Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite sides. I enjoy them so much that I wanted to make a more complex version that can be a standalone dish, or served as an appetizer or side dish. This recipe is an adaptation from foodnetwork.com. For my version I added garlic and fresh mozzarella which I feel elevate this dish to something really special, yet it still remains simple enough to put together in less than an hour.
I added a few cloves of garlic to the boiling pot of potatoes, and I didn’t peel the potatoes because it’s healthier, and well, easier. But feel free to peel them if you don’t want the skins in your dish. To the mash I mixed in some Pecorino Romano cheese and fresh mozzarella. The Pecorino adds a salty bite and the fresh mozzarella makes everything creamier. When baked, both of the cheeses become a bit stringy. You can easily make this in advance. Just cover and chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Then when you’re ready to eat, pop it in the oven to heat up before serving!
Click for recipe…
Baked Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe
salt & pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease an 8 x 6 x 2 inch baking dish with butter or olive oil and set aside.
In boiling salted water, cook the potatoes and garlic cloves until they’re tender, about 15 minutes. In the meantime, stir breadcrumbs and 2 tablespoons of the Pecorino Romano together and set aside.
Drain potatoes and in the same pot, mash together potatoes and garlic to desired consistency. Mix in butter and milk. Add mozzarella and remaining Pecorino Romano and mix. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the potato and cheese mixture into your greased baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumb and cheese mixture on top of the mashed potatoes.
Bake uncovered for about 20-30 minutes, until top is golden brown.
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4-6 servings
That looks delish. I bet I could have as much as I can take.
These do look delicious! It’s a nice change of pace from regular mashed potatoes. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for commenting Lauren. Try it out some time, definitely an interesting twist on traditional mashed potatoes.
This sounds awesome – what do you reckon it would go best with? Steak, or meaty sausages? I suppose what I’m asking is whether it’s more an alternative to Dauphinoise potatoes (which uses similar ingredients but prepared differently) or mashed potatoes (which uses a similar method but slightly different ingredients)? 🙂 Either way I’m always looking for new ways to use potatoes (I love them) so this has gone straight to my “to cook” list. 🙂
Thanks for the insightful comment. To be honest I think this is quite versatile and works well as a standalone dish or as a side with most meats. I think roast chicken is an ideal pairing.
Great site! This recipe is right up my alley, you can’t go wrong with garlic mashed potatoes! Thanks so much for sharing, and your photos are absolutely gorgeous! I’m going to browse around some more posts. =]
Thank you! I’ll check out your site, too. Sounds interesting 🙂
I absolutely love potatoes so I was excited to try out this recipe. I followed the instructions to the T, and even baked it longer than 30 minutes (I could tell in the oven it still looked mushy). What exactly is the texture of the final product supposed to be like? By looking at the picture, I was thinking of a crispy top with a thick, rich inside. But it turned out to just be mashed potatoes with some toasty breadcrumbs on top. I even put on the broiler at the end to try and get a more crispy top, and almost burnt it. Any idea where I might have gone wrong? Creative dish!.. just not what I was expecting.
Thanks for trying out the recipe! 🙂 Sorry it didn’t come out like you were expecting. On my baked mash, the texture on top is crispy and the insides thick and creamy with stringy mozzarella and saltiness from the pecorino.
I didn’t cream my potatoes all the way, sometimes I like a bit of potato chunks in my mash, so maybe that could be the difference? Also, did you use fresh mozzarella and use enough of the cheese and breadcrumb mix? Maybe next time try spraying or drizzling a little olive oil on top to get more crisp.
At the end of the day, it shouldn’t taste drastically different, it’s still mashed potatoes so maybe you were expecting a different result.