Thanksgiving of 2025 is nearly upon us and I am secure in the knowledge that my mashed potatoes will ROCK.
This is not because I have developed the definitive mashed potato recipe.
It is because I have FOUND the definitive mashed potato recipe.
It’s got everything: creaminess, depth of flavor, fluffiness, and reheatability without loss of flavor or texture, which provides the make-ahead convenience we all crave when we’re doing holiday cooking. And, in addition to perfectly filling the role that mashed potatoes traditionally do at holiday tables, which is the best supporting actor for turkey gravy, these mashed potatoes can stand alone as a star in their own right.
They are that good.
I don’t even love mashed potatoes (I mean: carbs, calories, bland – what’s to love?), but I’m a convert now. I believe in the power of a well-mashed potato.
The Recipe is from Food & Wine Magazine
Without further ado, here’s the recipe, from Food & Wine magazine’s November 2024 issue: Creamy No-Fail Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes.
The Back Story, as Told in My Online Review
And for the back story, here’s the review I just left on the recipe.
Mashed potatoes have always been something I farm out to others at holidays, because people are so picky about them and I don’t care as much. (I actually like a rustic mashed potato, with the skins left in and loads of garlic. But that doesn’t work for traditionalists and I get that.) Once I found this recipe, though, I am a Mashed Potato Maker for Life. This recipe is transformative, making the humble mashed potato into something almost worship-worthy. Everyone, from every generation, loved this at our Thanksgiving and Christmas tables last year. My husband, AKA The Grill-Meister, declared that he “never wants mashed potatoes made in any other way, anywhere”.
It’s now a few days before Thanksgiving of 2025, and I confess that I almost had a panic attack because I couldn’t remember which magazine I found this superb recipe in, and couldn’t find it online (for a while), because I thought it had mascarpone cheese. Once I remembered it was crème fraîche that created the magic, bingo, there was the recipe! I can’t recommend these mashed potatoes enough – they are THE BOMB. Trust me on this, my friends – I would not steer you wrong. I am Kim of Glover Gardens and recipes are serious business for me. 😎
I meant every word in that 5-star review. I hope you read the article along with the recipe; there’s an explanation of why these mashed potatoes are so perfect – they don’t become gluey and pasty because they are baked instead of boiled. Genius! Also, the crème fraîche truly is magical in terms of creaminess, paired with the superior butter. Don’t skimp on that – it’s important.
Update: Day Before Thanksgiving 2025
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I’ve just prepared this marvelous dish. The Grill-Meister was my taste-tester and he said, in his inimitable fashion, “Wow! I want these more than just once a year!”
You will LOVE this recipe. ❤️
In two words: you’re welcome. 🤭
And two more words: Happy Thanksgiving! Whether you are in the U.S. or not, I hope you have plenty to celebrate and be thankful for, and I am thankful for you, Dear Readers.
© 2025, Glover Gardens
This sounds yummy. I’m a mashed potato lover. I made some once where you simmer garlic, thyme and rosemary in milk and butter for a while until the milk reduces a good bit, then add it PLUS heavy cream to the mashed potatoes. I thought I died and went to heaven!
That DOES sound heavenly! I think I will mess with this recipe a little with add-ins in due time, but I’m still so delighted by it that it will be a while. Garlic, thyme and rosemary would be an awesome place to start.
What’s on the table at your house for Thanksgiving this year?
The usual. Turkey, ham, stuffed mirlitons, sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole, but the star will be my world famous dirty rice. People literally BEG me to make that!
“World famous dirty rice” – that sounds intriguing! What makes it shine?
Into a pot goes butter, olive oil, onions, garlic, bell pepper and a little celery. I boil chicken gizzards for about an hour to tenderize them give them a rough chop, and chop some chicken livers. They all go into the pot. I season with Tony Chachere’s, cayenne pepper, black and white pepper, garlic and onion powder, a few dashes of Worcestershire and Crystal hot sauce, and other things I’m not thinking about since I’m not looking at my spice cabinet. After it all comes together I just mix it with some rice I cooked in my rice cooker. That’s real New Orleans dirty rice!
I was trying to remember what I did with those mashed potatoes from memory and got it wrong. I just saw a Facebook memory where I bragged about it. I melted sticks of salted, sweet cream butter and simmered fresh rosemary, thyme, fresh cracked black pepper and garlic in that! After a bit I added some heavy cream and simmered longer. Then I rough mashed some oven baked Yukon Gold potatoes, strained the seasoned cream/butter mixture right into them and mashed a bit more. Now THOSE were fantastic potatoes!
Wow, that DOES sound good. And fancy!
Happy Thanksgiving! I don’t eat a lot of mashed potatoes – our main event which features them is Burns’ Night in January. I’ll save this for then.
Hi Anabel – let me know how they work for you. And thank you for the reminder about Burns’ Night – I’ve always wanted to do that and 2026 would be a great time to start. Do you have a post about it? If so, please link it here. And either way, can you share what you serve when you celebrate the famed poet?
I don’t, but the National Trust for Scotland has quite a comprehensive post on it:
https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/things-to-do/celebrating-burns-night
If we’re at home we’d have a vegetarian haggis with neeps and tatties – mashed turnip and mashed potato – and John does the address. NB to a Scot a turnip is the large orange vegetable often called swede elsewhere, not the small white one which other places call turnip and we call swede. NB 2 piper purely optional! Confused yet? 😀