Loaded Mashed Potato Bake (Leftover Mashed Potato Recipe)
Looking for a leftover mashed potato recipe? This Loaded Mashed Potato Bake casserole is the most delicious way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. It’s loaded with bacon, cheese and sour cream!
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, but with a gathering of just six people, we’re often stuck with quite a bit of Thanksgiving recipes leftovers after the big meal, especially when it comes to turkey and mashed potatoes.
After the holiday, I make cranberry sauce muffins from the remaining cranberry sauce, and then leftover turkey breast chili and leftover turkey wontons from the bird.
I’m prepared for the fact that even the smallest turkey feeds way more than six people, but for some reason, I find it impossible to make a small batch of mashed potatoes.
Even when I limit it to one small potato per person, somehow once they’re all mashed up, I have enough to serve an army.
Then the question becomes, what to do with leftover mashed potatoes?
While you can simply reheat leftover mashed potatoes, or even make mashed potato croquettes, my favorite way to serve leftover mashed potatoes a second time is this Loaded Mashed Potato Bake.
How long are leftover mashed potatoes good for in the fridge?
As long as they are refrigerated promptly (no more than 2 hours after serving) and covered tightly, mashed potatoes will last about 3 or 4 days.
How do you reheat mashed potatoes?
My favorite way (and the easiest!) is to make baked mashed potatoes by simply placing them in a casserole dish, covering it with foil, and baking at 350 degrees F until they are completely heated through.
But why not add some extra flavor before you reheat? That’s where this Loaded Mashed Potato Bake recipe comes in.
Tips for making this leftover mashed potato recipe successful:
This recipe works great with leftover mashed potatoes (or even leftover blue cheese mashed potatoes), but you can also make it starting with fresh mashed potatoes (i.e. make mashed potatoes specifically in order to make this recipe).
If using leftover mashed potatoes, the potatoes do need to be slightly warmed before stirring in the other ingredients.
Cold mashed potatoes are very hard to stir and incorporate with the other ingredients. Trust me, just warm them up a little and it will be so much easier.
These baked mashed potatoes are very adaptable to your family’s preferences and whatever ingredients you happen to have on hand.
Omit the bacon for a vegetarian dish. Use chives instead of parsley. You can even use Parmesan cheese instead of cheddar! Really, ANY type of cheese will be perfect here.
What can you put in a leftover mashed potato recipe for flavor?
My favorite flavorings are the ones I’ve added to this leftover mashed potato recipe:
- sour cream
- garlic powder
- sharp cheddar cheese
- bacon
- green onion
- red onion
- parsley
- crushed cheese crackers on top!
Can I freeze this leftover mashed potato recipe?
If you make this recipe using leftover mashed potatoes, I do NOT advise freezing it and reheating it again.
As a general rule of thumb for food safety, you only want to reheat leftovers once. Anything left over after that, you should discard.
However, if you make this recipe using “fresh” mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes you made immediately before making this casserole), you can freeze it.
Bake the frozen casserole straight from the freezer at 350 degrees F until the internal temperature of the casserole reaches at least 165 degrees F.
More tasty mashed potato recipes:
Mashed potatoes are my very favorite comfort food, and I never get tired of trying new and interesting flavor combinations!
Loaded Mashed Potato Bake (Leftover Mashed Potato Recipe)
Looking for a leftover mashed potato recipe? This Loaded Mashed Potato Bake casserole is the most delicious way to use up leftovers. It's loaded with bacon, cheese and sour cream!
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1/4 cup coarsely crushed cheese crackers
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups mashed potatoes
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray medium casserole dish with nonstick spray. In small bowl, stir crackers and butter until well combined.
- If leftover potatoes are col, place in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave 1 minute to soften. Add sour cream, garlic powder and pepper to potatoes; stir until well combined.
- Reserve 2 tablespoons each cheese and bacon. Add onions, parsley and remaining cheese and bacon to potatoes; stir until well combined.
- Transfer mixture to prepared casserole dish and sprinkle with cracker mixture and reserved bacon and cheese. Bake 25 minutes or until heated through.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 382Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 775mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 14g
My husband prefers roasted potato over mashed. He says mashed are so boring, but I but if I served up these he would be won over.
I loved that Friends episode, Lori! It’s one of my favorites. And your loaded mashed potatoes would be most welcome on my table!
How many people can say they have their dream job? You are truly living the dream!
Loaded is right, totally delicious. I would love a bowlful right now. Crushed cheese crackers, yum, love Cheez its, I could eat a whole box.
This is so perfect for meals even beyond Thanksgiving. Such a crowd pleaser!
YUM!!!!
I could eat these once a week and never get tired of them!
A gorgeous recipe to celebrate finding your passion Lori! For that is one of the things that will always make life enjoyable. Love the idea of baking the mashed potato as a casserole!
I am not only thankful for the potatoes, bacon, sour cream, cheese but oh those crushed up cheese crackers have me over the edge!!
Oh my goodness this is a loaded mashed potato bake…which is super duper delicious looking and sounding! Congratulations, Lori, on all your well deserved success =)
This is crazy pants, and I love it! I don’t usually go for mashed potatoes, but that’s obviously because I’ve been doing it wrong my whole life.
Bahaha, I quote Friends OFTEN, and we celebrated Thanksgiving #1 today and I referenced the sweat pants line, myself. I love this dish, p.s.!
Pass the bowl, and you might not get it back! These sound amazing!
I know we’ll have some mashed potatoes left over this week so I cannot wait to try this recipe!
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!!!! This looks incredible! My Husband would love it if I made a dish like this for him!!
Wow what a fantastic loaded potato bake. It sounds and looks fantastic!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!!
Oh, man, my family would go nuts for this potato casserole! So much better than ordinary sweet potatoes! Happy Thanksgiving, my friend!
Lori, I absolutely LOVE dishes like this! either using leftovers or throwing all sorts of deliciousness together. and it has all of my favorite things!!! looks delicious! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Yes. That’s all I have to say, okay and please may I have some?
I think this would be one of those dishes where I would stand with a wooden spoon ready to smack the hand of anyone who tried to get any of it.
Bring on the Thanksgiving pants and park this dish right in front of me. Wow it looks so good. I mean really good. Incredibly comfort-in-my-tummy good.
I like the cracker idea, cheesy, salty, bacon ummmm!
I’m still trying to figure it all out, Lori, and I definitely have you as an inspiration. I just wrote a super angsty post about whether I should stay in my stable full time job or say t’hell with it and go do something crazy but fun and potentially totally fulfilling. Sigh. I’ll just have to make pans ‘n pans of this ridiculously delicious mashed potato bake to stuff my face while I’m mulling over my life choices!
Everything I LOVE in a dish!
I love this recipe, I have a similar one, it’s the bomb!! Isn’t it nice doing what we love? Happy belated Thanksgiving. đŸ™‚
Hi Lori, just had this alongside a baked chicken recipe and salad. It was so good. I did though, have to guess when to add in the prepared chesse crackers in the directions. Thank you for sharing đŸ™‚
Oh my gosh, Esther, I skipped a step when writing up the directions! Thanks so much for pointing it out – going in to correct it now. The crackers are sprinkled on top with the rest of the reserved goodies đŸ™‚
No matter where you ended up putting the crackers in, I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Hi! Â I love this recipe and want to use it for our big family Thanksgiving. Â Any suggestions for modifying this recipe to feed 30 to 40 people?
Thanks!
Hi Joy! So glad you like the recipe, and I hope it’s a hit for you at Thanksgiving. I’ve definitely never made it in that kind of quantity, but you should be able to multiply the recipe by any factor you need to to make sure you have enough (and just let me know if you need help scaling the recipe). Also – you can prep this in 2-3 days advance! Just cover and refrigerate, and bake when you’re ready to serve.
I also have an easy method for making a large quantity of bacon. This might help đŸ™‚ https://foxeslovelemons.com/culinary-school-lesson-bakin-bacon
Let me know if you have any questions as you work on it. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
Um, yes please! I can practically taste this already. It must smell divine coming out of the oven.
Thanks so much, Laura!
I dont see anyone that has made this dish so i will make it and leave feedback about it..I was hoping someone had made it so i know if i should add more this or less that..But I will get back asap…Sounds easy and filling to make…ty
Hope you love it, Mary!
Would this. Go good to put cut up pieces of pork loin inside the bake
Sounds good to me!
I have made these many times in the past. A personal favorite, but never tried with the cheese crackers. Sounds good!
Thanks for stopping by, Rhonda! The cheese crackers might be my favorite part. I put crushed-up Goldfish crackers on top of my homemade mac and cheese, too đŸ™‚
I actually made this last weekend and it was AMAZING!!!! Probably the best mashed potato recipe I’ve ever had. I had made Ina Garten’s parmesan smashed potatoes on Thanksgiving so used those to make this recipe – since they already were well seasoned with parmesan and salt I was actually concerned the final dish would be too salty, but it was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S. The husband loved it too! I used the Aldi Savoritz kids cheese crackers (I think they’re like Pepperidge Farm Goldfish) for the topping. I will be making this again on Christmas Eve to serve with pulled pork sliders.
I am so glad to hear that, Tina. And you can just never go wrong when you start with an Ina recipe – she’s the queen!
You are right about Ina. However – I do think your mashed potato recipe is the best. My husband just requested it for tomorrow night’s dinner too! đŸ˜‰
I’m sorry for not following your recipe , but I used as my base. I can’t leave anything alone which my wife says is a curse but it usually works
I had corn left over and I figured a cup of hamburger would satisfy my curiosity
Well it all worked out and the wife enjoyed it. Between both of us ate most of an 9×9 dish
Thank you for the base ideas
That’s exactly how I am with other recipes, Reggie! I’m a big fan of just playing around and using what you have on hand to make it your own. I am so glad you liked your finished dish. Happy New Year!