These creamy and smooth mashed potatoes have been in my life forever and no holiday meal feels complete without these creamy spuds gracing the table. This recipe is a replica to what my mother used while she was Amish and running a catering business out of her home. These mashed potatoes only use a handful of ingredients with a few optional ingredients added for extra flavor. Keep scrolling below the recipe for more notes and photos!
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Amish Style Mashed Potatoes (slow cooker)
Ingredients
- 6-7 Med-Large potatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup whole milk *see note below.
- 6 oz. cream cheese
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt optional
Optional topping:
- 3-4 tablespoons browned butter
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and remove blemishes, then place into a 5-7 quart crockpot and cover the potatoes completely with water. Stir in salt, then cover and cook on high for 3.5-5 hours until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Once the potatoes are well softened, drain the water and transfer the potatoes to a bowl. Mash the potatoes lightly with a potato masher, then add cream cheese, butter and garlic salt (optional). Continue to mash the potatoes by hand (or mix with a hand mixer) and add milk-a little at a time-until the potatoes reach your desired consistency. Note* more milk may be added to get a creamier consistency. However, add the milk gradually because too much milk will result in the potatoes being runny.
- Serve with browned butter drizzled on top (or plain) and homemade gravy.
We enjoy these mashed potatoes with Amish bread stuffing and chicken or with green beans and pineapple citrus glazed ham. You may also enjoy 3 ingredient pork chops and sauerkraut or slow cooker Swedish meatballs as main dishes for pairing with these Amish style mashed potatoes.
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Ingredients needed for Amish style mashed potatoes: potatoes, whole milk, butter, garlic powder or garlic salt, salt and cream cheese.
Do the Amish add browned butter on top of their mashed potatoes?
Growing up in the Lancaster Amish community we had our mashed potatoes plain without garlic salt, or browned butter added on top. Later on I was introduced to the browned butter topping from a different community of Amish and it is a new favorite way to dress up these mashed potatoes, because it certainly elevates their flavor!

Step 1: Prep the potatoes and place them in a large crock pot, add salt and cover the potatoes with water, ensuring the potatoes are completely submerged.
Can I keep the peelings on the potatoes?
If you want your mashed potatoes to be nice and smooth, it is imperative to peel the potatoes and remove all blemishes. If you like to have more chunky potatoes, then the peelings can be kept on the potatoes. I have left the potatoes unpeeled in a pinch, and although it isn’t my preference to have the skins in the mashed potatoes, my husband seems to enjoy it either way.

Step 2-3: Add butter, garlic salt (optional) and cream cheese to the potatoes, then mash or mix until smooth. Add milk and continue mixing until the potatoes reach your preferred consistency. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Additional notes for these creamy Amish style mashed potatoes made in the crockpot:
I recommend transferring the drained potatoes to a seperate bowl for the mashing/mixing process. Sadly the ceramic of the crockpot will scratch easily, as I learned too late, while trying to save dishes and mashing the potatoes in the crockpot liner.
For Stovetop mashed potatoes I use more milk than I do in these crockpot mashed potatoes. Because the potatoes cook more slowly they also soak up more moisture. I suggest adding only a bit of milk at a time and you may or may not need the full amount shown in the recipe. Note that as the mashed potatoes cool they will also thicken slightly.

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