Work some magic on your mashed potatoes with mashed potato puffs! These loaded potato puffs will breathe some new life into your leftover mashed potatoes!
These little bite-sized puffs are the perfect way to use up leftover mashed potatoes after the holidays. They’re crispy on the outside but warm and creamy on the inside. If you have some cold leftover mashed potatoes sitting in the fridge after Thanksgiving or Christmas, try baking them into these puffs.
We’ll breathe some new life into mashed potatoes by adding some texture and then we’ll load them up with tons of cheddar cheese, bacon bits, and chives. With some eggs, we’ll puff them up in the oven so you’ll get crispy, puffy mashed potatoes that go great with a generous dollop of sour cream on top and some fresh chives.
Making these kinda feels like a little cooking magic. Take a look at the before and after pics; it’s a little hard to believe some eggs and baking can do that. They’re great for little breakfast bites, appetizers, or sides, and get a ton of compliments at potlucks and holiday gatherings. Also, you’re not limited to only making them with leftover mashed potatoes. I’ve made mashed potatoes plenty of times just to make these.
For other potato recipes to serve during the holidays, you can also try these garlic Parmesan sweet potato stacks which also use a muffin tin. Also, try out these crispy garlic Parmesan smashed potatoes or some loaded mashed potato balls which are even crispier than these puffs. There’s also this sweet potato casserole which is a staple with my family during the holidays or this twice-baked potato casserole. But back to the recipe, let’s start making some puffs!
How To Make Mashed Potato Puffs (1 Min Video)
These. are. DELICIOUS. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. I can’t get enough of them. Here’s a warning: you should probably make two batches to avoid family feuding! The more leftover mashed potatoes you have the better. You could make a huge batch of mashed potatoes in the slow cooker with this slow cooker mashed potatoes recipe that uses a whole 5 lb. bag of potatoes and then make these puffs.
These puffs are so good you should make mashed potatoes just to make them. I’ve actually done this before and carried them proudly to a holiday potluck with a cute little place card listing the ingredients because people will ask for the recipe. The good news is you can also cheat by using instant mashed potatoes. No one would know the difference.
MASHED POTATO PUFFS RECIPE TIPS
Mixing – The mashed potatoes mixed with eggs will look mushy and goopy. Don’t worry, it will puff up and change.
Muffin pan – I used a regular non-stick muffin pan for the recipe but you can use almost any kind of muffin pan to get all shapes and sizes. I’ve heard of folks using mini muffin pans or even brownie bar pans. Just make sure to grease the pan beforehand.
Recipe Notes:
The bottom of the puffs are more prone to sticking so spray the muffin pan well and/or use a paper towel to grease the whole muffin well evenly so the nonstick spray is not just concentrated in one spot.
Filling it up – Fill in the muffin pan about 3/4 of the way full to allow some room for the puffs to rise. The messier you mound in the potatoes, the more texture they’ll have later and the better they will look. So don’t worry about delicately filling up the muffin pan; look how messy I did mine in the prep photos and how they came out.
Eggs – Can this recipe be made without eggs? Unfortunately, not. The eggs are what make the mashed potato puffs rise, otherwise, you’re just baking some loaded mashed potatoes.
Making it ahead – You should be able to pre-mix all the ingredients the night before and refrigerate them to bake the next day.
Leftovers – These should keep for 3 days or so once refrigerated. You can reheat them in the microwave, oven, or air fryer.
Freezing and reheating – Mashed potato puffs can be frozen for up to 2-3 months. To reheat, microwave from frozen for about 1 minute.
Customize It!
- Add more flavor – If your mashed potatoes don’t already have them, try adding more flavor with butter, milk, sour cream, or cream cheese.
- Add some spice – Spice up your puffs with jalapenos or red pepper flakes.
- Substitute filings – Experiment with different protein fillings like pre-cooked chopped chorizo, sausage, chicken, turkey, or ham.
- Substitute chives – Feel free to substitute chives with parsley or green onions.
And that’s about it. It’s easier to watch the video for a general idea of how to make it and then go from there. It also helps to prove how magical these things are from sad, leftover mashed potatoes to puffy potato bites. Enjoy and let me know how you liked them in the comments below!
MORE POTATO RECIPES TO TRY
- Crispy Garlic Parmesan Smashed Potatoes
- Loaded Mashed Potato Balls
- Garlic Parmesan Sweet Potato Stacks
- The Best Creamy Potato Salad
- Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
- Twice Baked Potato Casserole
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Mashed Potato Puffs
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
Work some magic on your mashed potatoes with mashed potato puffs! These loaded potato puffs will breathe some new life into your leftover mashed potatoes!
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed potatoes
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup bacon bits
- 1/4 cup chives, chopped
- Pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Combine mashed potatoes, eggs, cheddar cheese, bacon bits and chives.
- Season with pepper if needed.
- Grease a muffin pan and mound a heaping spoonful into each cup.
- Top each muffin with Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes at 400°F or until golden brown.
- Cool for 5 minutes and dish and serve warm with sour cream.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Instant mashed potatoes – Yes! You can cheat and use instant mashed potatoes to make these.
- Making it ahead – You should be able to pre-mix all the ingredients the night before and refrigerate them to bake the next day.
- Eggs – Can this recipe be made without eggs? Unfortunately, not. The eggs are what make the mashed potato puffs rise, otherwise, you’re just baking some loaded mashed potatoes.
-
Freezing and reheating – Mashed potato puffs can be frozen for up to 2-3 months. To reheat, microwave from frozen for about 1 minute.
- Scroll up to RECIPE TIPS for more useful tips, suggestions and ingredient substitutions.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
Comments & Reviews
I’m making these tonight with Jimmy Dean’s mashed potatoes.
Yummy!
I hope they turned out well for you!
My family loves these potatos, however, I would add salt to the recipe since potatos are basically without a lot of flavor.
I agree! When the recipe calls for mashed potatoes, it usually means the finished product – as in mashed potatoes with butter, milk, salt, pepper and/or sour cream and cream cheese. The ingredients will vary, depending on how you like your mashed potatoes, but it’s essentially more than just literally boiling potatoes and mashing them. Even if it’s a simple addition of salt, pepper, butter and a little milk.
Made this today with leftover mashed potatoes, I didn’t have chives, so added finely chopped jarred jalapeños, which added a nice spice. I kept back a couple of teaspoons of egg, and did an egg wash on top, like I do with shepherds pie.i used shortening to grease nonstick muffin tin, and they didn’t stick that much. Very tasty upgrade to boring mashed potatoes.
Good tips on the muffin pan – I haven’t tried shortening before but this comment might help some people who have had difficulty. I also like that egg wash idea on top!
Made these for a potluck with my leftover Christmas potatoes and they turned out perfectly! I actually went out and bought instant potatoes as I usually only have potatoes for special occasions. I can’t wait to try them this way. Thank you for the recipe!
I’ve tried them both ways – with homemade mashed potatoes and cheating with the instant mashed potatoes. They both work for this recipe. You’re very welcome and enjoy them the next time you make them!
I had left over mashed potatoes from Christmas so made these……..loved them. My husband went back for seconds!! I chopped regular onion to put in recipe.
I sprayed my muffin tins with Pam and did not have a problem with them sticking. I let them sit in the muffin pan for a few minutes then went around each one with a spatula and they came out perfectly.
I am giving the recipe to a friend.
Onions sound like a great addition. The chives are a suggestion but you can do green onions, parsley, onions, and garlic. Mix and match. So many ways to adapt and build on this recipe!
Pretty good but tastes really eggy and it sticks to the pan a lot, so make sure you grease it really well. I sprayed mine with oil but it still wasn’t enough.
Sorry to hear they weren’t as great for you, Christina. If you find them a bit too eggy for your tastes, you could try using smaller eggs instead. I have not tested reducing the amount of egg personally, but I think it should still puff up just fine. The recipe uses 3 large eggs so you could try 3 medium ones or 2 large eggs instead.
It seems that using 3 eggs to 2 cups mashed potatoes is a little excessive if it’s main purpose is to act as a binder. I’m going to cut it down to 2 eggs and see if they’re still puffy.
This recipe has been so helpful creating delicious variety with the serious abundance of mashed potatoes cooked this Thanksgiving. I left out the bacon (personal preference) and the rest of the ingredients were perfect to make this flavorful and filling. Thank you!
You’re very welcome, Anna! Glad you were able to repurpose all those leftover mashed potatoes and adapt the puffs to your tastes 🙂
Even though I oiled the muffin pan, they still stuck to it. They were still very good though but didn’t look nice as they came out in pieces…
I’m sorry to hear you had a hard time prying them loose from the muffin pan. Did you use a nonstick one? Having that on top of greasing the wells helps a lot.
I would like to make these ahead and freeze them for Christmas dinner and wonder if they can be heated in an oven instead of the microwave, and whether to defrost first. There will be 12 people so I would prefer to warm all at once. Thank you.
I’ve frozen them before and they heated up fine for me. I would defrost them first. I’ve never heated them in the oven but a good place to start is baking them at 350°F for 15 minutes and see if you need to add more time from there.
Love it. Now I’ll never waste my mashed potatoes ❤️
Yay! Happy to have helped you find a way to repurpose them 😀
I accidentally put the whole bag of instant mashed potatoes in. What can I do to thicken it up before I bake?
Update: One package of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes is the perfect amount for the recipe. Came out great.
Thank you for coming back and updating us, Jessica! Hopefully, this will help others looking for a short cut with instant mashed. I’m assuming you used the 4 oz. bag and not family-size Idahoan instant mash.
This recipe for Potato Puffs is great! I made potato skins and had no idea what to do with the leftover potatoes. I did not want to make a fried pancake so when I saw this recipe I figured I would try it. I did not have any bacon but used everything else. They came out great and were a huge hit! Thank you for sharing!
I love potato pancakes but I’m glad you found another way to use up all that extra potato. You’re most welcome and thank you for sharing, Jan!
Sooo easy! Sooo good!!!
Thank you! I’m so happy you enjoyed them, Josey 🙂
Great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes! I didn’t have any bacon but added chopped up kale and green onions.
Great substitutions and thanks for sharing them with us. This recipe is a great base recipe to throw in whatever you have laying around in the fridge. If it works on a baked potato, it should work with the puffs!
How do I get them out without losing some of it. They stick
They were still great.
Hey Martha. I sprayed down each muffin well and used a paper towel to spread the non-stick spray evenly along the bottom of the well (that’s where they stick most). Once they’re done baking, you must give them time to cool down a little as they are quite fragile when still hot. Letting them cool down makes them solidify a little and it’s easier to pry out. Then, use a spoon and loosen them around the edges first and finally lift it with the spoon at the bottom.
You need to really spray the pan with non-stick oil and then wipe the sides with a paper towel to make sure the muffin tin is covered. They come out easily.
I just made a double batch at one time , I bought the potatoes all mashed, I added the eggs, cheese and bacon bites, very easy… you were right, you have to make sure the muffin tins are well greased,……they may stick on the sides if not….I did sneak one right from the oven with letting it cool down, delicious….
Can’t wait till dig in, add a little bit sour cream on top of the muffin and yummy….
I hope you enjoyed the rest of the puffs! Love mine with a generous dollop of sour cream on top too 😉