How to Make Mashed Potatoes 10x Better, According to Bobby Flay

We all know holiday meals are all about the side dishes and everyone's favorite (aside from stuffing, that is) is mashed potatoes. The fluffy, buttery, pillowy potatoes are an absolute treat with every forkful and we are forever searching for the ultimate way to make them. I'm happy to say that we can now stop the search because celebrity chef, food writer, restaurateur and television personality Bobby Flay is here to level up your Thanksgiving potatoes with a bold twist: a creamy, cheesy, green chile queso sauce that’ll have everyone reaching for seconds.

To make sure it was worthy of my holiday table (spoiler alert: it is), I gave the recipe a test run in my home kitchen. Here's how it went.

Get the recipe: Bobby Flay's Mashed Potatoes with Green Chile Queso Sauce

Ingredients for Bobby Flay’s Mashed Potatoes

For these mashed potatoes, you'll need Yukon gold potatoes, kosher salt, scalded milk; heavy cream, unsalted butter, a roasted poblano chile, flour, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano, black pepper and cilantro (optional).

Related: How to Make the Best-Ever Mashed Potatoes, According to My Chef-Husband

How to Make Bobby Flay’s Green Chile Queso Mashed Potatoes

Put the potato chunks in a large pot, add 2 tablespoons of kosher salt and fill with a few inches of water. Bring to a boil and then cover and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain, then place back into the pot and cook on low heat until the potatoes dry out and turn white. Mash the potatoes through a potato ricer into a large bowl. Add in some butter and warmed cream and stir.

In a separate saucepan, melt more butter then whisk in the flour. Cook for one minute and then slowly drizzle in the scalded milk. Increase the heat and cook until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and add the shredded cheeses, then the diced poblano. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Make a well in the middle of the mashed potatoes and fill with the cheese sauce. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.

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My Honest Thoughts About Bobby Green Chile Queso Mashed Potatoes

Before I get into this recipe let me just say that nobody will ever be able to top my grandmother's mashed potatoes. They're light, buttery and silky with strings of onion mixed throughout and a slightly crispy top dusted with paprika. My family makes them every year in her honor and I'm salivating at my own description. Can you tell I'm excited for Thanksgiving?

That said, Bobby Flay's mashed potatoes are pretty good, even though they require two pots, a ricer and a little bit of patience (it's worth it!). The potatoes were salty enough from cooking without adding any extra (I definitely recommend tasting as you go so as not to oversalt) and the bits of roasted poblano gave these spuds an unexpected—and welcome—pop of smoky, spicy flavor (and a bit of color, too).

My cheese sauce was thick, unlike the picture in Bobby's recipe, even though I followed the directions and used the exact ingredients he called for. The final result was a buttery, hearty, just-salty-enough mashed potato with a hint of heat.

Related: How to Make a Baked Potato 10x Better

Tips for Making Bobby Flay’s Mashed Potatoes

1. Choose the right potatoes. Yukon gold potatoes work best for this recipe but if you can't find those, Russet potatoes will also do.

2. Don’t overwork your potatoes. The first time I ever made mashed potatoes, I grabbed my food processor, thinking I had found some brilliant shortcut only to be greeted with gluey, overworked potatoes that ended up in the trash. Mash gently by hand or use a potato ricer, if you have one, especially if using high-starch potatoes, such as Russets. If you don't have a potato ricer, you can push the cooked potatoes through a fine mesh sieve or the holes in a colander. What you're trying to do is aerate the spuds so they turn into light and fluffy mash.

3. Adjust the heat. If you like a bit more spice, feel free to add another roasted poblano to the queso sauce. Also feel free to keep the queso sauce recipe in your back pocket if you're looking for a dip or a nacho topper.

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