I love mashed potatoes. Love, love, love them. I especially like them fully loaded, with bacon, cheese, sour cream, and chives. So I came up with the best mashed potatoes recipe: it’s a cross become loaded baked potatoes and twice baked potatoes. It’s also much easier to make than twice baked potatoes.

Best Mashed Potatoes Recipe

Loaded & Baked

Ingredients

2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces (or more!) cooked bacon, diced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or any cheese you like on your baked potato)
1/2 cup sour cream
4 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Heat water in a large saucepan to boiling; add potato pieces. Cover and reheat to boiling. Cook covered 20 to 25 minutes or until tender; drain. Shake pan gently over low heat to dry potatoes.
2. Transfer potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Add butter and whipping cream. Using a potato masher or electric mixer, mash potatoes to desired consistency. Some people like lumpy potatoes, others like them completely smooth. Totally up to you.
3. Fold in the bacon, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and green onions.
4. Transfer the potatoes to a 13×9 casserole dish. Because of all the cheese and butter, you don’t need to coat with cooking spray.
5. Bake uncovered at 350ºF in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Stir potatoes before serving. To make the potatoes extra yummy, you can add some grated cheese, bacon, and green onions to the top after you stir the potatoes.

Too lazy, ahem I mean busy, to peel, dice, and boil potatoes? You can do what I sometimes do and buy a bag of frozen microwaveable potatoes instead. Follow the instructions and the package and then continue with the recipe from Step 2 on.

Like garlic mashed potatoes? In Step 2, throw in some fresh minced garlic (about 3 cloves) or season with garlic powder to your liking.

Want to make the casserole ahead of time and refrigerate to use later? After Step 4, you can cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Feeding an army? You can easily double or triple this recipe. Or downsize it to serve less than 4-6 people.

On a diet and can’t stand the thought of all these calories? Try my mock mashed potatoes recipe instead!