If you’re not adding this to your mashed potatoes, you’re missing out (+ 7 recipes)

Potatoes mashed with butter, milk or cream is pretty much the food of the Gods, but there are a few tweaks that can make everyone’s favorite potato dish ever better.
If you want to get your potatoes as tasty as possible, it’s worth bearing in mind that adding salt to the cooking water enables it to diffuse more thoroughly and evenly. This helps to gently extract the potatoes natural flavor, rather than just tasting ‘salty.’
The delicious results that can be achieved by simply cooking a potato and mashing it with a few tasty ingredients is true kitchen alchemy!
1. Mashed potato casserole
Although traditional mashed potatoes are fabulous any day of the week, this absolutely stunning recipe for mashed potato casserole is an instant classic. It takes traditional mashed potatoes a few steps further and brings this humble plate of food into a whole new realm. Get the full recipe here.
2. Garlic mashed potatoes casserole
The only thing better than mashed potatoes is mashed potatoes loaded with rich cream cheese, butter, garlic and melted cheese. This mashed potato casserole is all of that and easy to make, too. It’s the ideal side dish to round out a special meal. Get the full recipe here.
3. Loaded garlic ranch mashed potatoes (h/t What’s Cooking, Love?)
This recipe is brilliantly simple, but the results are stunning! Mashed potato, cheese and crispy bacon? Let’s face it, it’s darn-near impossible for this to go wrong!