Gwynedd Stuart
Jordan Myrick
Ariana Losch
Making mashed potatoes can be a real production. You have to boil and peel some industrial-sized bag of spuds, give yourself tennis elbow mashing them all, and then add enough butter, cream, and salt to murder your entire family—and, honestly, 90% of the time they’re still kind of bland and lumpy. But, wow, can you even imagine the reaction if a bowl of them didn’t land on the table for Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas dinner? Mashed potato mutiny.
A lot of home cooks don’t want to hear this, but instant mashed potatoes are good. They’re smooth. They’re creamy—especially if you add plenty of milk and butter. And they’re extremely easy to make. Many of the best instant potatoes on this list—like Idahoan mashed potatoes—only call for boiling water.
What we looked for in the best instant mashed potatoes
The best instant mashed potatoes should be creamy, hearty, and well seasoned. Most importantly, instant potatoes should taste good enough to convince you to never boil and mash your own potatoes again.
Over the course of many taste tests, we dug our sporks into dozens of bowls of instant mashed potatoes and came up with this list of the absolute best, including the best Idahoan mashed potatoes, the best garlic mashed potatoes, the best cheesy mashed potatoes, and, now, the best potato flakes (you’ll need butter and milk for these). Don’t let a judgey in-law keep you from spending your potato-making time in better ways. Just make the best instant mashed potatoes.
(P.S. If you don’t like instant mashed potatoes but still don’t wanna bust out the masher, we’ve also ranked the best microwave mashed potatoes and the best frozen mashed potatoes.)
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- Bob’s Red Mill Potato Flakes
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For this year’s update of our best instant mashed potatoes ranking, we wanted to add plain ol’ potato flakes to the mix. The kind that come in a big box (or, in this case, bag) that you can use to make potato soup or coat fish or chicken…or, with some water, butter/margarine, and milk, use to make mashed potatoes again and again and again. Bob’s potato flakes aren’t the best tasting potato flakes we tried, but they do have the creamiest, nicest consistency when you follow the package instructions. And they do taste good—they’re just very neutral. Nothing wrong with that! These are the best potato flakes to dress up with mix-ins like shredded cheese and bits of bacon (or veggie bacon). —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Sprouts
- Betty Crocker 100% Real Mashed Potatoes
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Given Idahoan’s track record with just-add-water mashed potatoes (keep reading and you’ll see lots on this list), I was really surprised that Idahoan potato flakes were a letdown—they tasted like fish to me. My colleague Justine Sterling didn’t agree, BUT she could detect a “tinny” flavor she said could be reminiscent of canned tuna—and that seems bad, too! Anyway, Betty Crocker’s plain potato flakes simply taste the best. They taste like real mashed potatoes. If you are or were ever brand loyal to Potato Buds, well, these ARE Potato Buds. Same recipe, new name. But there’s a caveat (isn’t that the way?): You HAVE to add more liquid than the directions call for. Even a quarter cup more milk will make a HUGE difference. These have the best flavor, but they turn out gummy if you don’t treat them right. Heed my warning! —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs
- Idahoan Protein + Loaded Baked
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Idahoan recently released a line of protein mashed potatoes in three flavors: Buttery Homestyle, Roasted Garlic and Loaded Baked. The Loaded Baked flavor—which incorporates cheese, sour cream, onions, and chives (no bacon, sorry!)—is the best of the bunch. You’d have to be an Idahoan super fan to tell the difference between these and Idahoan mashed potatoes that aren’t infused with four additional grams of protein per serving. Protein products can tend to have a bad mouthfeel, but it’s near impossible to detect in mashed potatoes. These are creamy and extremely flavorful. If you’re always trying to wedge a little extra protein in your diet, these are the best mashed potatoes to buy. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Idahoan Baby Reds
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Lots of instant mashed potato flakes require water, butter, and milk to become food anyone would want to eat. Not Idahoan mashed potatoes. These magical packets of dehydrated potato flakes are good to go (and genuinely tasty) with just boiling water. We love that Idahoan Baby Reds have real potato skins in the mix. I think a lot of people could be fooled into thinking these were really mashed baby red potatoes, and that’s what makes them some of the best instant mashed potatoes money can buy. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Betty Crocker Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
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These instant mashed potatoes by Betty Crocker are decadent, buttery, and nicely salted. There’s a deeply satisfying, fresh-out-the-oven roasted garlic flavor that permeates every bite. Unlike Idahoan instant potatoes, Betty Crocker does require adding milk and butter to your potato prep. That can be good or bad, depending on how rich you like it! I personally threw some Kerrygold butter and nonfat milk in there, and they turned out beautifully. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Idahoan Sour Cream & Chives Mashed Potatoes
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Sour cream and chives are my weakness, so I really had to put my bias aside to judge these Idahoan mashed potatoes impartially. The thick, creamy consistency blends perfectly with the tangy richness of the sour cream, while the chives add a subtle bite of fresh onion flavor. Because Idahoan potatoes come out quite rich and concentrated, this is not the stuff to buy if you’re only so-so about the sour cream and onion flavor from the get go. You’ve been warned! —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Idahoan Chicken Broth
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These sound boring, but they’re actually really interesting! Of all the instant mashed potatoes we tasted, these are the savoriest. These would be good with pretty much any meal, as long as you’re not serving vegetarians. Add some extra water to these, and they’d make a quick, easy, and tasty potato soup. They’re versatile, and that’s what makes them some of the best instant mashed potatoes out there. Who knew chicken broth was what instant mashed potatoes needed? —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Idahoan Monterey Pepper Jack
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These are the best instant mashed potatoes if you love cheese. Not only are these the creamy, cheesy, rich mashed potatoes of your dreams, they also have a wonderful kick from the pepper in the pepperjack. I don’t know what I was expecting from these instant potatoes, but I certainly didn’t think they’d be this delicious. Obviously they’d be great on their own or as a bed for some fried chicken, but I also want to make a taco-inspired cottage pie and top it with these lightly spiced mashed potatoes. Idahoan mashed potatoes are reliably delicious, but these are the best. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Betty Crocker Creamy Butter
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When it comes to convenience foods, Betty Crocker truly does it all—cake mixes, brownie mixes, Suddenly Salad, which I wholeheartedly love and recommend—but she doesn’t get nearly enough credit for her potato products. These instant mashed potatoes are smooth, flavorful, and incredibly creamy. They’re also packed with flavor and don’t need additional seasoning to land on the dinner table (although we’d never discourage you from dousing your instant potatoes in gravy). And unlike other “butter” flavored mashed potatoes we tried, these don’t taste like they were infused with the phony popcorn topping kind of butter. These are the best instant mashed potatoes we tried in multiple taste tests. —Gwynedd Stuart
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Potato Flakes (Runner Up)
Best Potato Flakes
Best Blank Slate
Best Rustic
Best Garlic
Best Sour Cream & Chives
Best for Cooking
Best Cheesy
Best of the Best
Other instant mashed potatoes we tried:
Idahoan Cheddar & Sour Cream, Idahoan Vermont White Cheddar, Idahoan Wisconsin Cheddar, Idahoan Smoky Cheese & Bacon, Idahoan Four Cheese, Idahoan Applewood Smoked Bacon, Idahoan Loaded, Chef’s Cupboard Roasted Garlic, Chef’s Cupboard Four Cheese, Idahoan Hidden Valley Ranch, Signature Select Mashed Potatoes, Sprouts Organic Mashed Potatoes Garlic, Great Value Mashed Instant Potatoes, Hungry Jack Mashed Potatoes, Kroger Instant Mashed Potatoes, First Street Instant Mashed Potatoes, 365 Instant Mashed Potatoes, Betty Crocker Loaded Mashed Potatoes, Amazon Fresh Boxed Mashed Potatoes, Bob’s Red Mill Instant Mashed Potato Flakes, Haddar Instant Mashed, Idahoan Potato Flakes, Great Value Potato Flakes, Kroger Instant Potato Flakes, Idahoan Buttery Homestyle
Joe Rumrill
Vinz Karl
