The Unexpected Ingredient You Need For Fluffier Mashed Potatoes

The secret ingredient that makes fluffy mashed potatoes even fluffier is the same secret to a fluffier cake: whipped cream. No, not the sweet kind you find in the grocery store freezer section. We're talking homemade, sugarless whipped cream made from heavy cream. The idea comes from French Chantilly potatoes, which are fluffy mashed potatoes baked in a casserole dish until they have a golden top. Simply add the whipped cream to the potatoes when you mix the butter, potatoes, and seasonings and you're prepped for potato-flavored clouds on your dinner table.

You can multitask by making the whipped cream while the potatoes boil. Put a cup of cold heavy cream in a large bowl. Either with a stand or hand mixer, beat the cold cream for three to five minutes or until stiff peaks form. You could grab a whisk and use your strength to whip the cream, but using a mixer makes it easier on your arms. 

Set the whipped cream in the refrigerator until you need it. Then, get back to the potatoes. Once they're boiled, mashed, and seasoned with salt and the herbs of your choice, get the whipped cream out. Put ⅓ of the cream into the potatoes and gently fold it in. Now add the rest of the whipped cream and gently fold that in.

There is a way to make your potatoes even fluffier. This time, instead of an ingredient, you'll add an appliance: a potato ricer. A potato ricer is a contraption that looks like an oversized garlic press. Place a potato into the cup part of the ricer. Then, like a garlic press, close it and apply pressure. The ricer forces the potato through tiny holes, creating a pile of what look like pieces of potato confetti. For fluffy potatoes worthy of being used for millionaire mashed potatoes, mix the riced potato with butter, salt, herbs, and seasonings. Then, add the whipped cream.

The ricer will produce a fluffier result because it applies one-time pressure to the potatoes. Potato mashers, mixers, and food processors apply repeated force to the potatoes to macerate them. Doing so overworks the starch in the potatoes, making them gummier. It's like working on pie dough too much, it becomes gummy and tough. The single pass from the ricer does not disturb the starches as much. Add in the unsweetened whipped cream and you'll the fluffiest potatoes that may even deserve a new name because they are not mashed, they are better.