Caramelized Onion and Bacon Mashed Potatoes
Caramelized onions and bacon add sweet and salty flavors to these creamy caramelized onion bacon mashed potatoes.
Today, I’m sharing the ultimate comfort food side dish! But, before I talk about these caramelized onion bacon mashed potatoes, I have to give a little update on family.
Lately, I’ve been complaining about being busy, traveling for work a bunch, and generally having too many things to cram into each day. Well, last week, my son Eli got sick and BAM, everything came screeching to a halt.
We ended up in the hospital for a 24-hour observation stay. He’s okay (just very prone to croup and the bad things that come with it), but he scared the living daylights out of us.
Everything got cancelled. Everyone got ignored, and I just got to focus on my baby for a little bit. We stayed home for a few days afterwards to let him rest, and I got lots of snuggles in. We watched a ton of Thomas the Train episodes while sitting in a pile of blankets and his stuffed animals.
I hate that I’m saying this (I might even regret it), but it felt luxurious. We had nowhere to go and nothing to do but be together.
Getting to spend time with and actually focus on my boy felt like a luxury. Even though it was a result of him being so sick, I am still grateful for the chance to spend that downtime with him, with nothing else to do. Just typing that makes me sad, but it’s the truth. It’s the plight of working Moms everywhere, I think.
When we got back from the hospital, he was ready for a major nap. We laid him down, and I fled to the kitchen. Cooking is therapy for me and I needed to lose myself in something hands-on. I set out to make some comfort food for dinner.
I made mustard and beer braised pork ribs and these decadent, dreamy caramelized onion bacon mashed potatoes. I would proudly serve these awesome mashed potatoes to the Queen of England, but that night, I served the ribs and these mashed potatoes to my little family and we felt a shred of normalcy again. And that was a very good thing!
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Caramelized Onion and Bacon Mashed Potatoes
Caramelized onions and bacon add sweet and salty flavors to these creamy, dreamy mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
For the caramelized onions:
- 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
For the potatoes:
- 5 cups Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cubed (roughly 2-3 pounds)
- 5 cups chicken broth
- ⅔ cup milk
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
Mix-ins:
- ¼-pound bacon, cooked and diced
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Make the onions: Add onions and butter into a large skillet. Sauté on low-medium heat for 20-25 minutes, until onions are caramelized. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
- Cook the potatoes: To a large stockpot, add cubed potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to low, and cover. Allow to cook for 15-20 minutes, or until you can pierce through the potatoes easily with a fork.
- Drain potatoes, then add cooked potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Add butter and milk. Mash gently until there are no lumps. You can also use a stand mixer to mash the potatoes.
- To the mashed potatoes, add cooked bacon, caramelized onions, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Fold gently to combine.
- Serve warm.
Notes
- I personally think that the bacon adds enough salt for this dish, so I went easy on the salt. Feel free to add more!
- To speed the process, buy Ore Ida Steam and Mash Potatoes. They cook in the microwave in about 10 minutes and mash easily without lumps.
- If you'd like to use heavy cream, I'd recommend substituting the ⅔rd's cup of milk with equal parts cream and chicken broth.
- You will need 2-3 pounds of potatoes for this recipe.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 386Total Fat 22gSaturated Fat 11gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 63mgSodium 1533mgCarbohydrates 34gFiber 3gSugar 4gProtein 15g
The nutrition for this recipe is calculated by an app and may be incorrect.
These look so perfect!! We love bacon and caramelized onions, so I can’t wait to try these 🙂
oh, i’m so sorry your little guy was so sick! hope he recovers soon 🙂 those potatoes look FAB!
So hope your little guy is feeling better! I think these potatoes would instantly cure anything that ails me!
This is pure heaven!!
I agree, Kimberly! Thanks! 🙂
How nice that you had that time to spend with your son. I worked out of my house (like a mad woman) when my kids were little. One of my biggest regrets is that when they were sick, I didn’t always stop working and lay down with them. If only I could make that up! Never feel guilty for putting work second. Oh, thanks for the potato recipe. My teenagers are going to love it!
It’s so hard to put the work down. I’m VERY guilty of that, but I’m trying to do better. Let me know how your kiddos like the potatoes! 🙂
I love how fun the mix-ins for mashed potatoes can be. Caramelized onions and bacon are two of my favorite ingredients! Pinning!
Thanks Justine! 🙂
You stop it right now – I LOVE mashed potatoes and these look incredible!!
LOL! Me too!
In my world, this would be the absolute perfect meal all by itself. All of my favorite things in one place. YUM!
TOTALLY AGREE! In fact, I brought the leftovers to work and ate them by themselves for lunch.
Sorry to hear your little one was not feeling well but happy he is back home and rested. These potatoes look like the perfect comfort food.
Thank you!
Just when I thought mashed potatoes couldn’t get any better. They just did!!! These sound amazing!!
Thanks Renee!
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Thank you!
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Do you think these can be made a day ahead of time and then just heated up in oven? Any suggestions? I was thinking of just leaving the bacon off until they come out of oven but otherwise was hoping to do them tonight for an potluck tomorrow?
Absolutely! You may want to add some chicken stock and stir before reheating because they will stiffen up overnight in the fridge. I think mixing the bacon in before serving is a good call! I like to reheat these covered with aluminum foil in the oven to keep them moist!