicky, extra delicious mashed potatoes. My kind of comfort food!

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5 from 9 votes

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

These Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes will quickly become a dinner staple! They're deliciously buttery and creamy and that roasted garlic flavor just takes them over the top! Plus only basic everyday ingredients are needed for this comforting side dish.
Servings: 6
Prep15 minutes
Cook50 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven, prep garlic: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut garlic heads about 1/2-inch from the top to expose cloves. 
  • Roast garlic: Transfer garlic heads to a sheet of foil, drizzle 1 tsp oil over each head, wrap foil tightly around garlic so it's fully covered. Roast in preheated oven until lightly golden and cloves are soft, about 40 - 45 minutes.
  • Mash garlic: Remove from oven and let cool (cook potatoes while they cool) then press and pinch cloves out of peels into a small bowl. Mash cloves with a fork and set aside.
  • Cook the potatoes: Place potatoes in a large enameled cast iron pot and add enough cold water to cover potatoes, sprinkle in 1 Tbsp salt. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover with lid, reduce heat to medium-low and allow to boil until potatoes are very tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. 
  • Heat milk, cream and butter: Near the end of potatoes cooking, measure out milk in a liquid measuring cup, add cream and butter. Heat in microwave until hot, about 45 - 60 seconds. 
  • Drain and mash potatoes: Drain potatoes then return to pot and mash with a potato masher (they should have some lumps in them). 
  • Stir in milk mixture and garlic: Add hot milk mixture and mashed roasted garlic, and stir with a spoon while seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with more butter and garnish with parsley if desired.

Notes

  • If you are head over heels in love with garlic, feel free to roast an extra head of garlic so you can top your serving with a few extra cloves
Nutrition Facts
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 272 Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 7g44%
Cholesterol 35mg12%
Sodium 116mg5%
Potassium 935mg27%
Carbohydrates 34g11%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin A 415IU8%
Vitamin C 19.4mg24%
Calcium 69mg7%
Iron 1.5mg8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.