Stop Adding Butter To Mashed Potatoes: This Tastes Even Better

There are more ways to mash a potato than you might expect. Or, more precisely, there are lots of different ingredients you can add to mashed potatoes which can make the flavor pop in different ways. Some ingredients might seem a bit strange, even if adding whipped cream to mashed potatoes makes them fluffier (Just go with the unsweetened kind). If you're not trying to get too far out there, there's a more straightforward way to add flavor to your mashed potatoes: Substitute the butter for extra virgin olive oil, according to Kathleen Boureston, recipe creator at Gonna Want Seconds.

"Olive oil adds extra flavor to your mashed potatoes and can really improve the end result," Boureston said. This is because olive oil keeps mashed potatoes creamy just like butter would, while also imparting the fruity, earthy, and almost peppery flavor found in good olive oil. The result can be dairy-free (although plenty of folks still add milk) and you can add extras like salt and garlic to taste. It's similar to a Greek dish called skordalia, built around mashed potatoes and olive oil as well as crushed almonds. Boureston even suggested pushing your olive oil mashed potatoes in that Mediterranean direction: "Mix in some feta cheese with the potatoes and some Greek-inspired herbs and seasonings, and serve with a big roast lamb leg or a gyro sandwich."

There's some flavor variety between different types of olives, but what's more important is ensuring you've bought extra virgin olive oil and not light olive oil. Extra virgin is the most flavorful type; since it hasn't been refined or processed as much as other varieties of olive oil, it retains the purest flavor from pressed olives. Regular olive oil will be lighter in both color and flavor, and won't add that extra punch to your mashed potatoes. As for the best potatoes to mix with olive oil, these can be the usual suspects for mashed potatoes like Yukon gold, which are well suited for making mashed potatoes creamier rather than fluffier.

Many recipes will suggest anywhere between a ¼ cup to a ½ cup of olive oil for 2 pounds of spuds. Since you're substituting olive oil for butter, you can pour it in just after you finish draining the potatoes and begin mashing them, same as you'd do with the butter. Kathleen Boureston offers another note: "Warm your olive oil and your milk or cream before adding to the mashed potatoes. Adding warm ingredients is important to make sure the starches don't seize and the potatoes don't end up gummy." Avoid adding chilled ingredients, and your olive oil-enhanced mashed potatoes will come out warm, and tasting utterly unique.