Mashed Potatoes Taste Even Better With A Flavorful One-Ingredient Upgrade

Mashed potatoes are the premier comfort veggie that you can make as simply or elaborately as you wish. All you really need are spuds, some dairy, and a smattering of salt to bash your way to fluffy, carbohydrate bliss. On the modest end of the enhancement spectrum, an everyday swap like using the cream that you might already have in your refrigerator can make them taste a little richer than the usual milk. On the more elaborate side, unique additions like Brie can make your mashed potatoes even more luxe. Roasted garlic falls somewhere in the middle. There may already be a bulb right there on your kitchen counter. But you really need to take the extra step of roasting it for optimal mashed potato results.

When roasted, garlic's pungent bite mellows massively, taking on a kind of caramelized sweetness and spreadable texture that makes the usually abrasive allium positively inviting. While mincing a few raw cloves and folding them into your mashed potatoes might work out okay, you'll end up with a sharper flavor and slight graininess. Even adding slices of sauteed garlic can get in the way of a desirably silky mash. Roasting, meanwhile, gets your garlic into peak mashing form, and there are a few easy ways to do it before you add it in.

Roasting garlic the conventional way could hardly be easier, but it does require some patience. You'll lop off the top of a whole head with a sharp knife, drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil or a neutral oil, season with salt and pepper, wrap it in aluminum foil, and cook it in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven for around 45 minutes. You'll ultimately smoosh it all out to incorporate with the potatoes.

Keep in mind that roasted garlic tends to be a bit sticky. As spreadable as it is, its thickness can make it a bit challenging to distribute throughout a batch of starch-heavy mashed potatoes. Adding the garlic before you begin mashing, rather than trying to stir it in toward the end and risk over-mixing the potatoes and turning them gluey, will give the garlic more reach.

You can also roast garlic in the air fryer in about a quarter of the time it takes in the oven. The prep is exactly the same, but the garlic should finish in about 15 minutes. You'll add it to your mashed potatoes the same way you would with oven-roasted garlic, too. This warm, aromatic upgrade works for virtually any mash recipe, from twice-baked mashed spuds to super bacony mashed potatoes.