Easy Slow Cooker Red Mashed Potatoes

Potato lovers, rejoice! Here’s one more tasty way to prepare your favorite spuds. These red mashed potatoes made in the slow cooker are the perfect fix-and-forget side dish — and the perfect comfort food!

Serve them with this delicious braised pork for a perfect meal.

Slow Cooker Red Mashed Potatoes

This recipe is great any time, but this mashed potatoes recipe is especially helpful when you’re making a large meal and short on stovetop space. Cooking the potatoes in the slow cooker means you can free up a burner! 

We like red potatoes because the skin is tender enough that we don’t need to peel them. You could certainly use regular baking potatoes (peeled) or Yukon Gold potatoes in this recipe instead.

Start by cutting the potatoes into chunks. (This step is unnecessary if you use small new potatoes or fingerling potatoes.) Medium sized red potatoes will only need to be quartered. Cut larger potatoes into roughly 2″ pieces.

Combine the potatoes with garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, and pepper in the crock of the slow cooker. Set them to cook and walk away. Cooking them in the slow cooker like this means you don’t have to stand by and monitor for overflows like you do when boiling potatoes.

Ingredients

Red potatoes: Use 5 pounds of medium-sized red potatoes scrubbed and cut into quarters.
Garlic: Five cloves of finely chopped garlic adds that spicy zing we all love so much.
Olive oil: Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons, but the flavor of the oil will shine through.
Water & Milk: Use 1/2 cup each of water and milk to help smoothen out the dish.
Cream cheese: Six ounces of cream cheese will help give the dish a sweet tang.
Chives: This addition is optional, 1 teaspoon of finely chopped chives should do the trick.
Salt & Pepper: You can also use any other seasonings to your own preference.

Preparing these Creamy Potatoes

Begin by oiling the crock of the slow cooker, then put the potatoes, garlic, oil, salt, pepper and water into the crock and stir. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours.

When the potatoes are fork tender, you’ll just need to do the mashing and add the final touches. Making these homemade mashed potatoes with cream cheese means they’re deliciously creamy.

A hand-held electric mixer will make quick work of the potatoes, but you can also use a potato masher. I suggest letting the cream cheese come to room temperature before incorporating it into these mashed potatoes.

Mash the cream cheese into the potatoes, and add the milk a little at a time until you like the consistency. If you’re using the chives, sprinkle them over the top, and serve.

Once the potatoes are done — check this out — you can leave them in the slow cooker on warm until you’re ready to serve the meal. 

FAQ

Are mashed potatoes good for you?

Mashed potatoes are low in fat, high in potassium and only have 150 calories per potato/serving.

What goes well with potatoes?

Potatoes are one of the most common side dishes. This dish goes great with steak, lemon chicken, ribs and seared tuna.

Is it better to boil potatoes with or without skin?

Cooking potatoes with the skin on keeps the nutrients inside, and helps the flavor. The skin of red potatoes is much thinner than that of russet potatoes, making it easy to add to potato recipes, saving you some prep time.

★ Did you make these mashed red potatoes? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! ★

Prefer sweet potatoes? Try this sweet potato casserole with pecans!

Originally published in June 2021, this post has been updated.