A spicy, smoky, garlic and chile infused Southwestern Sonoran-style mashed potatoes and gravy recipe that’s BIG on flavor. I’m known to eat a Thanksgiving meal that consists almost entirely of mashed potatoes and gravy. This is the recipe I make every year.
Yukon Gold potatoes are cooked in a smoky, aromatic vegetable broth loaded with garlic, dried onion, and New Mexico or ancho chile powder. That broth does triple duty. It flavors the potatoes while cooking, is mashed into the potatoes to infuse the flavor throughout, and is used in place of water for the gravy. After mashing the potatoes are seasoned with chipotle in adobo, smoky BBQ rub, and liquid smoke.
In Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, Ebenezer Scrooge famously sat down to a bowl of gruel awaiting him, while ghosts sat in its wake. This signifies how miserable and miserly he is.I was a bit of a scrooge myself when it came to Thanksgiving dinner. I hate stuffing, I hate green bean casserole… and turkey tastes the same as it does on any other day. The only part of the meal that I looked forward to was the mashed potatoes, and gravy.
Then I met my husband. One of the first things that we did as a couple was come up with our own Thanksgiving ritual. Early Thanksgiving morning we go to the fancy supermarket on the other side of town and buy whatever we want. That first year it was Yellow Yukon potatoes for mashing, the white vegetarian gravy that comes in an envelope, Pillsbury Grands, good wine and something special for the cats.
We’ve pretty much stuck with that, though every year we also select a new chili-pepper-heavy spice blend, incorporated in with spice blends from Thanksgivings past, which we mix with an unusual amount of butter and the broth from the potatoes to make the spiciest, creamiest mashed potatoes. We then stir the extra broth from the potatoes and a couple of crumbled vegetarian sausage patties into the gravy powder and serve up the whole thing as one wonderful, white, gloppy mess.
Here’s the recipe the best that I can relay it. We have so many spices that I can only say to use your own favorites and season to taste.
This recipe is featured on Eat This Not That: 17 Chefs Share Their Must-Have Thanksgiving Dishes.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
- 2 boxes, 32-ounces each, vegetable broth or stock.
- 10 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons dried chopped onion flakes
- 2 tablespoons New Mexico or ancho (or a combination of the two) red chile powder*
To Finish Potatoes
- 2 cups broth retained from cooking the potatoes approximately
- 6 tablespoons butter preferably grass-fed
- 1 tablespoon diced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- 1 tablespoon smoky BBQ seasoning such as Stubb’s BBQ Rub
- ½ teaspoon Arizona Habanero Seasoning optional
- 1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
- Salt and black pepper to taste
For the Gravy
- 1 packet of McCormick Peppered Country Gravy Mix
- 2 cups broth retained from cooking the potatoes
- 4 sausage patties cooked and crumbled, origin of your choice (turkey, plant-based, pork, etc.)
Instructions
- Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut each of them into 8-piece chunks, then place the potatoes in a large Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot. Pour in the vegetable broth or stock, then stir in the minced garlic, dried onion flakes and chile powder. Add enough water to cover the potatoes if they are not completely submerged.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer uncovered until the potatoes are very soft when pierced with a fork, about 25-30 minutes.
- Put a colander inside a large mixing bowl then pour the potatoes and broth into the colander to reserve the broth. Return the potatoes to the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to low. Add about two cups of the broth, a half cup at a time along with the butter and smash the potatoes into the broth until you reach the desired consistency (I personally like my mashed potatoes a little chunky). Stir in the diced chipotle, Liquid Smoke, BBQ seasoning, and habanero seasoning (if using). Taste, then season with salt and ground pepper. Add more BBQ seasoning and/or butter if desired.
- Empty the gravy mix into a small saucepan. Whisk in two cups of the reserved broth, replacing the milk suggested in the packaging directions. Stir in the crumbled sausage, then heat according to the package instructions.
- Plop a generous portion of the mashed potatoes on a large plate. Make a well in the middle with the serving spoon and fill the hole with gravy. Garnish with flaky salt, freshly ground pepper and a shake of BBQ seasoning.
