^^ I've made this recipe many times before in the oven, it comes out great even with the shallots. I've not tried par-boiling before, that's intriguing.

Do you normally get bad texture in your roaster? It is an oven, though likely the heat is from the sides, rather than the bottom. I know my mother made foil wrapped baked potatoes in hers. So, is the issue that they'd be piled high in the dish rather than spread out? Because that could be a problem. They won't get roasty toasty if they're piled up or too crowded. I've made casseroles and reheated them in my mother's roaster and they came out fine. Do your potatoes reheat well? Do you usually make them with convection, which is drying? Because the portable roaster doesn't do that. It makes beans remarkably well (or Mother's does). That's where piled deep and retaining moisture works well. Your potatoes sound like the opposite.

So… If you're making just one dish of potatoes, same size whether in the oven or roaster, and you usually use the bake setting on the oven, no convection, there's no reason it shouldn't work, but you might want to do a proof of concept test run this week, on a smaller batch. If you'd have to pile them deep, and you think air circulation and venting is part of the magic, perhaps there's something else that will do well in the roaster.

I cannot help with a roaster, but I have been making mashed potatoes for well over 50 years. I do NOT make the Gordan Ramsey potato puree and I DO NOT like it. If you do that is fine. If you want my way, let me know. It can be made that day or the day before and put in a Crock Pot the day of serving.

I can't help with roaster question, but know everyone expects mashed potatoes to go with gravy here. I would make the make ahead mashed potato recipe, bake it the day ahead and reheat it in a crockpot or even the microwave (take them out of the refer ahead of time). https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/creamy-make-ahead-mashed-potatoes.html#tabrecipe

There is also a popular recipe using cream cheese for make ahead potatoes. It is yummy, too. You'll never make bad mashed potatoes again!!

Just a thought, but my friend swears by the Bob Evans already made up mashed potatoes. :) He swears they are the only ones that his family LOVES and they just love them so much. He just raves on and on about them. I make great mashed potatoes IMHO so I don't buy them but I do buy their mac and cheese which is good.

I agree with you that mashed is much fiddlier and roasted will be nicer if you're not great at mashed. But I'm wondering about the stuffing balls. Can they be made ahead and kept warm in the roaster?

^^ I was just thinking the same thing, we're on the same wavelength about the stuffing balls. I could probably get those cooked while the turkey is roasting then transfer them to the roaster to keep warm. I'll have to look up cooking temps and figure out if it will work. Yes, "fiddlier" is a good word to use here.

ETA: It also depends how much room the turkey takes up in the oven. I have a 25-pounder ready to pull out of the freezer, I'll have to gauge oven capacity for both the turkey and two pans of stuffing balls when I take it out to thaw this coming week.

I've used my Nesco roasters, both the big one and the smaller 5 quart, for all kinds of things. When my oven quit I used the roaster as an oven, putting a pan of brownies, some dinner rolls, even muffins in it. I put some water in the bottom and set a cheesecake on the rack and that worked well too. The only problem is that it doesn't brown as much/evenly because the heat does come from the sides, but it still was OK. I would put the potatoes into a pan and the pan into the roaster on a rack so that when the pan gets hot it will brown the potatoes. The stuffing balls should also be fine in the roaster.

IME, the bread came out fine, although not as nicely browned as I would like, as were the muffins. The brownies were perfect as was the cheesecake but neither of those depended on the "brownness".

I use my small Nesco for all kinds of things, from roasting a chicken to baking potatoes, it's faster and easier than turning on my electric ovens. It's basically an oven, after all. The other thing to remember is that you'll lose a lot of the heat if you remove the lid, so you want to avoid that unless absolutely necessary.

Annie

I toss my potatoes, whether raw or parboiled, with kosher salt. The salt really roughs up the surface for best roasting. Potatoes need a little salt anyway.