Mashed potato

This article is about the food. For the 1960s dance craze see Mashed Potato.

Mashed potato (mashed potatoes in American English) or puréed potato is a common way of serving potato in many countries, including Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is made from mashed boiled potatoes (peeled or unpeeled), with heated milk or cream and butter or vegetable oil added. A French recipe adds egg yolk for Pommes duchesse that is piped through a pastry tube into wavy ribbons and rosettes, brushed with butter and lightly browned.

The consistency of the ordinary dish depends on returning the boiled potatoes to the empty pot and heating them to drive off surplus steam, and on how finely and how fast the potatoes are mashed. If the potato cells are damaged in the process, the starch they contain makes the mashed potato sticky; a ricer, which passes the boiled potato through small openings, produces a refined texture.

Mashed potato is also an ingredient of various other dishes, including Shepherds' pie and potato croquettes.

Mashed potato may be seasoned with salt, pepper, or nutmeg. A white turnip cooked and mashed with the potatoes in a proportion of about 1:10, provides a slight "bite" that mashed potatoes proverbially lack. Alternatively, garlic may be added. In the US, mashed potatoes are often covered with gravy. In the UK, mashed potato is sold at pie and mash shops. It is often served with sausage, in this form being called bangers and mash. Mashed potato was the primary source of humour in the children's television series Bodger and Badger.

In a well-ordered American household, the top of each serving is deftly hollowed with a spoon in order to form a gravy and/or butter volcano.

Powdered mashed potato mixes are also available. A campaign for one such product (Smash) memorably launched the business of advertising agency Boase Massimi Pollitt.