Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

Want to step up your side dish game? Try these horseradish mashed potatoes! This trick to stepping up the standard side dish will wow everyone. Prepared horseradish adds a tang and zingy kick to each bite of creamy potatoes, making them absolutely irresistible. This is the perfect side dish for chicken, fish, or a holiday table. We promise: everyone will rave!

What you need for horseradish mashed potatoes

A few years ago a friend of ours made us some mashed potatoes and made us guess the secret ingredient. Each bite was irresistibly savory, creamy, rich, and zingy: but none of us could guess the magic. Turns out it was horseradish! It truly transforms your standard mash, and you can customize the flavor so it’s got the spice level of your choice. Here’s what you’ll need for horseradish mashed potatoes:

Fresh ingredients: Yukon gold and russet potatoes, garlic, chives (optional) Dairy ingredients: Salted butter, milk, sour cream Pantry ingredients: Salt, prepared horseradish (in a jar)

Use prepared horseradish (not fresh)

Avoid the fresh horseradish root for these horseradish mashed potatoes, and use prepared horseradish instead! Here’s the difference between the two:

Horseradish is a spicy root vegetable in the same vegetable family as wasabi. It’s a cruciferous vegetable, just like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. You can find fresh horseradish sold in the produce section of the grocery store: it looks like a long brown root. Prepared horseradish is a condiment made with grated horseradish, vinegar and salt. This makes the horseradish easy to use right away without grating. It’s sold in jars in the grocery store in the condiments section.

Prepared horseradish is so much easier to work with, and the flavor is not much different from using the grated root. It’s also milder than the fresh root, so it’s easier to control the spice level when you add it to recipes.

Customize the horseradish to taste

The best part about making horseradish mashed potatoes at home is that you can control the level of horseradish to your taste. Here are a few tips:

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish has just a hint of the flavor; it’s almost imperceptible but adds a huge amount of complexity. 4 tablespoons has a more pronounced spicy flavor. If desired, you can add even more until it comes to the level you’d like.

Tips for mashed potatoes

These horseradish mashed potatoes are great for Thanksgiving or Christmas, or to pair with chicken, seafood, or vegetarian dinners. The recipe is a spin on our classic best mashed potatoes, which are savory, creamy, and so irresistible. Here are a few tips for the process:

Cut the potatoes into even 1-inch chunks. Chopping the potatoes evenly is key to avoiding lumpy potatoes. Boil the potatoes until they are very tender. Make sure they fall right apart when you prick them with a fork. Sauté fresh garlic in butter, then add the milk. Allow the potatoes to steam while you sauté the garlic. Remove from the heat and add the milk, which warms the milk before mashing (important for achieving the correct texture). Add the potatoes, sour cream and salt and mash with a masher. Use a simple potato masher to mash everything. For the creamiest potatoes, use a stand mixer to whip them. Transfer to a stand mixer and use the whisk attachment on low speed to whip until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Dietary notes

As written, this horseradish mashed potatoes recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan and plant-based, do the following:

Replace the butter with vegan butter. Use oat milk, or the dairy-free milk of your choice. Omit the sour cream, and add additional milk until smooth and creamy.

More mashed potato recipes

And that’s it! We hope you love these horseradish mashed potatoes as much as we do. Here are a few more mashed potato recipes to try:

Go for Our Best Mashed Potatoes Recipe Make Garlic Mashed Potatoes Try Mashed Sweet Potatoes Go for Purple Mashed Potatoes or Vegan Mashed Potatoes Make Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic