Mashed Red Potatoes (One-Pot)

Creamy mashed red potatoes made in one pot in 30 minutes with no peeling required. The perfect buttery, skin-on side for weeknights or holidays!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Keyword comfort food, easy, mashed potatoes, mashed red skinned potatoes, one pot, quick

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 25

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 233

Fill a large pot or Dutch oven with cold water. Cover and bring to a boil.
Carefully add the potatoes, reduce to a strong simmer, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are very tender when pierced with a knife, about 20-25 minutes.
When the potatoes are fork tender, strain, then add back to the warm pot over low heat.
Immediately add the milk, sour cream, butter and salt. Mash with a potato masher until the desired consistency is reached.
Taste and add additional salt, butter, or sour cream if desired. Serve with optional freshly ground pepper and chopped chives.

Salt the cooking water generously, like you would pasta water, with about a tablespoon of kosher salt per quart. The potatoes absorb seasoning as they cook, and I always need far less salt at the end when the cooking water was properly salted from the start.
Mash with a potato masher, never an electric mixer or blender. Overmixing red potatoes activates too much starch and turns them into gluey paste, which I learned the hard way and now avoid by mashing by hand every time.