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Indulge in these horseradish mashed potatoes, a creamy, zingy twist on a classic side dish, ideal for elevating your meals with a kick of flavor!
Want to step up your side dish game? Try these horseradish mashed potatoes! This trick to stepping up the standard side dish will wow everyone. Prepared horseradish adds a tang and zingy kick to each bite of creamy potatoes, making them absolutely irresistible. This is the perfect side dish for chicken, fish, or a holiday table. We promise: everyone will rave!
What you need for horseradish mashed potatoes
A few years ago a friend of ours made us some mashed potatoes and made us guess the secret ingredient. Each bite was irresistibly savory, creamy, rich, and zingy: but none of us could guess the magic. Turns out it was horseradish! It truly transforms your standard mash, and you can customize the flavor so it’s got the spice level of your choice. Here’s what you’ll need for horseradish mashed potatoes:
- Fresh ingredients: Yukon gold and russet potatoes, garlic, chives (optional)
- Dairy ingredients: Salted butter, milk, sour cream
- Pantry ingredients: Salt, prepared horseradish (in a jar)
Use prepared horseradish (not fresh)
Avoid the fresh horseradish root for these horseradish mashed potatoes, and use prepared horseradish instead! Here’s the difference between the two:
- Horseradish is a spicy root vegetable in the same vegetable family as wasabi. It’s a cruciferous vegetable, just like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. You can find fresh horseradish sold in the produce section of the grocery store: it looks like a long brown root.
- Prepared horseradish is a condiment made with grated horseradish, vinegar and salt. This makes the horseradish easy to use right away without grating. It’s sold in jars in the grocery store in the condiments section.
Prepared horseradish is so much easier to work with, and the flavor is not much different from using the grated root. It’s also milder than the fresh root, so it’s easier to control the spice level when you add it to recipes.
Customize the horseradish to taste
The best part about making horseradish mashed potatoes at home is that you can control the level of horseradish to your taste. Here are a few tips:
- 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish has just a hint of the flavor; it’s almost imperceptible but adds a huge amount of complexity.
- 4 tablespoons has a more pronounced spicy flavor.
- If desired, you can add even more until it comes to the level you’d like.
Tips for mashed potatoes
These horseradish mashed potatoes are great for Thanksgiving or Christmas, or to pair with chicken, seafood, or vegetarian dinners. The recipe is a spin on our classic best mashed potatoes, which are savory, creamy, and so irresistible. Here are a few tips for the process:
- Cut the potatoes into even 1-inch chunks. Chopping the potatoes evenly is key to avoiding lumpy potatoes.
- Boil the potatoes until they are very tender. Make sure they fall right apart when you prick them with a fork.
- Sauté fresh garlic in butter, then add the milk. Allow the potatoes to steam while you sauté the garlic. Remove from the heat and add the milk, which warms the milk before mashing (important for achieving the correct texture).
- Add the potatoes, sour cream and salt and mash with a masher. Use a simple potato masher to mash everything.
- For the creamiest potatoes, use a stand mixer to whip them. Transfer to a stand mixer and use the whisk attachment on low speed to whip until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.
Dietary notes
As written, this horseradish mashed potatoes recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan and plant-based, do the following:
- Replace the butter with vegan butter.
- Use oat milk, or the dairy-free milk of your choice.
- Omit the sour cream, and add additional milk until smooth and creamy.
More mashed potato recipes
And that’s it! We hope you love these horseradish mashed potatoes as much as we do. Here are a few more mashed potato recipes to try:
- Go for Our Best Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- Make Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Try Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Go for Purple Mashed Potatoes or Vegan Mashed Potatoes
- Make Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic
This horseradish mashed potatoes recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free.
Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
Indulge in these horseradish mashed potatoes, a creamy, zingy twist on a classic side dish, ideal for elevating your meals with a kick of flavor!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (4 large)
- 1 pound russet potatoes (1 large; or more Yukon gold potatoes)
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 garlic cloves, finely minced (or 6 cloves for a more pronounced garlic flavor)
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 to 4 tablespoons prepared horseradish (in a jar), or to taste
- 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for boiling
- Chopped fresh chives, for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and roughly chop the potatoes into even 1-inch chunks (peel or leave them unpeeled if you don’t mind the texture of skins). Try to make the chunks as even as possible.
- Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Stir in 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, cook until they are very tender, about 10 to 15 minutes (pierce a piece of potato with a fork to assess doneness). Drain and allow to steam while sautéing the garlic in Step 4.
- When the potatoes are done, melt the butter in the same pot. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant but not browned. Remove the heat and pour in the milk, stir for 15 seconds to warm the milk. Then add the potatoes back to the pot.
- Mash the potatoes with a masher. Add the sour cream, prepared horseradish, and 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt and mash more until a creamy texture forms. (Adjust the horseradish amount to taste; 2 tablespoons has just a hint of horseradish and 4 tablespoons has a more pronounced flavor.)
- Optional: For the creamiest mashed potatoes, transfer to a stand mixer. Add the whisk attachment and whip on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes, until fluffy (take care not to over whip or the potatoes will become too thick and gluey).
- Serve immediately garnished with chopped fresh chives, if desired. Leftovers store up to 4 days refrigerated (or make them into potato pancakes or potato waffles!).
Let us know if you have any questions!