When you're looking for the perfect dish to accompany a fantastic family meal, two of the major contenders would have to be creamy mashed potatoes or hearty French onion soup. Both of these dishes are perfect sidekicks for most protein-based dinners, and are brilliantly paired with steamed or roasted veggies, making them incredibly adaptable to suit almost any family meal. With this amazing recipe for 'Creamy French Onion Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes', you can harness the best of both worlds with only minimal preparation involved!
This creamy slow cooker dish uses sumptuous russet potatoes, cream and butter (the classic staples of any brilliant mashed potato recipe), and incorporates them with savory French onion dip and grated gruyere cheese to produce one of the most mouth-watering mashed potato recipes you will ever taste! If you don't have access to gruyere cheese, you can substitute in parmesan or pecorino cheese instead. Delicious!
Creamy French Onion Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:2lbs (910g) russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2" pieces
1/4 cup (60mL) beef stock
3 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup (60mL) cream or half and half
1/4 cup (60mL) french onion dip
1/2 cup (120g) grated gruyere cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup (120g) freshly chopped chives
Instructions:1. Peel the russet potatoes and cut into 2" pieces (or quartered) and place into the bottom of a well-greased slow cooker. Add
in the beef stock, minced garlic, butter,
salt and pepper. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
2. Once cooked, quickly warm up the cream and the french onion dip in a small saucepan over medium heat, then pour the cream mixture over the potatoes and mash everything together until smooth and creamy. Sprinkle over the grated gruyere cheese and serve with a handful of freshly chopped chives.
TIP: If you have the time, try your hand at caramelizing your own onions. This process is incredibly simple, although it takes up to 40 minutes for the onions to properly caramelize. Simply heat 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of oil in a heavy based pan and add in two thinly sliced yellow or white onions. Cook over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Add in 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and turn the heat down a little bit. Continue to cook them for another 20-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Let them stick to the pan a bit to brown, but try not to let them burn. The onions will beautifully caramelize in 30-45 minutes. Mix these
in to your mashed potatoes or serve over the top.
