Easiest Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Garlic Mashed Potatoes in a bowl with gravy.

Can’t stop can’t stop can’t stop.

Garlic mashed potatoes. They have my heart.

And you guys, I pinkie promise something: these are the easiest ever. I mean, nothing deserves the Easiest Ever badge of honor like a recipe that can be made in a kitchen that is, um, not even a kitchen. The basement, remember?

And it’s a complete bonus for all the friends around the table when easiest ever also means extremely delicious, right? The buttery texture with the texture of the potatoes skins (I am on the leave-the-skins-on-the-potatoes side of the fence) and a hint of warming roasted garlic is making me one happy pre-Thanksgiving girl. I have had these for dinner for WAYYY too many nights in a row and we’re still weeks away from the big feast. And yes I do seriously mean that I have been calling simple, humble bowls of garlic mashed potatoes my “dinner.”

What do normal people eat again?

Okay friends, I need to let you know that right here and now – this is your one last chance to get a peek into the basement kitchen. Which is essentially just a basement with a power strip for plugging in kitchen appliances. Because after today, we are moving on up to the uppppstairs where we have a Kitchen with a capital K.

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES.

How To Make Our Garlic Mashed Potatoes (2 MINS):

Ahhhm, is sticking an electric mixer directly into a slow cooker some kind of bad cooking voodoo basement black magic? I have lost touch with reality down here amongst the dirty cement bricks. Bring me to the light.

I don’t know though, those horror movie basement lights are pretty flattering.

Woman in a basement and woman in a kitchen.

Jay-Kay.

So yesterday I started something new! I packed up my computer, put on my real person clothes, and set out to work at a co-working space. Where a bunch of self-employed adults go to hang out I MEAN WORK so that they don’t lose their minds, working from home, alone, on the couch, in pajamas, forever, until they die. No? Just me?

It was really fun to be downtown for the day. I was buzzing with entrepreneurial energy, even though the most complicated thing I did all day was write a blog post while sipping some strong coffee. I spent a good portion of the afternoon walking around downtown Saint Paul because I am a hipster and I like to walk. —> Lies. I got lost looking for a good place to eat lunch. What else? Lunch is a big deal to me, you know? I can’t just choose any old place to eat when I’m within walking distance of all the great downtown Saint Paul restaurants. My quest was only partially rewarded when I finally found a delicious restaurant, uhm, errr, just right across from where I started.

Hi, I’m not from here.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.

It’s good to have a place to work away from home. True thing.

Also true: it’s good to come back home to a large pot of steaming garlic mashed potatoes luring me down to the basement with their savory smells right when I walk in the door.

These garlic mashed potatoes. I’m telling you – they are so super easy and they get delicious roasty-garlic flavor even though you don’t actually have to roast the garlic. I was thrilled to see that when I lifted the lid off the slow cooker after a few hours, my baby garlic cloves were sitting right there on top looking rich and golden brown. Not roasted exaaaactly, but close enough for this ovenless girl.

If I were not already the Salad Bringer, or if I were the Salad Bringer (which I am) aaaand I was also feeling super generous and maybe hungry on that particular day, I would definitely be bringing these mashed potatoes to Thanksgiving.

Easiest Garlic Mashed Potatoes, you are creamy, buttery, laced with the perfect amount of garlic flavor, salted generously, creamy with just enough texture, all with just a few minutes of prep and one-bowl clean up. Like a champ.