Bacon. Mashed. Potatoes. I know! Right?! But seriously, over the weekend I had my sister and her wife over and per usual I made my sausage + pepper stir fry {which apparently I also need to blog?!} and bacon mashed potatoes for dinner one night! It got me thinking, I don’t think I’ve shared this recipe with you guys! I shared it way back when on It’s a Nerdy Life – but since that site no longer has recipes, I figured it was about time I posted it here so we can all enjoy the bacon in the mashed potatoes together!
You’ll notice in the photos the potatoes aren’t super smooth and/or creamy. That’s a personal household preference. Mr. POAB has never, ever liked super smooth potatoes and prefers them to have texture! So if you’re a fan of the super smooth feel free to mash them however you’d like to! Other than that, these are a really nice blend of buttery, salt and slightly tangy from the lemon juice {or apple cider vinegar}. They scale really well so you can easily make it for a crowd and you can easily leave out the bacon and add in some other bits of something to change it up or keep costs down!
The beauty of any kind of mashed something is that if it’s hearty like a potato then you can easily set it on low to boil and let it takes it time while you do other things. OR you can crank that sucker up on high and get it done in no time! Honestly, the most labor intensive part of this recipe is making the bacon + sautéing onions with garlic.
Notes:
- If you want to make this dairy free I’d suggest substituting the butter for either ghee or coconut oil. You can also swap out with white potato for sweet potato if you don’t like white potato or your body can’t tolerate it!
- Cutting up your potatoes pre-boiling will make them cook quicker and make mashing a lot easier in the long run {especially if you’re like me and mash with a hand masher!}!
- I really like using the Little Potato Company potatoes! They’re a great size and cook up nice and fast and I really like the flavor on them! If I can’t get my hands on those then I’ll go for Yukon Gold as I find I like the texture and flavor of them the best when mashed! I also don’t peel my potatoes but if you’re into that go to town!
- I didn’t add cheese because we’re both trying to cut back on dairy overall – but if you’ve got some cheese you want to add don’t let me stop you!
- Meal Prepping Tip: You can pre-cook your onions + garlic a day or two before hand and store in covered container and leave it in the fridge! And if you do that make extra! You can add it into different dinners or side dishes throughout the next few days and cut down on the waiting time for your onions to sauté!
- Also, just because I gave a number of slices of bacon please don’t feel like you can’t add extra {or to save money add a little less}. Bacon is kind of like chocolate chips, more {or less} is never a bad thing!
Because this is mashed potatoes and is a side dish it really pairs well with anything. You can go stir fry, baked chicken or pork, steak, you could even do something with a bit of sauce and add it on top. And the leftovers are just as good! I like them either as is or with a salad the next day or served with a sunny side up egg on top for breakfast! Oh man, that’s so good!
Bacon Mashed Potatoes
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1.5 lb potatoes
- Butter or ghee / coconut oil
- 1/2 red onion, medium-fine dice
- 3 cloves garlic, minced well
- 4-6 slices of cooked bacon, cut up {or tear} into whatever size pieces makes you happy
- 1-3 Tbsp. Bacon fat
- 1 tsp. dill
- salt + pepper
- 1/2 a lemon’s worth of juice {or you can use a small to medium splash of apple cider vinegar}
Instructions
- In a large pot add the potatoes and cover them with water and add a sprinkle of salt. If you’ve got large potatoes or want them to cook really fast I’d highly suggest dicing them into somewhat medium-sized pieces so they cook faster!
- While the potatoes are cooking, chop and sauté your onions + garlic in butter with a sprinkling of salt, set aside once they’re cooked.
- Once that’s all set, you can cook up your bacon to your favorite level of done and save the bacon fat to use later. I like to set this pan aside and then use it to cook my stir fry in that’s going to go with dinner so the stir fry gets some of the bacon flavor!
- Once the potatoes are fork tender, drain and add in a few tablespoons of butter and at least one tablespoon of melted bacon fat {my bacon gave off a lot of fat so I was able to use three tablespoons!}. If you’re bacon didn’t give off a ton of fat, just add in extra butter instead!
- Mash up the potatoes either by hand or using your favorite method {in this house we mash by hand so it doesn’t get too finely mashed!}.
- Once mashed, add in your onions + garlic, bacon, dill, lemon juice. Mix it all up together well and taste test. Add either more butter, lemon juice or salt + pepper as desired/if needed!
- Serve and Enjoy!
Now excuse me, I’m going to leave you with this recipe while I find the leftovers in the fridge and eat them!
xoxo
Liz-
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