These impossibly creamy mashed potatoes recipe with rosemary and garlic are guaranteed to be the star of all your holiday meals forever and ever! Actually, I can pretty much guarantee they’ll be the star of ALL your meals…..whether they’re holiday or a random Thursday.

The not-so-secret secret is cooking the potatoes in heavy cream and then adding that flavor-infused cream back into the potatoes. Yes, my friends, this is the way to the creamiest most flavorful mashed potatoes ever. No more cooking your potatoes in cold water!

Trust me, when you put a large bowl of these mashed potatoes on your Thanksgiving table, all your friends and family will clear their plates and go back for seconds and even thirds!

Overhead of mashed potatoes in dark bowl with pad of melted butter and parsley

As much as I love Thanksgiving (seriously, anytime a holiday or occasion revolves solely around food, you can count me in!!), I usually eat a bit of dark meat and then save the rest of my plate for all the sides. And when I say “sides”, I mean mashed potatoes and stuffing. But, if I could only pick one, I can’t think of a more perfect side dish than creamy buttery mashed potatoes!

I’ve been making mashed potatoes for longer than I care to admit. So I’ve had plenty of time to perfect this recipe and, not to toot my own horn, but it is pretty darn perfect. The thing about mashed potatoes is most recipes use very few ingredients, but how you use them can make the difference between lumpy thick starchy mashed potatoes and smooth, buttery and creamy.

And, even though, we’re talking about the holidays, in my world, mashed potatoes are the perfect comforting side dish all through fall and winter! To be honest, I’ll even make them in the Summer to go along with grilled steaks.

This is one my favorite potato recipes (and my family’s favorite, too!) and I hope it becomes one of your favorites, too!

Closeup overhead of creamy mashed potatoes with garlic and rosemary

Why You’ll Fall in Love With This Recipe

They’re creamy, buttery and silky smooth with punches of flavor from the garlic and rosemary
You can make them a day ahead (yes, you really can! read on for tips!)
They’re mashed potatoes with butter, cream, rosemary and garlic — what’s NOT to love!

Overhead photo of creamy mashed potatoes ingredients

Ingredients You’ll Need:

Potatoes — these are a key ingredient and the type of potato really does matter. Yukon Gold potatoes (a fancy name for yellow potatoes) make the best mashed potatoes because they are the perfect balance between waxy and starchy.

What does that mean exactly?

Red potatoes are waxy which means they hold up extremely well to roasting because they don’t break down and will stay in one piece. Great for roasted potatoes, not so great for mashed potatoes. On the other hand, russet potatoes are very starchy, which means they contain less moisture, allowing them to cook up light and fluffy.

Now, you might say, Lisa, if russets cook up light and fluffy, why not use them for mashed potatoes? And the answer is, technically you can. I find that yellow potatoes have a buttery taste while russets have a more mineral taste, which is why I prefer yellow potatoes.

Dried Bay Leaf – Some spices yell with a really assertive flavor, and other spices, like the bay leaf, whisper while also infusing flavor into a dish. A bay leaf adds a subtle woodsy flavor that leans toward pine. It’s one of those ingredients whose flavor you can’t directly pinpoint, but adds enough of a background flavor that you’ll miss it if you leave it out.

Fresh Rosemary – The total opposite of a bay leaf, rosemary always lets it’s flavor be known. It’s a strong, pine, woody flavor that’s perfectly paired with potatoes.

Fresh Thyme – Can you tell I love fresh herbs? Thyme provides a woodsy flavor but is more delicate with a hint of citrus.

Garlic Cloves – Garlic adds a spicy bite and extra flavor that balances out the herbs and also breaks through the richness of the cream.

Salt – One of the best flavor enhancers, salt takes the dial and turns it up. It connects all the dots when it comes to flavor to make a dish cohesive.

Pepper – Pepper adds a bit of heat.

Heavy Cream – You’re probably used to cooking your potatoes in cold water, but the cream provides a richness to the dish you can’t get when you cook them in water.

Butter – Butter also provides richness to the dish and creates “out of this world” creamy mashed potatoes.

Grab an apron, put on your favorite playlist and let’s make this together!

Side photo of metal strainer over an aqua blue bowl.

Place a strainer over a bowl — I like to do this first, so I don’t accidentally drain the potatoes and let the cream go right down the drain…..literally! I speak from experience. There’s no worse feeling than forgetting the bowl and watching all that gorgeous flavored cream literally go down the drain.

Overhead shot of cubed potatoes, drained, in strainer

Peel and cut potatoes into quarters.

Overhead shot of cubed potatoes in a pot covered with cream

Place cut potatoes in a pot and add cream until potatoes are almost fully covered.

Overhead shot of fresh thyme, rosemary and garlic on cheesecloth.

Make your bouquet garni – this is a fancy term for an herb bouquet. Lay out a piece of cheesecloth, add the rosemary sprigs, thyme and garlic. Fold the cheesecloth over the herbs and garlic like a burrito and use kitchen twine to tie it all together.

Overhead shot of cubed potatoes in pot, covered with cream and with bouquet garni and bay leaf.

Add your bouquet garni of herbs to the cream, gently press down to submerge.

Overhead of cubed potatoes in pot, cream simmering

Bring to a boil — don’t cover the pot! Simmer until potatoes are fork tender.

Overhead shot of cubed potatoes, drained of cream, in a strainer

Place a large colander over a bowl. Remove bouquet garni and drain potatoes.

Overhead shot of mashed potatoes in pot with butter and wooden spoon

Use a food mill or ricer, to mash potatoes and add them back to the same bowl you cooked them in. Add some of the herbed cream back into the potatoes, stirring until they are a creamy texture.

Add butter, and if needed, more cream, until they are creamy, smooth and buttery.

Substitutions and Additions (AKA….what works, and what doesn’t)

Half and Half – if you want to cut back on the richness, you can use half and half instead of heavy cream
Milk – If you want to use milk instead of heavy cream, I’d highly recommend whole milk. 2% won’t give you the same rich flavor as whole milk.
Almond milk – If you are lactose intolerant or have a milk allergy, I don’t think almond milk will work. It doesn’t have the rich consistency, but if you try this recipe and use almond milk leave a comment below and let me and fellow hungry readers know how it turns out!
Sour Cream – If you want to add an extra tang, stir in a bit of sour cream before serving.
Greek Yogurt – another great addition for extra creaminess — stir a dollop in before serving.
Cheese — before serving, stir in grated Gruyere or Parmesan cheese.
Chives – garnish your finished dish with chopped chives for an extra fancy restaurant-worthy flair.
Roasted garlic – if you’re a garlic lover, add roasted garlic to the ricer with the potatoes.
Dried rosemary — if you don’t have fresh rosemary, dried will work.

Troubleshooting and Extra Tips

Potato Masher — there are loads of ways to mash your potatoes. My mom is old school and swears by her hand mixer. I don’t love this technique because it’s really easy to over mix, creating a thick, starchy unappealing dish. I’m a big fan of a potato ricer or food mill. Either one will give you consistently smooth, lump free mashed potatoes. Another option is a hand masher – this will work, but it’s challenging to make really smooth creamy potatoes with this method.
Bouquet Garni — I love using this technique so I don’t have to go fishing around in the potatoes searching for the rosemary, bay leaf, garlic and thyme. They need to be discarded when the potatoes are finished cooking, and it’s so easy to use a spoon to remove the bouquet garni. But, if you don’t have cheesecloth, you can either tie the herbs together with kitchen twine, or add the herbs and garlic straight to the cream. Just be sure to use a spoon to remove them before draining the potatoes.
Avoiding overflow — there’s nothing worse than having cream or milk boil over on your stove. UGH….the mess!! That’s why I highly recommend you bring the potatoes to a boil without the lid, so you can keep an eye. As soon as you see the bubbles, turn the heat to medium-low. You want the cream to be simmering, and not boiling. If the bubbles start to rise too much, turn the heat down, or remove your pot from the stove for a minute to calm the cream down.
Reheating – So you made this recipe yesterday, and are trying to figure out how to bring your hard, stiff and cold potatoes back to life. Heat the leftover cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Add your potatoes to a pot and warm them gently over low heat. When the leftover cream is warm, add about 1/4 cup, at first, to your potatoes and stir to mix it in. Keep adding the cream, a little bit at a time, along with a tablespoon of butter, until the potatoes are creamy and smooth.

How to Store and Tips for Leftovers

Store leftover cream (don’t throw it out because you’ll use it to add back into the potatoes when you reheat them) and potatoes in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can easily make this a day ahead and either reheat it gently in a large saucepan or pot.

If you’ve doubled or tripled this recipe because you’re feeding a large crowd, put the potatoes in a slow cooker on the lowest setting. This is a super easy way to reheat them and also keep them warm.

Ingredients

4 pounds Yukon potatoes (the golden ones), peeled and cut into quarters
1 bay leaf
1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1-2 sprigs fresh thyme, optional
1 clove garlic, peeled
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heavy cream (I always buy the 32 ounce size — you won't use all of it, but there will be extra to use in other recipes)
1 stick unsalted butter (use European for extra creaminess)
Helpful kitchen tools
cheesecloth or tea infuser
ricer

Instructions

Thanks so much for stopping by!! If you have any questions about this recipe, scroll on up in the post — I've tried to answer them all for you. If you still have questions, feel free to email me or leave me a comment! Don't forget to leave a review……it's so helpful to other hungry readers!! Happy Cooking, my friend!

DO THE DAY BEFORE:

**If you want to get a head start — peel and cut your potatoes the day before. Place them a large bowl, cover with water and store in your fridge. This will prevent them from browning. Before cooking, drain them in a colander placed in your sink, give them a quick rinse and then place them in a large pot.**
Place potatoes in large pot.
In a cheesecloth or tea infuser, place the bay leaf, garlic, rosemary and thyme. If you don't have either, add the aromatics directly to the pot with the potatoes.
Cover the potatoes with the cream. You want the cream to just barely cover the potatoes.
To prevent the cream from overflowing, don't cover the pot.
Cook over medium heat, at a gentle simmer (just a few bubbles here and there), until potatoes are cooked through. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
BE SURE YOU COOK AT A GENTLE SIMMER AND NOT A BOIL. IF THE CREAM BOILS IT'S LIKELY TO OVERFLOW AND CREATE A HUGE MESS.
Place a colander over a bowl in your sink. DON'T FORGET TO PUT A BOWL UNDER THE COLANDER TO CATCH THE CREAM.
When potatoes are cooked, carefully drain them in the colander.
Remove the cheesecloth or tea infuser. If you didn't use a tea infuser or cheesecloth, carefully remove the garlic and rosemary sprigs. Don't worry about removing the thyme (if you used it)- – the leaves are so small they will incorporate just fine into the mashed potatoes.
Using a ricer, rice the potatoes and put them back in their original pot.
**I usually place the ricer in the large pot and use a large spoon to transfer spoonfuls of potatoes from colander to ricer. You will need to do this several times, but it's SO worth it to get gorgeous fluffy mashed potatoes.**
Take the flavored cream and add it back to the pot with the potatoes about 1/2 cup at a time.
Stir in butter, 2 tablespoons at a time.
Keep adding cream and butter, stirring over low heat, until the potatoes are the consistency you like.
You WILL have extra cream. Save it to use when reheating the potatoes the next day.
Serve immediately, or store in your fridge.