For enhanced mashed potatoes, these are amazing. The best I've ever had in beyond basic mashed potato. I had them at a potluck recently and tracked down the cook for the recipe. She used red potatoes and no green onion and they are A LOT better than other make ahead cream cheese mashed potato recipes I've used. Maybe it's the proportions. Mashed Potatoes Creamy Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes Creamy mashed potatoes get even better when topped with a savory trio of cheese, onions and bacon. Plus, these potatoes offer make-ahead appeal. �"JoAnn Koerkenmeier, Damiansville, Illinois 10 ServingsPrep: 35 min. + chilling Bake: 40 min. Ingredients 3 pounds potatoes (about 9 medium), peeled and cubed 6 bacon strips, chopped 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup butter, cubed 1/4 cup 2% milk 1-1/2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese 3 green onions, chopped Directions Place potatoes in a Dutch oven; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook, uncovered, 10-15 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon; drain. Drain potatoes; return to pan. Mash potatoes, gradually adding cream cheese, sour cream and butter. Stir in milk and seasonings. Transfer to a greased 13x9-in. baking dish; sprinkle with cheese, green onions and bacon. Refrigerate, covered, up to 1 day. Preheat oven to 350°. Remove potatoes from refrigerator and let stand while oven heats. Bake, uncovered, 40-50 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 10 servings. © Taste of Home 2014 About regular, basic mashed potatoes, I had the Best ever about 15 years ago and it was startling. Peel, cube and boil russet potatoes until done but not falling apart. Drain, return to pan and shake the potatoes dry until scaly/flaky. Place in Kitchen Aid Mixer and beat a little while until mashed. Add a mixture of warm melted butter and whole (or heavier) milk. Keep adding the butter milk mixture until the potatoes are soupy! This makes soft, not gluey, whipped, beautiful potatoes. I have been doing this for years until I switched to a ricer 2 years ago. I still add HUGE amounts of melted butter/milk to the riced potatoes.

In our restaurant we cooked 50 pounds a day, the vast majority for potato salad. I would heep them high in a BIG pot that had a strainer insert almost the same size (about three inches between the bottom of the strainer to the bottom of the pot). That left enough room for about 20 pounds of washed but not peeled russetts. I'd heap them high and cover the top with foil. I don't remember the timing now but it seems to have been between 20 and 40 minutes. I played hot potato hand laying them in a single layer on a couple full size sheet pans to cool a little. It had to be hand done as pouring them out would damage them. The reason I didn't peel first is because of how fast one can peel a hot potato- 3 or 4 times faster than raw. Towel over one hand holding the potato, using a serrated staeak knife, it's amazing how fast a person can peel a big batch of spuds. The crucial point was to let them cool completely (cold) before dicing them, to keep shape without crumbling. The final step was using a hand held dicer(a metal frame with tennis racket style wire weaving.) This technique works great for the huge batches, and a couple generations of customers kept coming back for more. michaelp

I have a similar recipe -- 5 pounds of potatoes, one stick of butter, 8 ounces of cream cheese, 8 ounce carton sour cream, salt and pepper to taste. If I use the little red potatoes, I don't even peel! Cook potatoes (peeled or not depending on the kind), until done, mash, add butter, cream cheese and sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Mix all together and put into a buttered baking dish. Cover and Refrigerate (and can be made day ahead). Warm at least 45 minutes before serving at 350. They also are forgiving if someone is late they can be kept in the oven. With all the butter, cream cheese and sour cream, they don't seem to dry out. AND if you have any leftovers, they make great potato cakes OR potato soup! I figure the 5 pounds will feed 20 people. You can do whatever add ons you wish -- the garlic, rosemary, or make them "loaded" with cheese, bacon and green onions. I've made these for family dinners, weddings, elegant dinners. They're really good mashed potatoes.

Cooks Illustrated has a recipe that I used last year at Thanksgiving and it is great. I made the potatoes and the gravy the day before and they were both devoured. I've used multiple times since and will use again this Tday. And one of the best parts is you don't have to peel the potatoes but just scoop out the flesh. You'd think there would be nothing left of the potato with the cooking times but it works. I used a potato ricer and then my hand blender to make very smooth before adding the additional ingredients. The key is that additional 1/2c of cream. The potatoes become kind of soupy and aren't too stiff when reheated. The original recipe is for half (2.5lbs) the one posted (5lbs) but I do 7.5 lbs of potatoes for our family, https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/make-ahead-mashed-potatoes-267672