How Long to Cook Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

How long to cook slow cooker mashed potatoes is here. The perfect side dish served year round and during the holidays. Fluffy and buttery made in your Crockpot, it can be made and kept warm for hours this way. If you loved air fryer mashed potatoes but wanted them to be tender all the way around here is the answer.

Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes without Sour Cream

Next to our pressure cooker mashed potatoes this is probably one of my go to recipes. It goes with everything! When I say these mashed russets are a snap to make, it couldn’t be more true. And the ingredients you add once they are soft is totally up to you. Some insist on sour cream to make it creamy while my husband needs lactose free items.

I have used it all over the years and continue to swap them out depending on what I’m serving this with. Simple butter, salt and pepper works great. BUT if you want to really amp it up to new levels go with bacon and chives. You can even use this to make mashed sweet potatoes too for a real tweak!

Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

How Long to Cook Mashed Potatoes in a Slow Cooker

Whether you’re making them for a Thanksgiving side dish or for dinner, it’s great to have something that everyone loves. When you make them in your Crockpot they take 4 hours or so and can be kept warm for quite some time beyond that too! You know how it is. Not everything is going to be done at the same time, and you know that. The best way to bridge the gap is to use something other than the oven.

You can easily prep these and have them ready an hour before the turkey breast comes out. Switch to keep warm and fold once more before people start serving. To make things even more fun you could make it simple with just the basics. Have all the other toppings on the side like a bar!

Now of course you could make these crockpot mashed potatoes on the stove top and then transfer them to a bowl to serve. This entails a lot more time standing and monitoring the pot vs. letting it cook by itself all day.

You can do this with brown or Crockpot Sweet Potatoes for a tweak on an old time favorite. Add your milk, sour cream, bacon bits, salt and pepper for a creamy side everyone will love. You can even make a dairy free version if you need that, still delicious.

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes Ingredients

1. Potatoes
   1. Russets or Yukon gold potatoes are best, you could use red potatoes but they will have a firmer texture
2. Butter
3. Chicken stock or broth
4. Milk or heavy cream
5. Salt and pepper to taste
6. Add ins
   1. sour cream
   2. bacon bits
   3. chives
   4. cream cheese
   5. shredded cheese

Just like when you make a batch of twice baked potatoes you can really load these up before you serve them up!

Do you boil potatoes before putting in slow cooker?

NO Way!! We’re trying to make things easier here so one step is key to everything I make around here y’all. The only time I would do this is if I was in a hurry and made Instant Pot boiled potatoes.

What are the best potatoes for mashed potatoes? 

Russets really are the favorite as far as their price and firmness. You don’t want them in the softer family or the texture is kinda’ weird. You could do half red or Yukon though if you wanted to mix it up a bit.

How long do potatoes take in a slow cooker?

Of course it depends on how large a load you’re making, but if you use a 5 lb. bag like you see here it will take approximately 4 hours to get tender. Then it’s time to mash!

• I would suggest getting a plastic potato masher vs. a metal one so you can mash, add yummy ingredients, and leave right in the pot to serve up. There’s NO sense in transferring to another dish and have more bowls to clean.

The cook time is actually kinda’ perfect especially if you’re making these for an early Christmas dinner. Just peel and throw in the taters in the morning and they’ll be done mid day. If you’re having an early afternoon meal just finish preparing them and leave them right in the pot on the warm setting, stirring every hour.

How to Make Crock pot Mashed Potatoes

1. Wash and peel Russet potatoes (what we used)
2. Spray inside of pot with non stick cooking spray to ease cleanup when you’re done
3. Put potatoes and butter pats on top into your pot
4. Pour chicken broth or stock in, then cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours
   1. for larger batches like this one using 5 lbs. 4 hours works best so they’re very tender
5. Lift lid and drain broth
   1. keep on the side if you want to use some to thin potatoes out at the end
6. Add in all your goodies and mash together until smooth
7. Pour in a bit of liquid (milk or broth) to think out until it is the desired consistency you want
8. Can keep in pot on warm, or serve immediately

Want to make a batch in your Ninja Foodi?? We do this all the time when we’re in a rush! In fact our Instant Pot garlic mashed potatoes are always on the table at Christmas.

Can I make mashed potatoes ahead of time and keep in Crockpot?

YES!! You can make them on the stove, in a pressure cooker, or in your slow cooker and transfer them in order to keep them warm. Once they’re done, just transfer them into your pot and set to low. This will keep your batch warm for up to 4 hours, stirring once an hour. Then stir before serving and they will stay warm and creamy like you love them.

If you want a quick step by step for slow cooker mashed potatoes that are done start to finish in just 5 minutes, use instant potatoes:

How to Make Instant Mashed Potatoes in Slow Cooker

1. Put water and butter (amounts indicated on pouch) in microwave for 4 minutes
2. Add into crockpot and add cold milk necessary
3. Empty packet of instant potatoes into your slow cooker
4. Stir
5. Cover for 1 minute
6. Fluff up and serve
   1. you can leave inside and keep on warm for a while too

What goes good with mashed potatoes?

• Kale and boursin cheese
• Shredded cheddar cheese and bacon bits
• Maple syrup is great inside sweet potatoes
• Simple herbs like rosemary, garlic salt with thyme is great
• Garlic mashed potatoes paired with pull apart bread
• Every time we make a whole chicken, broccoli and this are our side dishes
• Load up some Crockpot bbq beef on top and serve!

If this is for the holiday season you could combine these two favorites to make green bean mashed potato casserole too. You really can have these with any main dish if you ask me but there are a few dinners that WE must pair these with. Here are a few of them so you can tell us what you think:

Do you love mashed potatoes too?? I am sure you think of them often at Thanksgiving but do you make them regularly as a side dish for dinner? They’re not just great fresh though, use what you have left to make air fryer leftover mashed potato balls the next day.

They’re a great (and easy) dish that everyone loves and goes perfectly along side meatloaf, rotisserie chicken, and chicken. Try it this week and let me know what your family thinks! Looking for a few other potato recipe ideas you can make for a big get together, potluck, or with dinner this week?

You should also try a few of these with dinner tonight!

1. Make a sweet potato in the air fryer
2. Our Crockpot breakfast casserole is the best and get raving reviews
   1. Easy Shepherd’s pie is fabulous with taters
3. Instant Pot bacon ranch potatoes
4. This is the best way to make baked potatoes in the oven too 

Printable version of this recipe is below so you can keep it handy. Of course you can come back to this post as often as you’d like and I encourage you to do so but some of you have created recipe books of your own. We hope this is a new favorite.