Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
Creamy, dreamy mashed potatoes made start to finish in the slow cooker? These slow cooker mashed potatoes are easy as can be and SO tasty!
The Monday before Thanksgiving, and I know you probably have a lot better (busier?) things to be doing than checking food blogs.
But I couldn’t leave you hanging without sharing this fabulous, straightforward and easy recipe for slow cooker mashed potatoes.
Lately, my go-to mashed potato recipe has been these amazing Instant Pot mashed potatoes.
After I posted that recipe, I had a lot of requests to pretty please get a slow cooker version up for those that don’t have an Instant Pot.
I heard you! I did.
And although it took me almost nine months to fulfill that request, I think it will be worth the wait.
Come to find out, slow cooker mashed potatoes are just as delicious as Instant Pot mashed potatoes!
Something magical happens as those starchy potatoes slow cook in a mixture of milk and broth.
I mean, I’m sure the butter and other add-ins don’t hurt anything at the end either, but still, slow cooker mashed potatoes are where it’s at.
For reference, I used an 8-quart slow cooker, and it’s probably bordering on the large side (unless you make a double batch; pictures just show a single batch).
A 5- or 6-quart slow cooker would work, too – maybe even slightly better based on size.
I have not used the slow cooker function on my Instant Pot, because while I love the pressure cooking aspect of that machine, I think the slow cooker functionality is lacking (based on some very hit and miss results).
Slow cooker mashed potatoes are so low maintenance!
You throw the main ingredients for these mashed potatoes in the slow cooker, let them cook away, and then mash them up (no need to even drain!) with butter, a little cream cheese, and some additional milk, if needed.
It’s ok if the tips of the potatoes not covered in liquid brown a little while cooking.
It’s ok if that milky mixture caramelizes a bit around the edges of the pot.
Really, it’s ok.
The whole mixture is mashed up to glorious potato perfection, which means you can let go of perfection, and enjoy the fact that mashed potatoes have never been easier to make.
One Year Ago: Chocolate Dutch Baby {i.e. Baked German Pancake!}
Two Years Ago: Make-Ahead Buttermilk Dinner Rolls
Three Years Ago: Yummy Fresh Cranberry Salsa
Four Years Ago: Slow Cooker Turkey with No-Fuss Gravy
Five Years Ago: Tortellini Sausage Soup
Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
For Potatoes:
- 4-5 pounds russet or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 1 ½ teaspoons coarse, kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup chicken broth, I use low-sodium
For Mashing:
- ⅓ cup milk, if needed
- 2-3 tablespoons butter
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened (or 1/4 cup sour cream)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Grease the insert of a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Add the potatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, milk, and broth. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours until the potatoes are very tender.
- Uncover the slow cooker, take out the garlic cloves, and add the additional 1/3 cup milk (if needed – if the potatoes already look plenty soft/liquidy, don’t add this or add it gradually), butter, and cream cheese. Mash until creamy. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover the slow cooker and turn the heat to low or warm until ready to serve (up to an hour).
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: mashup of this recipe and this recipe plus my own adaptations
37 Comments on “Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes”
Just made it! Wow, delicious!
I will not give this a star rating yet because I really messed with the recipe, but I wanted to comment. We had a big thanksgiving gathering this past weekend, and I needed to make mashed potatoes. I had 9 pounds of cut potatoes in my 7qt slow cooker, doubled all the other ingredients. I knew you had said we could take off the lid and stir to avoid the browned potato thing (and it would prolong cooking time), but I was paranoid about browned potatoes so I stirred it twice over 3.5 hours. First thing, I stirred in an hour in and some of my potatoes were turning gray. Not a crispy browned, but a nasty gray. And in weird places, not just the exposed ones on top. Then they were quite firm at the three-hour mark, and I realized I wouldn’t have time to finish them before leaving. I left them in the slow cooker and after arriving, poured everything into a pot to steam/simmer on the stove. I hesitated to add water and boil them like normal because I didn’t want to mess up the flavors or create some sort of awful gluey potatoes. But I should have added water because after coming to a simmer the milk had curdled and left all sorts of white globs everywhere… (and also boiled over into the flat top electric stove. Would you believe that the pan got stuck to the stove and my husband pried it off with a spoon?? This was full of 9 pounds of potatoes plus water mind you….who invented flat top stoves anyway? But I digress…) so I added water to boil and finish cooking them as usual. Drained it all off and mashed with milk, butter, etc. Miraculously, they tasted decent. BUT, I did not like the taste (or smell) of the chicken broth. It reminded me of diner biscuits and gravy in a weird way. Something about the taste. So! If I’m brave enough to try these again, I won’t open the lid even though it’s tempting, and I will use water in place of broth. I hope you enjoyed that saga
Um, Monica, this sounds just awful. I can’t believe you would ever try them again! You are a brave soul. I would walk away forever. 🙂 I’m glad in the end they worked out, but I’m sorry it was such a terrible mashed potato experience. Ugh!
Don’t know if I will make regular mashed potatoes again after making these! SO good! I think it makes the difference of slow cooking them in milk & chicken broth versus boiling them in water. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Hi Mel – first of all, your site is my go-to site for recipes. Thanks for all the great recipes. I made the slow cooker mashed last night for a large dinner I was contributing to. I used 5 lbs of potatoes , and followed the recipe exactly, using the sour cream option. It was PERFECT. It served 18 people, half of whom were men who love their potatoes. I only had a deep crock pot so the 5 lbs filled it with not much room for mashing. When the potatoes were done, I dumped them into a big pot and mashed them with an electric mixer and then back into the crock pot to transfer to the dinner.
Delicious! Looks fabulous!
Hi Mel- First of all, thank you for all that you do. I turn to your site first when I’m meal planning and I am so grateful for your down to earth, honest and hilarious posts.
My slow cooker recently kicked the bucket, but I saw this as the perfect opportunity to get an Instant Pot on Black Friday to replace my slow cooker and to finally get a chance to try some of your instant pot recipes! But then, when you said that you don’t use the Instant Pot slow cooker function, I doubted my decision! I think I still want to get the Instant Pot, but does this mean I will still need to get a slow cooker as well?! What kind of hit or miss results are we talking about? Just trying to figure out how to tell my husband I need one more kitchen gadget. 😀 Thanks so much and Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Mady – sorry for the delay in responding!! It’s been a crazy few days with the holiday. First of all, thanks for your sweet comment! Made my day. 🙂 About the IP, I think a lot of other people use the slow cooker function and have a great experience, but I have not been able to get the temperature right. You can select less, normal or more for slow cooker temperatures, and I feel like the “more” cooks WAY too hot, and the normal and less barely cook the food at all. I’ve tried the slow cooker function in both my 6- and 8-quart Instant Pots and have to admit, I’ve just given up. I still have my old slow cooker and prefer to use it when I slow cook anything (granted, I’m also testing recipes to post and feel like I need a “true” slow cooker in order to give people the best tried-and-true cooking times for slow cooking). I suppose if I was willing to experiment more, I’d give the IP slow cooker function more chances. Having said all that, the IP is still so worth it to me in terms of pressure cooking. In fact, most of my slow cooker recipes, I end up making as a quicker, ,pressure cooker meal, if that makes sense. Anyway, not sure if any of this helps; let me know if you have other questions!
Thank you so much. This helps a lot! I got the IP on Black Friday and can’t wait to try it out! 🙂
Hi Mel – Thanks so much for making cooking easier and still delicious! Just wondering- if I leave the potatoes in the crockpot to mash them, should a hand masher be used? I am worried about cracking the finish with an electric mixer.
Thanks and I want to thank you AGAIN for being so giving -of yourself, your talents and your family time!
Nancy
Hi Nancy – yes, I’d recommend a handheld potato masher vs an electric mixer. Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks so much for your kind words.
Is it necessary to add chicken broth to mashed potatoes? Most vegetarians would eat this because they’re mashed potatoes. They would have no reason to think it’s a dish that would have meat in it! So now I have to add this to the never ending list of food that might have meat when there’s no reason in the world to have meat!
Just use vegetable broth or water from cooking various veggies!
I was planning on making your baked garlic mashed potatoes like I usually do, so I’m wondering how these compare in taste? If you aren’t looking at any other factors (time, convenience, etc.), which ones taste better?
Hmmm, that’s a really good question. I’d probably say the baked garlic mashed win out in taste, but these can’t be beat for ease of prep.
I’ve made them this way for years for Thanksgiving. They are requested every year and if we have leftovers they are scooped up quickly. I love the ability to get them going and forget about them and the fact that it isn’t taking up valuable real estate in the stove or in the oven! Super yummy!
I was settled on a recipe for slow cooker mashed potatoes from America’s Test Kitchen… but you know how their recipes are always a bit…. hummmm… fussy? 😉
I will give yours a try instead – and by the way for your reader who had issues with the tops getting brown, I think the recipe at ATK recommends covering the surface of the potatoes with parchment paper, allowing it to really touch the surface – it creates a more steamy environment close to the potatoes and apparently it prevents that from happening if they are not fully submerged.
Wow you have really come thru for me with your past few posts!! Stove top stuffing, a new green bean casserole, make-ahead rolls, and now mashed potatoes in the slow cooker!! Another Thanksgiving game-changer… and all in 1 week!! You never cease to amaze!! Can’t wait to start cooking it all !! Super excited to try all this new stuff. And since we are just our own little (sort-of– there are still going to be 8 of us) family I can get away with trying out new things…. plus you have never steered me wrong, so I’m not even worried about trying new things!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING MEL! Thanks for always making life a little better!!
Ah, thanks, Helen!! I’ve been really excited about these last few Thanksgiving recipes. I hope you love them! Happy Thanksgiving!
Mel,
I’m wondering if you think this recipe would work in an Instant Pot? If so, any suggestions for cooking time? I’d love to make these on Thursday. Thanks!
Hi Chris, I have an instant pot mashed potatoes version right here: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/life-changing-instant-pot-mashed-potatoes/
I LOVE mashed potatoes (I could only eat those for Thanksgiving and be pretty happy about it) and I loved easy ones even better. Thanks!!
Thanks, Diana!
I have made a similar recipe and was dismayed at the brown tips on the potatoes. I thought it gross and cut off all of the brown. If I cover the tips so this doesn’t happen (I don’t care for discolored potatoes), I suppose it would be too much liquid?
It would be too much liquid for mashing, but you could definitely drain some off before mashing. Another option is to stir every 30 minutes to an hour so the potatoes get rotated. This obviously means it might take longer to cook (taking off that lid extends the slow cooking time), but it would definitely help.
Have you tried this cooked on low for 6 hours or so?
No, which is why I didn’t include it in the directions, but I’m guessing it would work. My only worry is that the potatoes may brown a bit more (they aren’t completely covered in liquid, at least not in my slow cooker) and the longer cooking time means more time for them to turn brown where they are exposed to the air and not the liquid.
Oh yay! I’m so glad you posted this! I am totally going to try it out on Thursday. Hooray for one thing less to cook on my stovetop. Thank you!
I know! I feel the same way. Love transitioning some classics to alternate cooking methods.
I’m definitely going to try these on Thursday. We don’t usual have mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving but my kids don’t always like alot of the thanksgiving dishes so I always try to make sure there are a few of their favorites on the table too. This will make it a little easier.
I made your make ahead crescent rolls for church yesterday. Everyone loved them! I wasn’t so sure when I got the dough out of the fridge because I didn’t feel like magic happened overnight. But you were right! Thanks for all your great recipes.
I’m glad the rolls ended up working out well for you, Brandy!
Going to try this one this year. Thanks!
Hope you like them, Jenn! Happy Thanksgiving!
Mel — this looks fabulous. I’ve been waiting with baited breath for you to post your slow cooker mashed potatoes recipe. I happen to already have red potatoes. Do you think that would work or better not to risk it? Thank you!
Yes, I think reds would work just fine! I tend to use russet and yukon because that’s what I keep on hand, but I definitely think red potatoes stand a good chance of working.
Thank you, this is a recipe I’ll definitely make it.
My crockpot cooks fast on high so I’ll have to watch closely to get the timing down on it. Drives me crazy, but it’s a big one so gets used often!!!
Yes, good point, Janet! Each slow cooker cooks differently. I had one that cooked super hot on low (more hot than even on high!). It drove me crazy, too.