mashed potatoes

Meaning

A popular side dish made by boiling potatoes and then crushing them into a smooth, creamy texture, often adding butter, milk, and salt. It is a classic comfort food, especially during holiday dinners like Thanksgiving.

Examples

• Can you pass the mashed potatoes and gravy, please?

  Can you pass the mashed potatoes and gravy, please?

• She makes her mashed potatoes with lots of butter and garlic.

  She makes her mashed potatoes with lots of butter and garlic.

• I ordered a steak with a side of creamy mashed potatoes.

  I ordered a steak with a side of creamy mashed potatoes.

• Leftover mashed potatoes can be used to make potato pancakes.

  Leftover mashed potatoes can be used to make potato pancakes.

• My grandmother always whips her mashed potatoes by hand to keep them fluffy.

  My grandmother always whips her mashed potatoes by hand to keep them fluffy.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I want to eat mash potatoes.

  ✓ I want to eat mashed potatoes.

  'Mashed' is a past participle used as an adjective. Do not drop the '-ed' ending when referring to this dish.

• ✗ We had a mashed potato for dinner.

  ✓ We had mashed potatoes for dinner.

  This dish is almost always referred to in the plural form ('potatoes') because it is made from multiple potatoes mashed together.

Related Expressions

Practice

• For Thanksgiving dinner, we always serve turkey with a side of ___.

  💡 A creamy potato side dish.

  Show answer

  mashed potatoes

• If you want your ___ to be super smooth, you should use a potato ricer.

  💡 Boiled and crushed potatoes.

  Show answer

  mashed potatoes