Martha Stewart Stole The Secret To Creamier Mashed Potatoes From Her Mom

A heaping pile of mashed potatoes is a popular dish across North America, to the point that many people take pride in their personal methods or family traditions for making it. We've provided our own tips for the best mashed potatoes before, but it always helps to get more pointers, especially when it comes from home-and-kitchen guru Martha Stewart. She's just like the rest of us in that her recipe is a familial one: Her special ingredient for luxuriously creamy mashed potatoes is none other than cream cheese, an idea swiped from her mother, Martha Kostyra, also known as Big Martha.

Now, cheesy mashed potatoes isn't a wild concept, and we've even talked about it before as a singular ingredient that seriously upgrades mashed potatoes. But it seems that shredded cheeses are the most commonly reached for in this area. Cream cheese just isn't an addition you see every day; unless you're in Martha Stewart's kitchen, of course. Thanks to her mom, the mogul's recipe has been featured on her TV shows as well as other media outlets. The recipe starts with white or Yukon gold potatoes (though in other iterations, Stewart calls for russet), and of course there's the usual butter and milk. It's the later addition of a big hunk of cream cheese that makes a real difference, smoothing out mashed potatoes into silky, full-bodied heaven. Not every source featuring this recipe credits Stewart's mother as its originator though, so if you're using it, be sure to say a quiet thanks to Big Martha.

As you may have guessed, adding cream cheese into mashed potatoes is insanely easy. The hard part is usually the mashing of the potatoes themselves, as it takes time to boil them until super tender, and then you have to physically mash them until smooth. The good news is that Big Martha's recipe also says you can make them up to two hours ahead of serving, so that could help save you some stress.

Still, if you're not inclined to doing all of that mashing work, could you still add cream cheese to instant mashed potatoes? Martha Stewart and her mother — who also happened to appear on her daughter's TV shows a whopping 40 times to share her culinary skills — have always advocated for starting with whole potatoes. Theoretically though, you could still add a dollop of cream cheese to instant potatoes. To get it close to the Marthas' recipe, do so after you have already mixed in some hot water (or milk, for an instant mashed potatoes upgrade), then mix further until you've achieved what might be the creamiest instant batch you've ever made. Don't go too overboard though; if you're adding milk and butter along with the cheese like in Big Martha's recipe, she warns that mixing too much can result in the potatoes getting more gummy than smooth. Instant potatoes do have emulsifiers already in them, so it's best to stay on the safe side and start slowly.