Thanksgiving Side Dish: Rosemary and Garlic Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes

Welcome to Thanksgiving month!

I love November. Not only is the weather getting cooler, but the leaves are changing, the Black Friday ads are coming out (it’s like intense window shopping because I don’t actually buy anything), it’s MY BIRTHDAY MONTH (does anyone else sign up for free goodies from restaurants?), but most importantly, it’s a time to eat Thanksgiving dinner and express your gratitude for good food and good company.

This year it’ll be just my husband, me and our son + little lady in my belly so we’re keeping it small and simple and Italian inspired. I make mashed potatoes all the time with garlic and olive oil, but I thought I’d add the hearty, fragrant herb of rosemary in there to up the taste a little bit. This dish does not have an overwhelming rosemary flavor, but you can certainly add more rosemary sprigs to your olive oil if you feel like it.

These potatoes turn out creamy and amazing and you can use as much olive oil as your little heart desires without ruining the dish. Because olive oil is wonderful and a quality one (I always use California Olive Ranch) won’t ever disappoint you.

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Are you cooking, are you bringing a side dish of MASHED POTATOES? Are you responsible for dessert? Or do you just bring the sangria? Because that’s an incredibly important task too, you know.

Man, I really wish I could drink sangria…

Print Recipe

Rosemary and Garlic Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes

Yield: 8

These Rosemary and Garlic Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes will be a true Thanksgiving side dish treat, but they are also perfect for any weeknight meal!

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil + 1/3 cup
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary (do not remove the rosemary from the stem)
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring potatoes to a boil in a large pot of salted water. Let cook until they are easily poked through with a fork, about 15-20 minutes; drain.
2. While potatoes are boiling, heat 1/2 cup olive oil in a small pot with the garlic and rosemary over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, or until garlic is slightly browned and fragrant; remove from heat and let steep off the heat for an additional 5 minutes, then discard the rosemary and garlic, leaving behind just the olive oil.
3. Move the drained potatoes to the bowl of a stand mixer (or back in the original cooking pot and use a potato masher) and using the paddle attachment, mix the potatoes, strained olive oil, milk, and butter on medium-low until creamy and well incorporated. Add the additional 1/3 cup olive oil to the mixture as needed (or more!)
4. Taste for salt and pepper. With this many potatoes, I used a lot of salt, but I don't prefer a lot of pepper so I added some pepper at the end over the top instead.
5. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.