• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Value This Life
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
Value This Life

Value This Life

Helping you find more joy & beauty in everyday life

  • Be Happy
    • Help for a Good Attitude
    • Handling Stress
    • Perspective for Moms
    • Self-Care
      • Adrenal Fatigue
  • Manage Your Time & Life
    • How to Get Stuff Done
    • Manage Your Home
    • Paper & Digital Planning
  • Easy Family Recipes
    • Beverages
    • Cookies
    • Desserts
    • Main Dishes
    • Snacks
    • Candy/Goodies
  • Home & Family
    • Life @Our House
    • Family Celebrations
    • Homeschooling

Homemade Mashed Potatoes: Our Family Recipe

These days our family equates real mashed potatoes with special occasions like holidays or big family gatherings. But it wasn’t always so. Let me take you back to our life many years ago, before I give you our recipe for homemade mashed potatoes.

We lived in a tiny church parsonage in a small farming community of less than 1,000 residents. Oh, how we loved that town. We had seven children when we moved there, and our eighth and ninth were born before we left. When I say the house was tiny I mean that the living room was so small, we couldn’t watch TV without touching each other–and that included kids lying on the floor. We had a 13″ TV in a miniature armoire that also held homeschool books and diapers.

By the time milk, diapers, toilet paper and other family needs were bought weekly, there was usually $40-$60 left for food. True story: I remember having guests or hosting a party, knowing that the extra food came out of our grocery money. I’ll admit that I wasn’t always gracious or noble about it. But I promise you that we never went hungry. God always provided.

You’re probably wondering how in the world we survived on that food budget. Here was a big key: generous farmers in our church kept our freezer stocked with good beef of all types. Nearly every Sunday we had roast, mashed potatoes and gravy. Potatoes were cheap and gravy could be made from the meat drippings. We had all the round steak, ground beef, brisket, and other cuts we could eat. It was a wonderful encouragement during that season of our lives.

Nearly every Sunday I made ten pounds of mashed potatoes. At the time I used russet potatoes but now we use red potatoes. Red potatoes don’t have to be peeled, and they don’t boil away into starch like russets. Here’s how we make absolutely delicious homemade mashed potatoes (I’ll give you the 5-pound recipe, just double or triple if you have a ton of people to feed):

Homemade Mashed Potatoes

5 pounds of red potatoes

1 stick of butter

milk

salt and pepper

Wash the potatoes and cut off bad spots. Cut into 2-4 pieces per potato, depending on potato size. Place in a large stovetop pan like a dutch oven and barely cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered (or covered, but watch for boiling over). Test potatoes for doneness with a fork–the potatoes should be tender and the fork should go in with no resistance. Not-quite-done potatoes will make for lumpy mashed potatoes. When they are done, CAREFULLY pour the hot liquid and potatoes into a strainer in the sink. Then dump the potatoes into a large heatproof bowl and top with a stick of butter.

Using a hand potato masher, mush up the potatoes and butter. You don’t want any whole potatoes left in the bowl but you don’t have to get crazy, especially if the potatoes are nice and soft. Have the milk, salt and pepper close at hand. Start mixing the potatoes and butter with a hand mixer (or bowl mixer if you have one). If you’re coordinated enough, add milk as you mix. If not, feel free to turn off the mixer to add milk.

Mix, add milk, mix, add milk. At some point, stop and add salt and pepper. Believe it or not, THIS is a key in getting good-tasting mashed potatoes. If there’s not enough salt OR pepper, the potatoes taste flat and bland. This is an art! Start slow, but it takes a good amount of salt and pepper to get to perfection. Mix the mashed potatoes to desired consistency, somewhere between fluffy and creamy, depending on your preference. You don’t have to go on and on, it doesn’t take that long.

If the mashed potatoes will be served later and will be sitting in a crock pot on warm, add more milk than if you’ll serve immediately. If they’re somewhat soupy they’ll be just right by the time you serve them. Just be careful: if they get too thin there’s not much you can do to fix the situation aside from adding more potatoes. We’re trying to avoid mashed potatoes with the consistency of wallpaper paste.

There you have it, our time-tested, family-approved, guest-impressing recipe for homemade mashed potatoes. I hope these mashed potatoes grace your holiday (or weekday) table with ease!

 

You Might Also Like:

  • Backyard Rehearsal DinnerBackyard Rehearsal Dinner
  • Best Homemade Vanilla Ice CreamBest Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Meals for a CrowdMeals for a Crowd
  • Easy Homemade Chocolate PuddingEasy Homemade Chocolate Pudding

About Charlotte

I'm a grateful wife & mom of 12 amazing persons. I love to inspire & teach busy women to find beauty in everyday life by caring for themselves, creating comfortable homes with their families and living out ordinary days with grace and gratitude. I'd love to encourage YOU!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Beth says

    January 29, 2019 at 4:38 pm

    Thanks for sharing this recipe, Charlotte! This has been my go-to “smashed” potato recipe for the past two large family Thanksgiving gatherings that we hosted. Great reviews from the family. I did put in too much liquid this past gathering and had to thicken it with instant potato flakes which I keep around for we few usually at home. Blessings to you and yours. I enjoy your encouragement to surround ourselves with lovely, calming, and inspirational things for a life that can be good crazy and not-so-good crazy through the changing seasons.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Primary Sidebar

Hello & Welcome!

I'm a grateful wife & mom of 12 amazing persons. I love to inspire & teach busy women to find beauty in everyday life by caring for themselves, creating comfortable homes with their families and living out ordinary days with grace and gratitude. I'd love to encourage YOU! Read More…

Looking for Something?

Looking For Your Tribe?

Find Me on Facebook

valuethislife

valuethislife
Have you ever procrastinated about doing something Have you ever procrastinated about doing something, with thoughts of dread and overwhelm?😬And then done the thing,  finding that it was easier and faster to get done than you thought it would be?🥴Yeah, me too. Note to self: The dreading and putting off costs a whole lot more emotional energy than just doing the thing. 😊
In our busy ordinary lives there is a tendency to In our busy ordinary lives there is a tendency to get by with the barebones of running the household—but we skip the joy, comfort and encouragement part.   We trade an artful arrangement of beautiful things on the coffee table for a stack of newspapers and mail. The TV takes the place of a board game. Irritation with our family flavors our speech.   Sometimes this happens so slowly that we barely notice it, and then one day we realize that our home life is out of sorts.  With that realization comes the choice to fix those little things. Tidy up the clutter, get the laundry caught up, read aloud to children, and set a pretty table for an ordinary supper.  Look around your home with fresh eyes to see if it needs a reset. Even 20 minutes of tidying can make an amazing difference.❤️
Unexpected October ice storm in Oklahoma. Power ha Unexpected October ice storm in Oklahoma. Power has been out for 2+ days, grateful for a generator and hot water. I figured out that complaining doesn’t make electricity come back on. 😊
Always wanted a “mother’s ring” with birthst Always wanted a “mother’s ring” with birthstones of our children but we never found a design with 12 stones. 💍 It was a forgotten wish until I received this bracelet as a sweet gift. I can rattle off their birthdates like a boss but sometimes the size of our family still surprises me. It grew one baby at a time and I grew along with them, like all mothers do. There’s no rewind button, and we can’t go back and have a do-over. But we can be grateful during EVERY season for what we have, and I am!❤️
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Not “they that complaineth much” or “they that talk about their issues all day long.” I’m guessing that “not waiting” means sucking the life out of strength instead of renewing it. But waiting can begin in this very moment. 
•
(pic from my kitchen window)😊
Sometimes it’s a struggle getting started on a t Sometimes it’s a struggle getting started on a task, but we all love how it feels when the task is done. Maybe it would help to think about how good the result will feel before we start!
Yeah, I had to run to the store to get eggs before Yeah, I had to run to the store to get eggs before 14yo could mix up cookie dough. 
👉🏻Note to self:
Don’t wait until it’s time to do a task to check whether you have what you need to do it. Realizing you’re short on supplies or information at the last minute costs time and causes stress! Knowing that you’re prepared eases the pain of getting started. Put “check for ingredients” on your to-do list!
How much life do we waste worrying and fretting an How much life do we waste worrying and fretting and dreading....when the thing we’re upset about IS GOING TO GET DONE?! It’s going to happen, it’s all going to work out, and we probably won’t even remember it by next week. Sometimes it helps to remember that!💕
We bought a house built in the 80’s and have bee We bought a house built in the 80’s and have been doing that fixer upper thing. Sorry for the blurry “before” but just think “black hole” and you’ll get the idea.😂 Amazing what paint and decor can do for a space. Sold the old mantel on FB Marketplace for $60 and bought the unfinished new one for $45. Found the print in my garage, lol. Mirror from Hobby Lobby. Sorta reminds me of my life pre-Jesus. Dark to light. Old to new. Same basic human, transformed with light and love.❤️
Follow on Instagram

More From the Blog

  • Yummy Coffee Slush Recipe
  • Perspective for Moms: The Last Time
  • How to Have a Good Day

Looking For Something?

valuethislife

valuethislife
Have you ever procrastinated about doing something Have you ever procrastinated about doing something, with thoughts of dread and overwhelm?😬And then done the thing,  finding that it was easier and faster to get done than you thought it would be?🥴Yeah, me too. Note to self: The dreading and putting off costs a whole lot more emotional energy than just doing the thing. 😊
In our busy ordinary lives there is a tendency to In our busy ordinary lives there is a tendency to get by with the barebones of running the household—but we skip the joy, comfort and encouragement part.   We trade an artful arrangement of beautiful things on the coffee table for a stack of newspapers and mail. The TV takes the place of a board game. Irritation with our family flavors our speech.   Sometimes this happens so slowly that we barely notice it, and then one day we realize that our home life is out of sorts.  With that realization comes the choice to fix those little things. Tidy up the clutter, get the laundry caught up, read aloud to children, and set a pretty table for an ordinary supper.  Look around your home with fresh eyes to see if it needs a reset. Even 20 minutes of tidying can make an amazing difference.❤️
Unexpected October ice storm in Oklahoma. Power ha Unexpected October ice storm in Oklahoma. Power has been out for 2+ days, grateful for a generator and hot water. I figured out that complaining doesn’t make electricity come back on. 😊
Always wanted a “mother’s ring” with birthst Always wanted a “mother’s ring” with birthstones of our children but we never found a design with 12 stones. 💍 It was a forgotten wish until I received this bracelet as a sweet gift. I can rattle off their birthdates like a boss but sometimes the size of our family still surprises me. It grew one baby at a time and I grew along with them, like all mothers do. There’s no rewind button, and we can’t go back and have a do-over. But we can be grateful during EVERY season for what we have, and I am!❤️
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Not “they that complaineth much” or “they that talk about their issues all day long.” I’m guessing that “not waiting” means sucking the life out of strength instead of renewing it. But waiting can begin in this very moment. 
•
(pic from my kitchen window)😊
Sometimes it’s a struggle getting started on a t Sometimes it’s a struggle getting started on a task, but we all love how it feels when the task is done. Maybe it would help to think about how good the result will feel before we start!
Yeah, I had to run to the store to get eggs before Yeah, I had to run to the store to get eggs before 14yo could mix up cookie dough. 
👉🏻Note to self:
Don’t wait until it’s time to do a task to check whether you have what you need to do it. Realizing you’re short on supplies or information at the last minute costs time and causes stress! Knowing that you’re prepared eases the pain of getting started. Put “check for ingredients” on your to-do list!
How much life do we waste worrying and fretting an How much life do we waste worrying and fretting and dreading....when the thing we’re upset about IS GOING TO GET DONE?! It’s going to happen, it’s all going to work out, and we probably won’t even remember it by next week. Sometimes it helps to remember that!💕
We bought a house built in the 80’s and have bee We bought a house built in the 80’s and have been doing that fixer upper thing. Sorry for the blurry “before” but just think “black hole” and you’ll get the idea.😂 Amazing what paint and decor can do for a space. Sold the old mantel on FB Marketplace for $60 and bought the unfinished new one for $45. Found the print in my garage, lol. Mirror from Hobby Lobby. Sorta reminds me of my life pre-Jesus. Dark to light. Old to new. Same basic human, transformed with light and love.❤️
Follow on Instagram
Value This Life
Value This Life | Charlotte Siems © 2021