Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes
This easy recipe for the best Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes makes a creamy flavorful mashed potato that tastes better than potatoes cooked any other way. By adding your potatoes to a bag with butter, garlic, salt and pepper then placing them in a temperature controlled bath, you’ll make this classic side dish better than ever.
Last year I purchased my Anova Culinary Sous Vide and never looked back. I love how it cooks so many different foods at the perfect temperature like chicken thighs, corn beef brisket, or even vegetables like sweet potatoes.
I’m always looking for new ways to use my Sous Vide and turns out it makes the best mashed potatoes!
🤔Why Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes?
- Set it and forget it: Once the potatoes are cooking in the temperature controlled water bath, you don’t need to constantly check if they’re done or worry about the pot boiling over.
- Make ahead sous vide mashed potatoes: Yep, you can make this classic side dish ahead of time by cooking them to reheat and mash up later saving you the time you need on holidays or weeknights.
- They are more flavorful than boiling potatoes: Why? Because the butter and seasonings gets cooked right into the potatoes in their own liquid making them have an extra layer of flavor you wouldn’t get by cooking them any other way.
- You get it right every single time: By controlling the temperature of your water bath, you also don’t have to worry about under cooking or over cooking your potatoes.
💭What Is Sous Vide Cooking?
Sous vide is a french method of cooking where food is placed in a bag and cooked in a temperature controlled water bath. This ensures that the food is cooked to EXACTLY the right temperature every time. It is especially popular for cooking meats as it makes them tender and flavorful, especially tough cuts of meat like turning chuck roast into a fall apart pot roast.
📖How To Make Mashed Potatoes Sous Vide
1️⃣ Prepare a large pot by filling it with water and attaching your sous vide to the side. Set the temperature to 190 degrees F and cover the pot with aluminum foil to trap in the heat.
2️⃣ While the water bath is heating, prepare your potatoes by peeling them and then cutting them into half inch slices.
3️⃣ Add potato slices to a large bowl and toss with salt, pepper, garlic powder and whatever seasonings you like.
4️⃣ Add seasoned potatoes to a vacuum sealer bag and spread out so that they are as close to a single layer as possible. Add pats of butter to the bag before sealing. (OPTIONAL: See ziploc bag method below)
5️⃣ Place in a 190F water bath and let cook for one hour. Remove from the water bath and empty the contents of the bag (including the liquid) into a large bowl.
6️⃣ At this point, add in heavy cream, milk or half and half. Then, mash the potatoes with a potato masher until desired consistency is formed. Adjust salt and seasonings as necessary and serve hot.
👩🏻🍳Sous Vide Recipe Tips
- Since 190 degrees is on the higher end of sous vide cooking temperature, your water vessel may have trouble holding in the heat. Make sure you have a piece of aluminum foil on top with a kitchen utensil like a spatula on top to seal in the heat. It’s also helpful if you wrap the pot with a towel to hold in as much heat as possible as it cooks. You could also purchase a Sous Vide Cambro With Side Mount that will make sous vide cooking easier.
- It’s likely that you’ll have to split up the potatoes into 2 bags in order to fit in a pot so that potatoes stay in an even layer. This is why it’s important to season all the potatoes together. Split the butter amongst the bags if needed.
- When you remove the sous vide potatoes mashed from the bag you’ll see that there is a lot of liquid. It will almost look like too much. Once you start mashing the potatoes you’ll see that the starch in the potatoes will eventually absorb all the liquid including any cream you add. This will also help your mashed potatoes from drying out if you store them in the fridge or freezer.
- Water Displacement Method: Don’t have a vacuum sealer? You can easily use a ziploc freezer bag instead. Simply add all contents to the bag and seal all but an inch at the top. Slowly lower the bag into the water making sure the air is escaping through the top. Once the bag is almost fully submerged, seal the bag shut.
- If your bags happen to be floating to the top because of some trapped air, add a weight such as a meat mallet or something water and heat safe that is heavy to keep them submerged in the water.
🔀Sous Vide Mashed Potato Recipe Variations
- Sous Vide Everything Mashed Potatoes: add some everything bagel seasoning to the mashed potatoes for a salty garlic kick that everyone will love.
- Fresh Herbs: Add in a sprig of thyme or rosemary to the bag to flavor your mashed potatoes with freshness.
- Cheesy Mashed Potatoes: Add in your favorite shredded cheese for a wonderful cheesy mashed potato dish.
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes: Instead of heavy whipping cream, use sour cream or even buttermilk to change up the flavor and consistency.
- Leave The Skin On: You can absolutely leave the skin on when making mashed potatoes. They will give the potatoes a rustic taste, flavor and some extra fiber!
- Loaded Mashed Potatoes: Add some bacon, jalapeno and sour cream.
- Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes Cream Cheese: mix in cream cheese to the mashed potatoes for a tangy and creamy twist.
- Reheat leftover mashed potatoes in sous vide to make them good as new without any waste!
❔FAQ
You can use any potato you’d like such as russet, red bliss or even sweet potatoes, however the golden potato is the best because it is naturally buttery and soft by nature and mashes up well.
You could use cream cheese, sour cream, buttermilk or even coconut milk or cashew milk for a dairy free or Whole30 mashed potato.
This varies as some would say that putting them through a potato ricer makes the best consistency, however using a standard potato masher works best and takes up less time and space.
The starch in cooked potatoes are VERY temperamental. To make sure they don’t turn out like glue or get sticky do NOT blend them. The key is to mash them and fold gently to get the best consistency.
Yes! This is why it is one of the best make ahead side dishes. The best way to freeze mashed potatoes is to add them to a freezer safe plastic bag and remove as much air as possible. Freeze them flattened into a sheet. Once ready to eat, let thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat back in the sous vide or stovetop. If they are too dry, add some chicken or vegetable stock until desired consistency is met.
Guga is a youtube personality behind Sous Vide Everything and Guga Foods channels. He has helped many understand and experiment with the sous vide method of cooking.
Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Golden Potatoes peeled and cut in 1/2 inch slices
- 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
- 2 tsp Garlic Powder
- ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- Prepare a large pot by filling it with water and attaching your sous vide to the side. Set the temperature to 190 degrees F and cover the pot with aluminum foil to trap in the heat.
- While the water bath is heating, prepare your potatoes by peeling them and then cutting them into half inch slices.
- Add potato slices to a large bowl and toss with salt, pepper, garlic powder and whatever seasonings you like.
- Add seasoned potatoes to a vacuum sealer bag and spread out so that they are as close to a single layer as possible. Add pats of butter to the bag before sealing. (OPTIONAL: See ziploc bag method below)
- Place in a 190F water bath and let cook for one hour.
- Remove from the water bath and empty the contents of the bag (including the liquid) into a large bowl.
- At this point, add in heavy cream, milk or half and half. Then, mash the potatoes with a potato masher until desired consistency is formed. Adjust salt and seasonings as necessary and serve hot.
I do have a sous vide cooker, but have never used it for mashed potatoes. Sounds like a plan for the holiday dinner table. They look super creamy.
Right now I have my son’s sous vide and we’ve been playing with it a few weeks. I’m hoping the longer we keep it, the sooner he gets the hint for Christmas!
I love that you can never over cook anything…potatoes included!
oooo I am going to get one of these sous vide sticks for my partner for xmas. He has been looking at one forever! Love the idea of set and forget mash potatoes and the fact that I can get it right every time. Book marking this for when we get the stick!
My husband got me a sous vide machine last Christmas and I still hadn’t used it. I figured this would be the perfect recipe to use it before THIS Christmas and it was right. it was easy and delicious.
So mashed potatoes are one of my all time favorite foods. I literally could eat a meal of just them. These are absolutely amazing and soooooo creamy! Seriously, make these!!!
The creaminess of these mashed potatoes are incredible! We love cooking with our sous vide and it made a huge difference in the texture. I will be making these over and over again, we couldn’t get enough!
What a Great and easy recipe! I am going to make this for Thanksgiving, thanks for sharing!
These sous vide mashed potatoes were so creamy and flavorful! I was super excited at dinner when our friends raved about these sous vide mashed potatoes and asked for the recipe. I gave my friend your recipe link immediately! Bookmarking to make again!!!
Very interesting! I never though you can make mashed potatoes using sous vide technique. This is another reason to buy this appliance and try to make this recipe!
I cooked sous vide something long time ago, I don’t even know what haha. Totally forgot about this technique! I love mashed potatoes, can’t wait to try these!