Buttermilk Bacon Blue Smashed Potatoes.
Keeping in the spirit of untraditional traditional foods…
…let’s make potatoes! Like, only one of THEE staples of Turkey day. Hope you’re not sick of ’em yet.
Potatoes, my friends, were my absolute favorite food growing up. Number one I tell you. For at least 10 or 15 years I responded with “potatoes” when asked what my favorite dish was, and that included everything from mashed with gravy (um my computer just corrected gravy to Tracy. Twice. What?), scalloped, chopped and roasted until crispy and especially my mom’s potato chip topped frozen hash brown cheesy casserole. Ugh. So good.
On Thanksgiving, I prefer some plain old mashed potatoes so I can load on the gravy, and especially so I can make hot turkey sandwiches the next day and eat them with a side of mashed potato pancakes hopefully fried in bacon grease, but if somebody wants to serve me potatoes mashed with buttermilk, bacon and blue cheese next Thursday I wouldn’t hate it. You wouldn’t hear a peep. At least not from me. I mean, I’m totally quiet and not dramatic or opinionated at ALL. Maybe from my husband, who plates his food and then MIXES IT ALL TOGETHER. I’d go in to more detail but it’s pretty horrific. I think what he does with his food requires plain potatoes, but then again since it’s all mixed together, how would he know the freaking difference?
He wouldn’t. That settles it.
Speaking of differences, I debated this here many moons here ago but what the heck is the difference between mashed and smashed potatoes? In my brain, mashed potatoes are skinless and silky and almost always need gravy while smashed potatoes are chunky and filled with pieces of skin and can easily be gravyless. Thoughts? Lots of important things go on in my head. I have a lot of time on my hands. Luckily, that time translates into making potatoes with the crunchiest bacon ever.
Buttermilk Bacon Blue Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds yukon gold potatoes
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
- 4 ounces blue cheese
- 2 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Wash potatoes and peel or cut off any dark spots or imperfections, leaving as much skin on as possible. Cut into cubes and place in a large stock pot, covering with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes.
- Drain potatoes and place back in the pot over low heat. Add butter and buttermilk, then use a potato masher and mash until your desired texture has been reached. Mash in salt and pepper, then mash in the cheese and crumbled bacon, saving a bit for the top if desired. Taste and season additionally if desired. Top with sliced green onions.
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Oh but seriously, how amazing would these be made into mashed potato pancakes? Kill me now.
82 Comments on “Buttermilk Bacon Blue Smashed Potatoes.”
Mashed potatoes are my favorite food, definitely my favorite Thanksgiving side dish. Oh my gosh…with the addition of bacon, scallions and blue cheese? I could snarf up a whole bowl of these!
buttermilk…bacon…blue cheese… you’re speaking my language, lady. YUM!!!!
Nobody makes me miss dairy like you do Jessica. This looks amazing!
THIS is totally exactly what I was just thinking ha.. I’ve been allergic to dairy since 16yrs.. :( this site makes me miss it hard! But I can’t help but look and dream!! PS I lovve potatoes too, my fav as a kid(/still at 26 yrs) is a baked potato with a huuge glob of garlic ceaser dressing (always Renee’s, dunno if thats a Cndn brand) all mixed and smashed in. Yuuuuum. They make non-dairy kind randomly, thank the lord :)
It must be a potato day! I love the recipe, the blue cheese sounds awesome in it!!!! Gorgeous potato pictures!
I normally am like you Jess, straight mashed potatoes nothin’ on them except the occasional gravy oh and butter and lots of salt and pepper, of course. But I do have to admit that these taters look pretty freaking awesome. I wouldn’t know how i feel about them on Thanksgiving, but definitely a great weekend side dish!
I’ve always thought of potatoes as a pretty bland vegetable, and as a kid, the only way I ate them was mashed and coated in ketchup. You sure know how to dress em up!!
So listen… I am all over all these slightly adjusted Thanksgiving recipes. I freaking love them!! Lightened up green bean casserole? Amazing. Buttermilk, BACON, and blue cheese in my mashed potatoes? Yes, please. Oh! and I made the lightened up butternut squash skillet mac n cheese the other day. Sooooo good. It might make an appearance. All of this to say thanks for planning my Thanksgiving menu. I’ll send cookies.
Love this! I once had blue cheese scalloped potatoes at a restaurant and loved them so much I recreated them at home. Now I need these.
OMG! What a great idea!!! Now if I could only get my family to love blue chesse as much as I do! Wait…they won’t eat any so then that means that whole dish would be mine!! *shifty eyes*
I love using buttermilk in potatoes but I have a feeling that adding blue cheese and bacon makes them out of this world deeeelicious. Yum!
Oh man! I love bacon, and bleu cheese, and potatoes. These look heavenly!
Yum! I think I’m getting most of my Thanksgiving recipes from you! Keep them coming!
I love blue cheese and bacon, so these look awesome! My mom made a new mashed potato recipe a few weeks ago that was pretty tasty too: She boiled the cut up potatoes in chicken broth, then mashed them with sour cream and cream cheese.
I still to this day respond with “potatoes” as my fav food!
Wow these look so comforting and delicious.
YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Make them into potato pancakes!!!
Yummm mashed potatoes are one of my favorites too. And bacon pretty much makes everything better, so I can imagine how amazing this is!
Hmmm, yes. I would agree that those are smashed potatoes! There’s hot debate in our family whether there should be lumps or not. I’m a big proponent of no lumps! But…I do like the skins on.
I love mashed potatoes. In our household there are lumps and skins. I remember when we had our roommate he offered to peel the potatoes for mashed potatoes and The Boy and I looked at him and said ‘but we like the skins..”
Holy amazeballs. I want these next Thursday. Do you think you could sub the blue cheese for cream cheese? Now, before you look at me all judge-y, I LOVE blue cheese but have a feeling my plain-jane family may have a heart attack if they doth detect a crumble of blue in their mashed potatoes (I’m working on them).
Looks awesome!
definitely!
Mashed are silky, skinless and lovely with ribbons of gravy. Smashed is what my husband does with little red potatoes boiled in their skins and then smashed with cream cheese, buttermilk, sour cream, butter, salt & pepper and whatever else sparks his fancy (cheese, bacon, chives and carmelized onions have made appearances in the past). Groan. There’s never any leftovers! Oh. So. Good!
I would be the only one in my family who would enjoy these. More for me! This looks amazing. Oh my!
I’m like your husband– I mix it all together on Thanksgiving. ;) Although these potatoes could certainly stand alone!
I love potatoes as well. They allow you to get creative. I will definitely be trying this recipe soon. It may be sooner than Thursday. I surely don’t need an excuse to cook potatoes.
holy crap these look good. i want them in my belly now. sadly, i go to my in-laws for thanksgiving and they serve the lamest.food.ever. ugh. we’re talking cool whip and jello pudding pies, green bean casserole (the original recipe). pray for me…. i will come home hungry.
ps. can’t wait for the trader joe’s list. one opened here a couple months ago and I was not sure where to start except for the frozen chocolate croissants. what? so good. and of course the three buck chuck. not bad for $3.
Uggg. Even worse? My grandparents serve all of that plus canned cranberry sauce with the ridges still in it.
You just made me want to be assigned to bring mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving… I’ll bring some boring plain ones for the boring people and these for the cool kids, like me :)
Ooooh, yes, please!
I loved mashed potatoes when I was a kid, and I still can’t enough. These look delicious!
I LOVE getting fancy with my mashed potatoes, rock on chick!
One of my favorite ways to EASILY spice up regular mashed potatoes is to replace the butter with a flavor of Alouette spreadable cheese like Garlic & Herb or Spinach & Artichoke! It totally amps up your taters without any extra effort :)
omg, I can’t even. Just stop it right now. These look INSANE. Though I’m mostly a goat cheese girl myself so I may just substitute those in.
This would be right up my husband’s alley! He would go nuts for it!
I’m one of those OMG MY FOOD CANNOT TOUCH people too, haha. Yet I can handle most casserole type things, which defeats the purpose a bit, yeah?
Yummm this looks soooo gooood…
OMG, my fellow potato lover! I often wonder if I can order french fries and mashed potatoes as sides (and possibly some form of sweet potato as well). Love love love hot turkey sandwiches, that’s the stuff dreams are made of!
Holy moly these look amazing and are making me very hungry! I would have never thought to add blue cheese to mashed potatoes! Genius!
We are soul-mates. I swear.
OMG. Just oh my god. Can this just be dinner? Is that allowed? Because it’s happening.
*swoon*
This looks AMAZING. I have been making potatoes like crazy lately, but my smashed ones are just starting to taste boring. I’ll definitely be trying this!!
Love this nontraditional version of a classic! I’m with you on the difference between mashed and smashed potatoes. I actually don’t like whipped mashed potatoes, but I love chunky smashed potatoes that have lots of texture and especially when they have add-ins like bacon & blue cheese!
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Those look like the best smashed potatoes I have ever seen … and I am not really a fan of blue cheese, but I think I would like it in this dish!
Too bad for my picky family this can’t be at the Thanksgiving dinner table! They don’t know what they’re missing. I’m thinking I’ll make this for myself. :P
Yes.Please. You had me at bacon…
Looks AMAZING!! But, um, how… ‘blue cheese-y’ is it? :)
yummmmmmmmy. making this for myself and eating it all. by myself.
I’m really wary of cooking with blue cheese, but I think you’ve officially convinced me! Mashed/Smashed potatoes are one of my favorites!
Def make these on Thanksgiving, great idea!!!!!
When I lived at home – many, many years ago – my mom made potato pancakes out of left over mashed potatoes. She added chopped onions, egg and a little flour. She fried them in either butter or bacon grease. It was the 50s and 60s. We didn’t know about all that bad cholesterol stuff, but boy were they tasty….and crispy around the edges….yum. These would be soooo tasty that way!
My boyfriend’s birthday is the day before Thanksgiving and I’m thinking about making him a pre-Turkey day birthday meal (you know, so he can stretch his stomach in anticipation)…if I do, this will definitely be on the menu. He LOVES blue cheese!
I have a Greek yogurt, blue cheese, and bacon potato salad on my blog. Love the idea of similar flavors in a mashed potato dish. Such a great combo!
Oh, and I sent a potato pancake with eggs, cheese, and leftover broccoli to school with my 2 1/2 year old son the other day, and he devoured it!
I think you’ve nailed the definition of smashed potatoes vs. mashed potatoes. That’s definitely how I’ve always viewed it. Would you believe it if I told you that my family *NEVER* has or had mashed potatoes at any holiday gathering?!? Like, seriously…never. It was always and will always be sweet potato casserole. I really don’t even think I tried real mashed potatoes until I saw that movie “While You Were Sleeping” with Sandra Bullock and the grandmother kept saying in her best New York accent “Oh, these mashed potatoes are so creamy” over and over again. It made me want to try them real bad :/
All I want to do is eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And as a snack. Every. single. day. YUM!
Thanks for the great recipe!! :)