Homemade Mashed Potatoes With Evaporated Milk

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If you’re searching for a homemade mashed potatoes recipe with a difference, you must try these mashed potatoes with evaporated milk. A Southern specialty, they’re richer in flavor, creamy, and the perfect side dish.

Bowl of homemade mashed potatoes.

Classic mashed potatoes are the perfect comfort food, aren’t they? My family always insists my grandma make a big batch whenever we visit for dinner. That’s because she makes her mashed potatoes with evaporated milk, which makes them that much more fluffy, creamy, and delicious. 

Evaporated milk made its first debut in Illinois, but it took off like wildfire as soon as Southerners discovered it. Due to our overwhelmingly hot climate, milk spoilage was a particular problem in this area of the country, and having shelf-stable milk that would keep even in the summertime was almost too good to be true.

This old-fashioned mashed potatoes recipe is simple to follow with minimal ingredients. Serve your creamy mashed potatoes alongside popular Southern main dishes, like fried chickencrispy breaded pork chopsslow cooker pulled pork, and meatloaf. It’s also a great holiday recipe served alongside some crockpot turkey breast.

You should also keep reading as I share how to perfectly boil and mash your potatoes for the best homemade mashed potatoes you’ve ever eaten. Enjoy!

Ingredients for homemade mashed potatoes with evaporated milk.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Salt
  • Potatoes
  • Evaporated milk
  • 1/2 cup of butter
  • A pinch of pepper

Wash, peel, and slice potatoes.

Bring pot of water to boil.

Put a pot of water on the stove and turn it on medium so it can be getting good and hot.

Add about a teaspoon of salt to the water.

Add potatoes to pot and bring to a boil.

Add potatoes and bring water to a boil.

How long do you boil potatoes?

You want your water to be gently boiling the entire time the potatoes are cooking. How long you cook them here is key. My grandmother uses a pressure cooker to make her deliciously creamy homemade mashed potatoes. In absence of a pressure cooker, I use the old-fashioned method of cooking them until they cry uncle or about an hour or so.

Yes, I seriously did say an hour. I’m just shocking y’all left and right today, aren’t I?

Add evaporated milk to potatoes.

After they are done cooking and fork tender, drain potatoes and put in your entire can of evaporated milk.

Add rest of ingredients to potatoes in pot.

Add your 1/2 cup of butter.

I know it may seem like a lot of butter but honestly, can we ever have too much?

You can use real butter if you’re not as cheap as me.

Add another teaspoon or so of salt.

This is to taste. I prefer to under season my food if I am going to be serving it to company because this allows them to season it to their taste rather than have to eat it according to how I prefer it. I know many people who prefer very little to no salt and many more who prefer twice as much salt as I do!

Finally, add about 1/2 a teaspoon of pepper.

There is such a thing as white pepper which will not leave dark specks in your mashed potatoes if those bother you.

Mash potatoes using a hand mixer.

Now just use your hand mixer and beat the living mess out of everything until it is smooth and creamy.

How to mash potatoes

For the perfect mashed potato dish, I like to do this with my stand mixer and let it run for a few minutes. If you are feeling lazy or just want mashed potatoes with a more “country” feel, you can just use a potato masher and do it by hand. A potato masher is this neat little device that I have two of and use for pretty much everything except mashing potatoes.

This is one of my potato mashers, but I tend to use it for meatloaf mixing more often than not. I also have this waffle head potato masher.

Bowl of homemade mashed potatoes.

Serve your fluffy mashed potatoes straight away alongside other side dishes like butter beans, hush puppies, green beans, and fried okra. Enjoy!

Storage

Store leftover mashed potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. Reheat leftovers in the microwave. If you want to freeze your mashed potatoes, check out this recipe.

Recipe Notes

  • Before you mash your potatoes, add chopped green onion, chopped parsley, or crumbled bacon for additional flavor.
  • You can use regular milk to make these homemade mashed potatoes, but the evaporated milk makes a difference and gives the dish a richer flavor. 
  • Most old recipes which call for evaporated milk will have it simply listed as “pet milk,” which was (and is) a very popular brand of evaporated milk. I have never found a generic that didn’t taste exactly the same to me as the name brand when it comes to evaporated milk.
  • Don’t confuse evaporated milk with sweetened condensed milk.
    • Sweetened condensed milk has had water removed and sugar added, yielding a very thick and rich product. If my blood sugar would allow it, I’d happily live on sweetened condensed milk, that stuff is AWESOME.
    • Evaporated milk has had water removed but no sugar added. However, the natural sugars which occur in milk are more concentrated and this produces has a richer flavor (which is one reason why I really like it in my coffee). You can actually reconstitute evaporated milk with equal parts of water to have the equivalent of fresh milk.

However, both evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk are browner in color than regular milk due to the heat in the pasteurization process causing a slight caramelizing to the natural sugars. Evaporated milk is also great in macaroni and cheese. Just substitute regular milk for evaporated milk when you want that richer flavor.

Recipe FAQs

What are the best potatoes to use in mashed potatoes?

The best potato variety to use in this mashed potato recipe is russet potatoes, red potatoes, or Yukon gold potatoes.

Check out these other marvelous mashed potato recipes:

Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe

Freezer Mashed Potatoes

Thomas BBQ Mashed Potato Salad

Mozzarella Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Potato Cakes Recipe

Fancy Mashed Potatoes With Cheese

Homemade mashed potatoes with evaporated milk.

Homemade Mashed Potatoes

A Southern specialty, these homemade mashed potatoes with evaporated milk are the perfect side dish, with a rich and creamy flavor.
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: mashedpotatoes, potatoes

Ingredients

  • 5 lbs mashed potatoes or 7-8 medium-sized potatoes
  • 1 small can of evaporated milk 5 ounces
  • 1 stick butter 1/2 cup
  • 1 tsp salt for water
  • 1 tsp salt for potatoes
  • 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

  • Peel and cut the potatoes into slices or large cubes.
    5 lbs mashed potatoes
  • Fill a large pot with enough water to cover potatoes. Add 1 tsp of salt. Add the potatoes, bring to a boil, and boil gently for about an hour or until extremely tender.
    5 lbs mashed potatoes, 1 tsp salt for water
  • Drain potatoes and add all other ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
    1 small can of evaporated milk, 1 stick butter, 1 tsp salt for potatoes, 1/2 tsp pepper
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152 Comments

  1. I love the way a mixer makes potatoes so light and fluffy. My grown daughter loves my mashed potatoes. I’m the only one in my circle of friends who uses a mixer. I can’t understand it!!! I use milk most of the time. I love the way you cook. I am a cheap cook, too.

    1. Hehe!
      A friend emailed me and said that looked like livers, let me state that it is NOT Livers! lol
      You are absolutely right, it is chicken. Homemade chicken nuggets that I made to go with the mashed potatoes for all of us. I’m gonna post them next week, I think It is awfully crispy and awfully easy and awfully good with some ketchup!!!

      come on over and I’ll make ya a plate!

      Gratefully,
      Christy 🙂

    1. aweber is my email subscription service.

      My actual email is christy@southernplate.com. The best way to send something to me though is to click on the button at the top of the page that says “contact me” there is a handy little form. 🙂 I sometimes get over a hundred emails a day so the contact form ensures that your information won’t get lost in the shuffle!

      If its information about how unhealthy margarine is, how much fat, how hydrogenated oils were actually not meant for human consumption, or how margarine was supposed to be a short term substitute in times of war and never actually meant to be consumed over a long period of time and such, feel free to send it and thank you so much!

      I know all of that but will still use margarine anyway ~grins~
      Coz I’m cheap 🙂

      I welcome all emails and comments, and you can always find out how to contact me (even via actual snail mail!) by clicking the contact button.

      I just wish I had time to respond to all emails and comments as I’d like to!

      Thank you so much, Mike! I am sorry your emails were returned, I know that is frustrating but hit that lil ole button and we’re off to the races!
      Gratefully,
      Christy 🙂

  2. I make my mashed taters almost exactly the same way. I use whole milk and real butter, but I have used evaporated milk if I have it. 🙂
    I think instant mashed potatoes are from the devil. I only make real potatoes in my house! LOL

  3. If I have half & half, I use that instead of evaporated milk, and I add Duke’s mayo to mine, too, ’cause that’s the way my grandmother made them ; ) Have you ever tried Yukon Gold potatoes for making mashed potatoes? They’re the BEST I’ve ever had!

    1. Yes, I have used Yukon! you know, that is a hybrid specifically bread for mashed potatoes in order to yield a bit of natural butter flavor!

      I use plain old ones because I buy huge bags of them and they are so multi purpose and….well honestly most of my ingredient choices boil down to me being cheap :).

      Lord if I ever come into money……
      lol
      They are good though, you are so right!!!

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