Lemon Rosemary Mashed Potatoes with Crispity Crunchities

I have made this Bon Appetit recipe with slight modifications for every Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving that I have been too since it was posted in 2019. Over the years I have made some slight modifications to the recipe that I think make it even better and make it possible to make the recipe without a food processor.

I would love to try to introduce a new recipe to the potato space this Thanksgiving but this one is so impossibly flavorful, creamy, and simultaneously crunchy and salty that my loved ones just won’t allow it. Please make theses mashed potatoes, they’ll be the talk of the dinner table.

Ingredients for 8 people:

For the Crispity Crunchities:

2.5 pieces of sourdough bread, diced

2 cups kettle-style potato chips, smashed in a bag

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Salt and pepper

4 cloves of garlic

3 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped

1 tsp. paprika

⅓ cup chopped parsley

For the Potatoes:

3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed

8-10 cloves of garlic

5 sprigs rosemary

2 tsp. black peppercorns, whole

1¼ cups unsalted butter

4 cups (or more) whole milk

1 Tbsp. (or more) kosher salt

1 lemon

Essential Equipment:

My dinner plates are the Anthropologie Briar dinner plates and they are unfortunately no longer available. These ones from Fable are similar and have great reviews!

I have an old Vitamix that I got from Facebook market place. I see them for cheap in my area all the time but here is a link to a similar new one!

If you want the potatoes to be extremely smooth like I did, I would recommend using a potato ricer. Mine is this one from Williams Sonoma, but here is a more affordable one that you can get from Amazon.

For the Crispity Crunchities:

Deviations and Notes:

The original recipe recommends using a food processor to combine the garlic and bread crumbs. I do not have a food processor and I actually kind of love the chunkier crispity crunchities, they are more snackable!
I do not add parsley to the crispity crunchitys at any point. I keep it separate and let my guests add it to the potatoes at their leisure.

Instructions:

Finely mince the 4 garlic cloves and add to a large bowl.
Finely chop your sourdough bread so that the pieces are no larger than .25 inches. Add to the bowl with the minced garlic.
Place 2 cups of potato chips in a large ziploc bag and crunch with your hands until they reach the desired size. Add to the bowl with the bread and minced garlic.
Mix the bread, potato chips and garlic well.
Heat butter in a large ovenproof skillet over medium until foaming.
Add breadcrumb mixture and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until mixture is coated in butter and fragrant, about 1 minute.
Transfer skillet to oven at 400F; bake, tossing every 5 minutes, until crumbs and chips are evenly golden brown, 15–20 minutes.
While the breadcrumb mixture is cooking, finely grate remaining lemon (should be half of a lemon) zest into a small bowl. Add finely chopped rosemary and paprika and toss to combine.
Remove crumb mixture from oven and immediately toss in rosemary and lemon zest mixture. Taste and season with more salt if needed. Let topping cool in pan, then add parsley.
To serve, transfer mashed potatoes to a large bowl and sprinkle topping over.
Do Ahead: Topping (without parsley) can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

For the Potatoes:

Deviations and Notes:

The original recipe recommends using German Butterball potatoes which have their peak season in late Spring and early Summer. Bon Appetit shoots their Thanksgiving content in the summer so this makes complete sense but I used Yukon Golds and had a great result.
I have found that boiling the potatoes instead of roasting them makes for an easier flow to Thanksgiving day and less room for error. That being said, I have made the recipes from roasted potatoes before and its obviously still delicious, this is just up to personal preference.
I peel the garlic before adding it to the milk mixture. I have found that this makes the garlic flavor slightly more intense which I enjoy!
I only add 3/4 of the milk mixture to the potatoes when I am first whisking them since I make the potatoes ahead of time. I set aside the other quarter of the mixture to incorporate right before serving.

Instructions:

Peel 3 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes.
Add potatoes to a large pot and cover with water, Bring to a boil and cover with lid. Boil for 30 minutes, remove from the heat, and drain.
Remove the skins from 8-10 cloves of garlic and add to a medium saucepan with rosemary, peppercorns, butter, 4 cups milk, and 1 Tbsp. salt.
Using a vegetable peeler, remove wide strips of zest from half of lemon and add to pot; set the rest of the lemon aside for the topping.
Bring the milk mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
Once it starts simmering, immediately remove from heat, cover, and let sit at least 30 minutes.
While the milk mixture is sitting, pass the potatoes through a ricer into a large pot. You can also mash the potatoes by hand but the ricer makes them extremely smooth.
Return the milk mixture to a simmer and pour 3/4 of the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into the large pot with potatoes; then discard solids.
Set potato mixture over medium heat and whisk until liquid is incorporated and potatoes are very smooth and bubbling.
Taste and season with more salt if needed. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
Do Ahead: Potatoes can be made 2 days ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and let cool. Cover and chill. Reheat over medium, whisking constantly and adding the remaining quarter of the milk mixture.