Your Slow Cooker Is The Key To Keeping Mashed Potatoes Warm For Hours

Mashed potatoes are the perfect starchy side dish to complement any kind of main meal. They're creamy, salty, and pair well with anything from a juicy steak to roasted veggies. However, they can be a bit time-consuming to prepare, so it's common to make them ahead of time if you're the one cooking dinner. But when that happens, how do you keep them warm for an extended period of time? If you have a slow cooker, you're in luck; keeping the potatoes on low is the perfect way to make sure they're creamy and hot when you serve them.

If you want to prepare the mashed potatoes the night before, you can also keep them in the refrigerator overnight and reheat them the next day, but there are few tricks to make sure they stay fluffy and creamy when using this method, too. (Hint: Make sure you have plenty of cream and butter.)

If you have a slow cooker, put it to good use. Once you've made the mashed potatoes, if you plan to serve them later that day, add them to the slow cooker with a little extra butter, and they'll stay a perfect consistency — and perfect temperature — for hours. You should stir them every once in a while (and you might want to add in a little more cream to make sure they don't get clumpy), but for the most part, keep the lid closed to ensure the temperature of the slow cooker stays above 140 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Since most mashed potato recipes contain milk, you don't want to risk the food entering the danger zone where it can grow bacteria. By keeping the slow cooker on low, you also ensure the potatoes won't burn. Use a slow cooker insert to avoid the messy cleanup, too.

The slow cooker is a great method if you're preparing the potatoes the day of, but what if you need to cook them the day before? In this case, you'll need to refrigerate them, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice texture. The trick here is to always add more butter and cream than you actually need. Make sure the mashed potatoes are super creamy (almost to the point of a thick sauce). Then, refrigerate them, and when you're ready to warm them up, just reheat them in a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven, and they'll turn out just as fluffy as if they were made that day. Don't hesitate to add a little more butter before reheating, too.

The double-boiler method is another great way to heat the potatoes low and slow. Place a bowl over boiling water, but make the bowl isn't touching the water, and let the steam keep those potatoes nice and warm until you're ready to serve them.