Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes

 

 This is one of those "why didn't I think of that" recipes. Cook, mash and serve your mashed potatoes from your crock pot, genius! And if your crock pot has a warm setting, they can be held for 2 hours before being served! You will need a large (6 quart) crock pot to cook this many mashed potatoes, if you have a smaller one, feel free to adjust the proportions to make as many as you need.

 

Ingredients

• 5 pounds russet potatoes
• 2 cups water
• ¾ cup chicken broth (can use all water)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
• 1 stick butter, cut into 1 tablespoon size pieces (I only used 1/2 stick)
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons minced chives (optional)
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
  
   
  Instructions
• Bring water, broth, and salt to boil in a small saucepan.
• While that is coming to a boil, peel and slice the potatoes into ¼-inch rounds. If water comes to a boil before you are done, just turn the heat down. You don't want to expose the potatoes to air for long once they are peeled because they will turn brown.
• Place potato slices in the crockpot and pour boiling water mixture on top. Stir to coat potatoes.
• Brush the potatoes on top with melted butter. Press a piece of parchment paper that is slightly larger than the crockpot on top of the potatoes and tuck edges down to hold in place.
• Cover and cook on HIGH until all the potatoes are tender, about 4 hours.
• Discard parchment paper. Sprinkle the butter pieces on top of the potatoes. Use a potato masher to mash potatoes until smooth.
• Mix in the sour cream, chives, garlic powder, and pepper. Taste for seasoning and add extra salt if desired.

My crock pot only took 3 hours, so I mashed them according to directions, poured about 1/2 cup milk on the top of the potatoes and set it to the warm setting. When I was ready to serve them, I just stirred in the milk and they were ready to go!