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Cut down on your overall side dish prep time with this easy Air Fryer Mashed Potatoes recipe. Baking potatoes in the air fryer takes a lot less time and you can save your oven space for other recipes or just keep the oven off.
Meggan’s notes
When it comes to holiday prep, everyone is looking for shortcuts. As a classically-trained chef, I’m here to help navigate your prep schedule and offer suggestions for how to reduce your time and energy.
When you plan to make mashed potatoes, you probably don’t immediately reach for your air fryer. But this handy gadget can save you time, energy and stress. Air fryer potatoes goes faster than using the oven, and you don’t even have to fire up the oven at all. In the event that you need the oven for another recipe, it’s ready and waiting!
Once your potatoes are tender and fluffy, peel them and proceed with my easy, 4-ingredient mashed potato recipe. With just butter, milk, and salt, you can transform humble spuds into the star side dish of your table. This works for holidays, weeknights, and Sunday supper.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Potatoes: Technically, you can air fry any potato. But for the ultimate air fryer baked potato, choose a russet which has a higher starch content and makes a fluffier potato. Russets are my favorite potato for mashed spuds, too.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat an air fryer to 400 degrees. Poke a few holes in each potato with a fork.
- Transfer potatoes to preheated air fryer basket and bake until tender when pierced with a small knife, about 40 minutes, turning potatoes after 20 minutes to ensure even cooking. Cool.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes. Add to a sturdy pot or large bowl and mash to a uniform consistency. Using a rubber spatula, fold in melted butter until just incorporated.
- Slowly stir in ½ cup hot milk. Add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, to adjust the consistency as desired.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with chives if desired.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes about 5 cups mashed potatoes, enough for 4 servings, 1 heaping cup each.
- Storage: Store leftover mashed potatoes covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Not recommended; mashed potatoes wind up watery and unappetizing after thawing from frozen.
- Assisted mixing: If you don’t want to mash your potatoes by hand, add them to the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment or an electric mixer.
- Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes: This freezer-defying recipe uses cream cheese and egg whites for more staying power in the cold, and it’s part of my complete Make Ahead Thanksgiving menu.
- Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes: Another clever way to free up oven space!
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes: Add the peeled, cubed potatoes to the bottom of a pressure cooker. Add cold water to cover and 1 teaspoon salt. Close the lid, set the valve to seal, and cook on manual pressure for 8 minutes. Turn off the instant pot and quick-release the pressure. Drain potatoes well, return to pot, and mash well. Stir in remaining ingredients.
- Garlic Mashed Potatoes: Toast garlic in a skillet (or roast whole bulbs of garlic in the oven), peel, mince, and add to your mashed potatoes. You’ll need about 2 bulbs (40 cloves garlic) for every 5 pounds of potatoes.
- Cauliflower mash: For a low-carb, highly satisfying side dish, try Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes (without a potato in sight).
- Boursin Mashed Potatoes: Soft-skinned small red potatoes mixed with fresh herbs and a block of Boursin cheese. You don’t even have to peel the potatoes!
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes: These mashers are flavored with fresh thyme and a touch of brown sugar. Or try Sweet Potato Casserole with a delicious marshmallow topping.
- Small batch: Making mashed potatoes for your next date night in? Try my scaled-down Mashed Potatoes for Two recipe.
- Irish twist: Colcannon is a delicious version of mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage or kale stirred in. You’ll love that extra texture and color!
- Loaded Mashed Potatoes: Top your mashed potatoes with plenty of shredded cheddar cheese, crispy cooked bacon, and thinly-sliced scallions.
- Potatoes topping: Delicious mashed potatoes are critical for the best possible Shepherd’s Pie.
- Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes: A fun, fast, and flavorful side dish your kids will love! They take almost half the time of baked potatoes, making them perfect for busy nights.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use a basic potato masher. A waffle-head masher will mash the potatoes into a smoother consistency, if you like them somewhere in-between.
Use a potato ricer (peeled potatoes) or food mill (unpeeled potatoes). These gadgets make the smallest, finest pieces of cooked potato, which fluff up beautifully.
Mashed potatoes wind up watery and unappetizing after thawing from frozen (unless the recipe is created for that purpose such as our freezer-defying Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes recipe which uses cream cheese and egg whites for a little more staying power). I don’t recommend that you freeze regular mashed potatoes.
More holiday recipes
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Glazed Ham Recipe
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Air Fryer Mashed Potatoes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 large russet potatoes scrubbed and dried (2 pounds, see note 1)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup milk hot plus more if desired (up to 1 cup)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- minced fresh chives for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat an air fryer to 400 degrees. Poke a few holes in each potato with a fork.
- Transfer potatoes to preheated air fryer and bake until tender when pierced with a small knife, about 40 minutes, turning potatoes after 20 minutes to ensure even cooking. Cool.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes. Add to a sturdy pot or large bowl and mash to a uniform consistency. Using a rubber spatula, fold in melted butter until just incorporated.
- Slowly stir in ½ cup hot milk. Add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, to adjust the consistency as desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh chives if desired.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Potatoes: Technically, you can air fry any potato. But for the ultimate air fryer baked potato, choose a russet which has a higher starch content and makes a fluffier potato. Russets are my favorite potato for mashed spuds, too.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 5 cups mashed potatoes, enough for 4 servings, 1 heaping cup each.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.