Mashed Potatoes with Red Skin

Make creamy Mashed Potatoes with Red Skin using simple ingredients with this mashed red potatoes recipe. It’s the perfect side dish for a weeknight dinner or holiday meal. Pair this twist on a classic side dish with your favorite gravy like our brown gravy.

Why Make Red Skin Mashed Potatoes

There are many reasons to cook mashed red potatoes with the skin. Here are some of my top reasons:

• Simple side dish: after you boil your red potatoes, you just throw them in a bowl with the other ingredients and use a potato hand mixer to mash it all together. Plus, you don’t even peel the skin.
• Perfect for holiday or weeknight dinners: this recipe comes together in less than 30 minutes. So, it’s a great way for new cooks to contribute to a potluck, weeknight or family meal.
• Save time with a pressure cooker: this mashed red potatoes recipe uses an Instant Pot to boil the potatoes. This means that you can cook and boil the water for potatoes at the same time.

Ingredients Needed

Making red skinned mashed potatoes is super easy. Here’s what you’ll need to gather:

• Red skin potatoes: I used baby red skinned potatoes, sometimes called red creamer potatoes
• Cold Water: this is needed to boil or pressure cook the potatoes.
• Butter: I personally use salted butter, but unsalted butter will allow you to salt to taste at the end.
• Garlic Powder: This gives the potatoes more garlic flavor than the herb seasoning mix alone. For extra garlic flavor, but you can swap garlic powder for 2-3 cloves of roasted garlic.
• 24 herb sprinkle seasoning: This is my go-to spice mixture because it has so much flavor like black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, sage, rosemary and thyme in one bottle.
• Sea Salt
• Milk: I prefer some lumps in my red mashed potatoes so I didn’t use this, but you can add whole milk or heavy cream to this recipe to have a creamer consistency. To make mashed potatoes without milk, you can add a little chicken broth.

Be sure to check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact ingredient amounts and full instructions.

How To Make Mashed Potatoes with Red Skin

Here’s how you can make red mashed potatoes in an Instant Pot.

1. Add the red potatoes to the steamer insert of an instant pot. Pour in one cup of water. 
2. Pressure cook the potatoes on high for 12 minutes to get the potatoes fork tender
3. Use quick pressure release to remove the lid
4. Add the cooked potatoes to a large bowl with the butter (the hot potatoes will melt the butter) or drain the Instant Pot cooking pot and put the potatoes back with the butter.
5. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes
6. Optional: add a splash of milk for a smoother consistency if you wish.
7. Stir in seasonings and spices, and enjoy!

Recipe Tips & FAQs

• Save time by boiling potatoes in an Instant Pot: you can certainly add your potatoes with cold water to a large pot and boil them, but that can take 20-30 minutes longer. I prefer to boil the water and cook the potatoes at the same time in the Instant Pot pressure cooker.
• Drain your potatoes well: one of the benefits of using an Instant Pot is that the potatoes never actually touch the water. So, there is no draining. But, if you boil your potatoes in a pot of water, be use to drain them well.
• Use a food processor or electric mixer if you don’t have or can’t use a potato masher, but don’t over-mix (use the pulse function only) because this can cause waxy potatoes to become like glue.

Variations

• Make it creamier: I love the simplicity of this recipe, but you can follow my mashed potatoes with cheese directions if you want to add things like sour cream, Boursin cheese, or cream cheese
• Swap the butter with garlic butter: add flavor to this recipe by using garlic herb butter, lemon garlic butter sauce, or cajun garlic butter.
• Make it loaded: you can make loaded mashed potatoes by add these to a baking dish and with shredded cheese (bake at 400 degrees until the cheese is melted). Then, you can top them with green onions, sour cream, and bacon.

Storage & Leftovers

Add your leftover mashed potatoes to an airtight container or a serving bowl covered tightly with aluminum foil and store them in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.

Recipes to Enjoy this with

Mashed Potatoes and gravy go together on your dinner table. Here are some gravy recipes:

• Brown Gravy Recipe
• Sausage Gravy Recipe
• Giblet Gravy
• Turkey Gravy

You can also enjoy these creamy mashed red potatoes with the following main dishes:

• Smothered Chicken
• Southern Beef Neck Bones
• Air Fryer Fried Chicken Legs

More Red Potato Recipes

Here are some other ways to cook red-skinned potatoes:

• Air Fryer Sausage & Potatoes
• Air Fryer Breakfast Potatoes
• Slow Cooker Ribs and Red Potatoes