Dolly Parton’s Mashed Potatoes Are on My Holiday Menu This Year (It Should Be on Yours, Too!)

They contain four kinds of dairy. Four!

Every Thanksgiving, we host my husband’s family, feeding at least 16 but as many as 22 people. While my in-laws bring sides and desserts, there’s a little running joke that I need to make my own batch of mashed potatoes. I love them and I need leftovers for making meals in the days after feeding that many people!

So when I saw that the Holiday Potatoes recipe in Good Lookin' Cookin': A Year of Meals - A Lifetime of Family, Friends, and Food (the new cookbook from Dolly Parton and her sister Rachel Parton George) feeds 12, I immediately had to make a test batch for holiday planning.

Why You Should Make Dolly Parton’s Holiday Potatoes Recipe

There are a few things that make Parton’s recipe unique: she calls for russet potatoes and whips them with four different kinds of dairy in a stand mixer. A whole five-pound bag of potatoes gets boiled before being tossed into the bowl of a stand mixer with some salt and garlic plus butter, cream cheese, sour cream, and whole milk. Then, the potatoes get whipped until tender and topped with melted butter, salt, pepper, and parsley.

I’ve long believed that Yukon gold potatoes were the “proper” mashing potato because they have a lower starch content and that you should never use a stand mixer for mashing unless you want gluey potatoes, so I was shocked by just how creamy and smooth Dolly’s potatoes were!

This bag batch of potatoes is surprisingly light for such a rich recipe. It turns out that if you add enough fat to your whipped potatoes, they won’t get tough or gloppy, regardless of how you mash them.

Tips for Making Dolly’s Holiday Potatoes

• Buy bigger russets so that peeling and quartering the potatoes goes quickly. They might take slightly longer to cook.

• Bring the cream cheese and butter to room temperature before you start boiling the potatoes. Boiling only takes about 40 minutes total time and you want really soft cream cheese to prevent clumping.

• Don’t try to double the recipe! Even with a large Kitchenaid mixing bowl, a single batch of these holiday potatoes is going to fill the mixing bowl, and you don’t want hot potatoes flying out of the mixing bowl and onto every kitchen surface—especially if you’re hosting family.

How To Make Dolly Parton’s Holiday Potatoes

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 10 to 12

• 5 pounds russet potatoes

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided

• 1 teaspoon garlic paste or 1 garlic clove, minced

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, room temperature, divided

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature, divided

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

• Ground black pepper

Wash, peel, and quarter the potatoes. Place them in a colander and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear. Transfer the potatoes to a large pot. Fill with cold water to cover the potatoes by 2 inches and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and cook until fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

Drain the potatoes in a colander, then transfer them to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, garlic, 6 tablespoons of the butter, the cream cheese, sour cream, and 1/2 cup of the milk. Blend on medium speed using an electric hand mixer or with the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer. Add the remaining 1/2 cup milk and mix on high speed to whip the potatoes until fluffy.

Transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl and top with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Garnish with the parsley and season with pepper.

GET THE COOKBOOK: Good Lookin' Cookin'