Seriously amazing, cream cheese mashed potatoes! Perfectly creamy, these Parmesan Mashed Potatoes are a great side dish for your holiday dinners. Russet potatoes are lightly seasoned and combined with sour cream, cream cheese and Parmesan cheese making them the perfect mashed potatoes with cheese recipe.
The Easiest Parmesan Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Any good meal, needs at least one stand-out side dish. It doesn’t need to be fancy, or have lots of ingredients, it simply needs to taste good and compliment what it’s served with.
That is definitely the case with these Parmesan Mashed Potatoes. Not only do they taste wonderful, they are perfectly complimentary to whatever your serving with them – beef, seafood, turkey, chicken or pork.
Need some ideas for what to eat with mashed potatoes? Check out my post on What to Serve with Mashed Potatoes, where I compile over 30 recipe ideas that go wonderfully with creamy, fluffy spuds.
What do I need to make Cheesy Mashed Potatoes?
Here’s a quick-reference grocery list of the ingredients you’ll need to make these mashed potatoes with cheese. I’ve linked my preferred ingredients below. I’ve linked these ingredients to Target (affiliate links) where you can get these ingredients same-day via Target pick-up, drive-up or even delivery.
- Russet Potatoes – Russet potatoes are ideal or Yukon Gold are also a great choice anytime you’re making mashed potatoes.
- Cream Cheese – cream cheese will give you a delicious, creamy texture for your potatoes.
- Butter – you can use either salted or unsalted butter – your preference. I prefer salted butter as it offers better flavor. I keep it on hand for all of my cooking and baking needs.
- Sour Cream – the addition of sour cream will give your potatoes a smooth, creamy texture and add to the flavor as well.
- Half and Half – the addition of half and half (half and half is half milk and half cream) you can also use milk or heavy cream.
- Parmesan Cheese – you can either shred a wedge of Parmesan or buy the pre-shredded Parmesan cheese. This is located in the refrigerated foods section with the rest of the shredded cheeses. It is a great time-saver!
- Salt and Pepper
For exact ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post to the recipe card. Thanks!
How do I make mashed potatoes with cheese?
Start by peeling and cutting the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into 1″ cubes. This will help them cook quicker. Boiling whole potatoes is very time consuming, so cutting them into smaller pieces helps the potatoes cook evenly, without becoming overly starchy.
What potatoes are the best for mashed potatoes?
Russet or Yukon Gold are ideal for making mashed potatoes. Both varieties have little moisture and lots of starch, making for light and fluffy potatoes.
They both have great texture, which makes it helpful for absorbing butter and half and half.
How long do I boil potatoes for mashed potatoes?
Place the potatoes in a saucepan and submerge in water. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
You’ll know the potatoes are done when they are tender and easily break apart when pierced with a fork or knife.
What do I add to mashed potatoes to make them creamy?
Once the potatoes are completely cooked, drain off the water and place them back into the pot. Then add cream cheese, butter, sour cream, half and half and Parmesan cheese. These will help make the potatoes wonderfully creamy and fluffy.
Because the potatoes are still hot from boiling, everything will melt together beautifully.
Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and combine the cheeses, butter and half and half. Do your best to NOT overmix. Overprocessing and over-mashing will result in gummy or gluey potatoes.
FAQ’s on making the best Parmesan mashed potatoes:
DON’T over-work the potatoes. I prefer a simple, hand potato masher over an electric hand mixer. Mixers often over-process the potatoes, resulting in too much starch being released from the potatoes. This creates gluey, gummy and unappealing mashed potatoes.
A simple, manual hand masher is the tool for making mashed potatoes. Some people prefer a hand mixer or a potato ricer, however a hand masher creates the perfect texture for mashed potatoes. Some would say that a hand mixer over-processes potatoes, making them gummy or gluey.
Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and jack cheeses are ideal for making cheesy mashed potatoes. It is best to add shredded cheese into the potatoes making it easier for melting.
Make the mashed potatoes according to the recipe. When complete, place in a baking dish and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24-48 hours, prior to your holiday meal. When ready to reheat, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Dot the top of the potatoes with extra butter (2-4 Tbsp.) As the potatoes heat through in the oven, the butter will melt and help keep the potatoes moist, and not dry out. Heat in the oven at 325 for 20-25 minutes or until completely heated through. Just before serving, stir the melted butter throughout the potatoes to fluff. Serve right away.
When stored in an airtight container and refrigerated, mashed potatoes will last for up to 5 days.
With just a little patience, you’ll have potatoes that are restaurant quality. So much better than the instant stuff – once you have these potatoes, you’ll never go back. Take my word for it, home made Parmesan Mashed Potatoes are worth the little time it takes to make.
These mashed potatoes are a perfect side dish for my Balsamic Steak Marinade for grilled steaks and my Grilled Steak Kabobs.
Looking for some other side dish options to complete your holiday meal? Check out our other side dish recipes:
- Boursin Cheese Mashed Potatoes
- Creamed Corn Casserole
- Hasselback Sweet Potatoes
- Everything Thanksgiving Stuffing
- Copycat Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole
- Roasted Rainbow Carrots
- Healthy Green Bean Casserole
- Cranberry Citrus Salad
- Roasted Butternut Squash Medley
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Apricots and Orange
- Garlic & Herb Roasted Potatoes
- How to Make Green Beans Three Ways at Genius Kitchen
Are you making these easy mashed potatoes for a holiday meal? Check out some of my other holiday recipes:
- How to Cook a Costco Spiral Ham
- Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast
- 3 Easy Steps to a Juicy & Delicious Turkey
- How to Dry Brine A Turkey
- Oven Baked Snow Crab Legs
- Garlic Herb Roast Beef
Here’s is simple, delicious recipe for these Easy Parmesan Mashed Potatoes:
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Easy Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan
Equipment
- Sauce Pan This 3 qt. Sauce Pan includes a glass straining lid, perfect for potatoes and vegetables!
- Potato Masher This potato masher is perfect for making mashed potatoes!
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs. Russet potatoes peeled and cut into 1″ pieces
- 1 tsp. salt
- 4 oz. cream cheese 1/2 of 8 oz. pkg
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese plus more for topping
- 4 Tbsp. butter melted
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- Minced parsley or chives for garnish if desired
Instructions
- To a sauce pan, add the peeled and cut potato pieces and submerge the potatoes with water until they are completely covered. Add 1 tsp. salt.
- Bring the potatoes to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium, and simmer the potatoes for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain the water and keep the cooked potatoes in the pan.
- To the hot potatoes, add the cream cheese, sour cream, half and half, shredded Parmesan, and melted butter. Mash with a potato masher until added ingredients are melted and the potatoes are creamy and fluffy. Fold in salt and pepper. Taste for proper seasoning.
- Serve right away while hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Erin these potatoes look amazing! I can’t wait to try them. Pinned:)
Those look amazing! I can not wait to try them.
These look so good! Mashed potatoes are my absolute favorite!
Two of my favorites rolled into one! Amazing!!!!
I always love potatoes!
I want these potatoes on my table!!
These potatoes look amazing! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Yumm! These will be on my list of things to make this fall!
Oh my gosh, that parmesan. These look to die for!! I bet they are so flavorful!! Yum!!
Ohhh these look so yummy!!!!
Looks delish! We love adding cheese to our potatoes!
Oh man – I’m making these this week! I see them with some baked chicken! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner link up!
Yum! I love mashed potatoes any old way and this is something I’ve never tried! Thanks for sharing!
Looks awesome! I’ll be pinning this recipe to try. Visiting from #turnituptuesday 🙂
I make a similar mashed potatoe but I haven’t tried it with parmesan cheese! Thanks for the suggestion. Thanks for sharing on Family Joy Blog Link-up. Please come back and join us again! Remember to leave your host a comment to increase the chance of being featured.
I’ve never met a mashed potato I didn’t like, but these look especially yummo! Thanks for sharing this at Totally Terrific Tuesday, hope to see you back to link up to this weeks party! I pinned this to our board!
These look fabulous! I can’t wait to try them.
Looks delicious! TFS!
Erin,
Yum, thesis sounds good! Typically, DH prefers basic mashed potatoes. I like to switch things up on occasion, though. I’m saving your recipe for a future meal. Thanks for sharing on INSPIRE ME MONDAY! If you like mewsic then come hit the dance floor with me!
Oh man how could you resist these? Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party! Have a great week and hope to see you at next week’s party!