If there was one side dish you could eat every single day without gaining any weight, what would it be? Mine would be mashed potatoes. Dreamy red mashed potatoes with skin left on with plenty of flavoring ingredients. My delicious Red Skin Mashed Potatoes sour cream, chives and thyme are the side dish dreams are made of.
These red mashed potatoes with skin are easy to make and require only about 20 minutes. It makes them such a simple side that they could be made during the work/school week, but they’re also fancy and flavorful enough for Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other holiday you celebrate.
Red mashed potatoes with skin are hard to resist
When I made these a few years ago, I knew they were going to be hard to resist. In fact, I really had a hard time not licking the spoon I was stirring with when making these. It’s sometimes amazing to me how just a few simple ingredients thrown together can make a dish so lovely. I guess that’s part of the reason why I love cooking and creating recipes. My red Skinned Mashed Potatoes are truly comfort food at its best.
Keeping the skin on the Red Skin Mashed Potatoes is my favorite way to eat them because they’re still creamy and you get a little bit of extra texture that only enhances the flavor of the dish. The result is a dish that feels a little more rustic and authentic.
Plus, whether you’re making these on a weeknight or for a big holiday dinner, leaving the skin on helps to save you time.
Ingredients in Red Skin Mashed Potatoes
My mashed potatoes only need a few ingredients to make them happen.
Red mashed potatoes with skin on, green onions, chives, thyme, table salt, milk, butter and sour cream. Eight simple ingredients make some magically smooth and creamy red mashed potatoes with skin and give them so much flavor that you could really eat them alone and be satisfied.
Tips for cooking Red Skin Mashed Potatoes
- I use red mashed potatoes for this recipe because they’re fast to boil. Even with the skin on, they absorb a lot of water and mash perfectly. Chop them in quarters to make sure they cook quickly.
- Use table salt for this recipe. I’ll point it out down below but since I often use and recommend sea salt in my recipes, I wanted to call this out here too.
- I recommend using whole milk in this recipe. However, if you’re used to a plant-base milk and the flavor and texture tradeoffs, you can use that too.
- Use fresh herbs. It really makes all the difference and there’s only two herbs in this recipe. They also actually pretty easy to grow in the kitchen – even over the winter. You will be amazed at home much flavor both of these add.
- The only tools you will need to create this dish are a goos knife, a large pot and a potato masher. This one {HERE} works perfectly.
Thank you so much for stopping by today friends! I’d love to know what you think of these mashed potatoes. I hope you love them. If you’re looking for other side dishes, try these Lemon & Herb Baby Potatoes {HERE} or these Grilled Sweet Potato Steaks {HERE}.

Red Skin Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 lbs red skin potatoes with skin on, washed and quartered
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 4 Tbsp. butter, salted
- 3-4 green onions, chopped with the green tops and the white bottoms separated
- 1/2 - 1 Tbsp. table salt
- 3 Tbsp. fresh chives. chopped small
- 2 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
- Water for boiling
- Additional salt and pepper to taste
- Additional thyme, chives and the green onion tops for garnishing.
Instructions
- Boil water in a large pot on the stove and then add the potatoes.
- When you can easily stick a fork through the potatoes, they're done. Drain them and add them directly back to the pot that was used to cook them.
- Add in the milk, sour cream and butter. Then begin to mash with a potato masher.
- Use a large spoon to scrape the sides as needed.
- Continue to mash until the consistency is nice and smooth.
- Add in thyme, chives, salt and the bottoms of the green onions.
- Give it a taste test and then flavor with additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with additional thyme leaves, and green onion tops as a garnish. Add butter as desired.
I am drooling. I just love mashed potatoes and these look incredible. Yum!
Wow, this mashed potatoes dish looks so delicious! My kids love mashed potatoes, I think I’ll try your recipe over the Holidays….so creamy.
Red Skin Mash Potatoes are a favorite, looking forward to giving this recipe a try.
Oh girl! You are my soul sister with mashed potatoes! This recipe looks like it is to die for! Adding to my try list!!
Red potatoes are one of my favorites. This looks so amazing. I will have to give it a try.
It’s been a long day and I didn’t eat well, and these potatoes look incredible to me. I’d love to dig right in.
Wow! This makes me really hungry. I cannot wait to make this at home
I love potatoes. We grow them back home and this is a perfect recipe for it. Thanks!
I love mashed potatoes so I definitely need to try this recipe, it sounds amazing
YUM! Red skin potatoes for a mash are my favorite! They are just so much lighter and more flavorful to me!
This looks delicious!! Will be trying this out this thanksgiving! Yum!!
I’m a mashed potato fan and your pictures are leaving me drooling. So simple and delicious and I’m loving the fresh herbs in your recipe. Can’t wait to make your red skin mashed potato recipe. Cheers.
Such a simple but still delicious dish to make for my family. I love it, and thank you!
These mashed potatoes look so good!
Such a nice variation on a traditional side dish for the holidays!
This is such a really amazing and yummy recipe! It looks absolutely tasty I would love to try this.
Can’t wait to give this a try! Looks really good!
Love the addition of the green onions, this looks delicious.
I don’t normally make mashed potatoes with red ones, but I’ll try this year.
These potatoes look so delicious. I would love to make these for my family.
these look so good and tempting.. thanks for the recipe
Sounds so delicious! Perfect for thanksgiving.
Mashed potatoes are always a favorite in my house. I will try your recipe next time!
I’ve made these mashed potatoes and they are really so good! Everyone liked it!
Oh my goodness. That looks amazing. I’m definitely trying this.
I love potatoes in all shapes and colours. Mased potatoes especially. So I will try this mashed red potatoes with skin for sure!.
I love mashed potatoes, and this sounds amazing. These look so flavorful!
These look so good and my father in law would love this recipe as red potatoes are his favorite 😉 Pinning this one next as it looks so delicious! You cannot go wrong with mashed potatoes 😉
These looks so so good! Saving this to come back to!
Katherine
https://katherinemclee.com
I always use the baby reds for my mashed potatoes. And they have to have the skin on.
Everyone in my family loves mashed potatoes! I will give this recipe a try.
What a delicious looking dish. I will try this one for my holiday menu.
Um YUM! I love red potatoes! I haven’t made mashed red potatoes in so long! I’ll have to make them over the holidays!
Such a yummy side dish, perfect for the holidays coming up
These look so amazing. I love red skinned potatoes the most. I can’t wait to try your recipe.
Wow! This is such a really simple and delicious recipe that I should try! My family would love this for sure!
Those mashed potatoes look creamy and wonderful, I like the use of chives and thyme as well!
We love mashed potatoes in our house. I’ll have to make these one evening for my son. I bet they would be delicious topped with a bit of cheddar cheese too.
I love mashed potatoes. I never keep the skin on, but I may just give it a try the next time around.
Mashed potatoes are my favorite, especially during the holiday!
I love potato dishes with the skins on. Sounds delicious! And red potatoes are one of my faves.