By using less sugar, white whole wheat flour, and butter instead of oil, we altered this venerable Maine recipe to make it healthier. We also included raisins and pumpkin seeds. As bread or muffins, it’s still moist and flavorful and perfect for a nutritious Christmas gift exchange!
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 4 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 pound red potatoes, cut into chunks
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1 (3 ounce) can bacon bits
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with lightly salted water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two.
- Mash the potatoes until smooth, then add the cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, bacon, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Mash until the ingredients are well blended, then transfer to a serving dish, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to garnish.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 188 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 43 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 404 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I diidnt care for this recipe at all, and I’m a huge ;mashed potato fan.
turned out good. made a few adjustments according to this recipe. I added about a half pound or more of taters and i could have used about a half teaspoon of cayenne pepper instead of 1. was a little over powering but still turned out good.
I added milk to this because I could tell that it was really thick. Next time I make it, I’ll cut down on the cream cheese, and add more milk, since even after the milk I did add, and a ton of butter, they were still so thick no one could really get them down. With some changes to the recipe this would get 5 stars, but since I’m rating the original, it gets 3.
This is a great recipe! Easy, fast way to have a mashed potato side dish. I left out the cayenne as we don’t like the taste, and didn’t have any parmesan on hand, so just used a bit more cheddar. I also used real bacon pieces. Delicious; will definitely make it again.
I was optimistic about this recipe and prepared it as written. The cayenne was overpowering; I should have gone with my gut instinct and only put in 1/2 tsp. Way too much cheese and cream cheese made this gooey. I really wanted to like this but needs modifications to make it a 5 star. Thanks for submitting.
YUM!!! This will be my go-to for cookout dishes from now on. I almost tripled the recipe, used 1.5 bricks of cream cheese, sour cream, real bacon, scallions and added salsa (which I add to my usual ‘loaded baked potato) – didn’t blend it entirely – left it chunky, and it got rave reviews.
Unfortunately, two stars if you dare to prepare this as written, but very good after significant doctoring up. Way too much cream cheese, while at the same time sorely wanting for butter, milk or sour cream. The amount of cayenne pepper and garlic powder is extraordinarily excessive. Better with cooked and crumbled bacon. Finally, I can’t help but think the submitter intended for this to be sprinkled with maybe a 1/4 CUP of Parmesan, not 1/4 tsp? After the above modifications as well as as the addition of a healthy amount of fresh, chopped chives, definitely 4-star quality – creamy and flavorful without assaulting the palate with an overload of garlic and cayenne.
It was way too thick so I added chicken stock to it. Just add as much as you want till it comes to the thickness you like, put the chicken stock in and blend the potatoes together. Then re heat in the microwave. Then blend in the rest of your ingredients. 🙂 I also used black pepper instead of cayenne.
Way too thick. Needs chives. Will try adding some sour cream next time.
Way too thick. Needs chives. Will try adding some sour cream next time.
it was okay…
I doubled the amount of potatoes called for (one pound of potatoes was not near enough to feed the four of us, let alone ten), cut the amount of cream cheese by a third and added a little milk to loosen the potatoes up a bit. I also used reduced fat cream cheese. I served this with Elegant Stroganoff Meatballs and a tossed green salad. These potatoes were very good–but I don’t think I’d pair them with a rich dish like stroganoff meatballs again. My mistake. We still enjoyed them.
Great recipe. I did not change a thing and will be making again!
Okay – nothing to rave about.
Disgracefully good! I made it with crumbled real bacon, and fat-free cream cheese. The only thing I wish I’d done differently was to use less cayenne – it was a touch too spicy for me. Other than that, this was really good. Would be great with some sliced green onion in it too. Thanks!
These were good for a different twist on plain old mashed potatoes. The cayenne definitely gave them a kick, but we really liked it. I did need to add a little milk while mixing because they were a little thicker than we like. Overall they were great! Thanks!
Great potatoes!!!!!!! I didn’t have the bacon that the recipe called for and I wish that I had it, but they were still great. My youngest daughter ate about three servings!!!!!!
They were so good a lil spicy but awesome!!
These are great potatoes. I did add some cream to give them more of a creamy texture.