No special dinner is complete without some type of potato! And if you read my last post, then you already knew I had to include a potato dish in my 2021 Christmas Menu. I was torn between the top two: roasted potatoes and mashed potatoes. I decided to go with these Slow Cooked Garlic Mashed Potatoes because they seemed like the perfect accompaniment to the Standing Prime Rib Roast I chose as the main course. Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, and it’s all made in the slow cooker. Sign me up!
Super easy mashed potatoes! Potatoes are diced into chunks and added to a slow cooker along with garlic and water then cooked. Then you’ll mash, and mix in milk and sour cream. Perfect for a lazy weeknight side dish yet delicious enough for a holiday meal.
The Ingredients
I knew these Slow Cooked Garlic Mashed Potatoes would be super creamy as soon as I read the ingredients! They use milk, cream, and sour cream plus plenty of butter. If that doesn’t say creamy, I don’t know what does.
I had to shop for all of dairy products except the butter. Additionally, I had to buy some garlic and a bag of red potatoes. The recipe calls for 4 pounds, but the store only had 5-pound bags. No worries, because I have penty of potato recipes I can use them with.
The Process
These Slow Cooked Garlic Mashed Potatoes were so easy! Here’s how my time was spent:
- 18 minutes to prep
- 4 hours to cook
- 4 minutes to mash
- 4 hours 22 minutes total
It’s completely optional, but I decided to peel my potatoes. This was for a special dinner, after all. Once that was done I sliced them into 1/2-inch pieces. I misread the recipe, and it was supposed to be larger 1 1/2-inch pieces. The smaller pieces still did just fine, though.
Next, the potatoes went into my slow cooker along with the water, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and melted butter. My slow cooker’s lid has a small hole to vent steam, so I followed the advice in the notes and added an extra 1/4 cup of water.
After cooking for 4 hours on high, I had tender, garlicky potatoes that were ready to become the mashed potatoes they were always meant to be. This was done in the slow cooker without draining the excess water. Seriously!
I used my potato masher to mash the potatoes, then I blended in the warmed cream and sour cream with my hand mixer. I like my mashed potatoes a little chunky, so I also didn’t overdo it with the mixer. Also, I was pleased with the consistency, so I didn’t add any extra milk.
A quick taste test assured me that the seasoning was perfect as-is. All that was left to do was spoon the mashed potatoes into a serving bowl and add a little more melted butter and some minced chives. That’s it!
