Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes are creamy, cheesy, buttery, and studded with bacon and chives. They’re a decadent, delicious riff on the steakhouse classic that you can make up to 3 days in advance. A welcome alternative to classic mashed potatoes on your holiday table and a crowd pleasing side dish any time of year.
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When I make Twice Baked Potatoes, they’re overstuffed. Because the filling is what it’s all about, right? For every 4 people I plan to serve, I bake an extra potato for enough filling to pile high in the hollowed out skins. Recently that got me to thinking, “why not just make the filling?”
Not only are Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes spectacularly delicious, they’re even simpler to make than the classic. No baking potatoes or hollowing out their skins (so this is kind of a bait and switch title I realize 😉 ). And there’s no need to peel the potatoes if you use a thin-skinned variety like Yukon Gold, which happen to be perfect for mashing.
“Excellent comfort food recipe. My dinner party guest said “way better than any potato I’ve had in a restaurant” – sent her home with the leftovers. Steaming the potatoes was also a game changer. I will always use this method from now on. They came out perfectly, and were delicious even without the caloric add ins.”
Emily Wilson
Table of Contents
Recipe at a Glance
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
- Skill Level: Easy
Ingredients for Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes
- Yukon Gold Potatoes: Look for Yukon Golds with smooth skin and no signs of sprouting. If you like a more rustic mash, leave the peels on as I often do.
- Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter and adjust the salt to taste.
- Milk: I like to use whole milk, but you don’t really need anything richer like half and half because of the cheese and butter.
- Cheddar Cheese: I like to use sharp cheddar cheese so the flavor comes through.
- Bacon: If you want more pronounced bacon flavor, use thick-cut bacon.
- Sour Cream: I always use full-fat sour cream.
- Fresh Chives: You can use green onions instead if you like.
- Kosher Salt: Or about half the amount of fine sea salt.
- Black Pepper: As always, freshly ground black pepper is best.
The best way to cook potatoes for mashing.
When it comes to cooking potatoes when you plan to mash them, steaming is the only way to go. It’s a strong statement I know, but once I discovered it, I’ll never go back to boiling. No more water logged potatoes from overcooking. It’s reliable and highly forgiving.
How to Make Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes
Steam diced Yukon Gold potatoes until very tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer tender potatoes to a large bowl and mash in butter, salt, and pepper with a potato masher.
Add milk, half of cheese, bacon, sour cream, and chives; mash until smooth.
Spread mashed potatoes into a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake at 350˚F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until heated through and cheese has melted. Serve.
Make-Ahead and Storage
You can prep these Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes right through to the baking step up to 3 days in advance. Once you’ve spread them in the baking dish, let cool then cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. You can top with shredded cheese before refrigerating, but I like to add it just before baking. Up to you. Note that if you’re starting with cold potatoes, they may take another 5-10 minutes to heat all the way through.
Serve Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes With
More Must Try Potato Sides
These are a great way to add something new to your holiday meals, when you’re not making my family favorite Cheesy Potatoes, classic French Gratin Dauphinois, Horseradish Mashed Potatoes or lighter, but incredibly creamy Mashed Red Potatoes. And if you love potatoes for breakfast (like my extra crispy Breakfast Potatoes and Skillet Potatoes) leftover Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes are amazing, topped with a fried egg of course!
Video
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
- 4 tablespoons butter ideally at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 6 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided
- 4 thick bacon strips chopped and cooked until crisp
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup minced fresh chives plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Butter a 2-quart rectangular baking dish.
- Place raw potato cubes in a large steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam until very tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
- When potatoes are nearly tender, preheat oven to 350˚F. (see recipe note #1)
- Transfer tender potatoes to a large bowl. Add butter, salt, and pepper; mash until nearly smooth with a handheld masher. Add milk, half of the cheese, bacon, sour cream, and chives; mash until smooth.
- Scoop potato mixture into prepared baking dish; sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake, uncovered, until filling is heated through and cheese is melted, 35-40 minutes. Serve hot.
Notes
- You can make these ahead through spreading in the prepared baking dish. Let cool then cover and refrigerate. When ready to bake, top with remaining cheese and bake at 350˚ for 40-45 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent comfort food recipe. My dinner party guest said “way better than any potato I’ve had in a restaurant” – sent her home with the leftovers.
Steaming the potatoes was also a game changer. I will always use this method from now on. They came out perfectly, and were delicious even without the caloric add ins.
I love to hear this, Emily! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know.
My daughter loves good mashed potato and I feel like she would totally just inhale this meal (possibly all by herself)! What a fabulous idea to just make the filling. Love this!
haha, love it! I hope you’ll give this one a try, Katerina!
Super tasty! I never have everything as listed (even though I swear I checked) so I used some cream cheese instead of sour cream. Also, I love buttermilk in mashed potatoes, so I used that instead of whole milk.
There were only 2 of us eating, and somehow it’s all gone?
So glad you enjoyed these, Sandi! Your substitutions were great – the tangy buttermilk was the perfect sub for sour cream. Cracking up that the two of you made these disappear… 😉
All that comes to mind is DREAMY! This potato dish sounds so incredibly scrumptious, and would be fantastic as part of the holiday spread. I hope you and yours have a lovely Thanksgiving 🙂 ~Valentina
Love twice baked mashed taters! This is definitely a crowd pleaser at its finest too!
Mmmmm….my family would inhale this fabulous potato casserole!!
Thank you, Liz!
I actually made and LOVE your twice baked potatoes, Marissa! They were absolute perfection! Just when I thought those couldn’t be beat you go and post this! DROOL-FEST! These mashed potatoes look heavenly!! Obviously this is going on the must make immediately list! I can’t wait to try them!!! Pinned!
awww…..you KNOW I love to hear that, Cheyanne! Thank you so much. xo
I’ve already made and frozen my creamy mashed potato for Christmas Day but I’m tempted to leave it where it is and give this one a go! Wow I actually think if I made this though I’d want to eat it all in one go myself. Ha ha! Must try steaming potatoes too for a better mash with less water. I like that! All in all this looks amazing!
You are so prepared, Neil! I’m impressed. 😉 I hope you give these a try – I promise they’re so good!
Marissa, this is a heavenly dish! We can’t get enough potatoes at our house and combining them with bacon, cheddar, and chives is the ultimate combination! So happy to hear your tip about steaming potatoes – I agree! And it seems so much easier to me!
Thank you, Kelly! For me, steaming was a game changer! So glad you agree.
Why have I never thought of this!? I love a good twice-baked potato, and we’ll occasionally make a big batch and keep leftovers in the freezer. But now I need to update that and make these twice-baked mashed potatoes instead! The only difference there is I suspect there won’t be many (any??) leftovers! 🙂
Thank you, David. I know what you mean about leftovers – it’s hard to stop!
We try to avoid mashed potatoes throughout the year because we do love them, and it’s so hard to control ourselves. But Canadian Thanksgiving and winter holidays are a good exception – time for favourite comfort food and gaining a few extra pounds anyway 🙂 These twice baked mashed potatoes look and sound heavenly delicious; love the addition of cheddar and bacon. One of the best mashed potatoes recipes, no doubt!
Thank you so much, Ben!
That looks incredibly comforting and tasty. It would be a hit in our house!
Love to hear that, Angie. Thank you!
I make something very similar Marissa and my family LOVES it! Always a hit for the holidays or alongside a nice juicy steak! Pinned and excited to try your version.
Thanks, Mary Ann! I hope you and your family will love them!
Ok, this is seriously brilliant, Marissa! Yes, why not make the filling? With all those added goodies, there’s no way I’m not going back for seconds 😉 Pinned!
aww….thanks so much, Dawn! xo